Bookcase options

[Raider]

Another question related to furnishing my new apartment…

I’m trying to decide on bookshelves. In the past, I’ve bought Ikea Billy shelves, and was happy enough with them when they were about $60-70 for a tall unit.

This time, I’d like some shelves with some sort of glass covering that will protect my books from dust and make things that much easier to clean. The Ikea shelves allow for this, but from what I can tell, the cost goes up from $90 to $230 for a tall (31.5”x79.5”) unit. Frankly, I’m a bit hesitant to spend that much on something with moving parts from Ikea, as I’m worried I’d be faced with broken hinges, etc. pretty soon.

Another option is to go custom. Anyone have a ballpark idea of how much this would cost to do along a 14’ long wall?

The third idea I had was to look at barrister bookcases. The attraction of this approach is that I could buy a few units at a time to spread the cost out, and could take them with me if and when I move to another place. I’ve been looking at new and antique ones – is it better to go for one or the other? Any experiences or comments about Hale bookcases? Any other brands to look at?

If I go with the buying-barrister-bookcases-over-time approach, I was wondering about wood matching. Do such combined pieces look obviously mismatched if the grains don’t exactly match up from one case to the next, or should I be ok as long as the wood colors match?

Any other ideas?

I’ve attached a floorplan of my apartment below. Its got 10’ ceilings, and I was thinking of putting all my books (I have lots in storage) along the 14’ wall in the living room, using the opposite wall for TV/home theater. The ceilings are 10’ high, so I’d like to use room to build up as well as across. I’d like to give the room a classy library-like feel, while still keeping it bright and young (I’m single and in my 20s).