Bookcase options

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).

There's a huge spread in bookcases it seems. On one hand, you have cheap n' cheerful (Ikea, etc) and the other extreme are beautiful custom-mades. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot in the middle that I've seen.

In my store, 90% of all bookcases we do are custom, as everyone has a different requirement of what they want on a bookcase run. Different wall lengths, heights and criteria mean we custom build them all. They are never inexpensive, and price out the same as built-ins, the difference being with stand-alones you can take them with you when you move.

Others may have some ideas???

I would recommend used Globe Wernicke barrister bookcases.Glass fronts ,collectable and affordable[used] Craiglist has a few listed.Not as nice as the good Doctors custom cases I'm sure.However should hold their value and would be easily transportable.If you google the name there is plenty of information.

A few suggestions from an old bookworm ...

Be careful about height. Really tall bookcases need to be attached to the wall to be safe. Also think about where you may live in the future. (I now have an antique armoire that determines where I can live.) Many modern buildings have ceilings that are a shade under 8 ft. I once had to disassemble 7.5-ft. bookcases in order to get them upstairs and into a small room that I wanted to use as a study. I barely had clearance to move them from horizontal to vertical after assembly.

14 feet of books is a lot. How many linear feet of shelves do you need in public area of your home? How much space do you need between shelves? How you organize your books matters greatly. 12 ft times 7 rows would display about 840 of my 1000 or so hardcover books. I average about 10 hardcovers per foot, but I only have a few shelves that are organized by height of the books rather than by author or subject.

If you expect to be mobile, barrister bookcases are a great choice.

Hi !
I feel you have a huge collection of books and your problem is quite genuine.
I think its up to you whether you want the same you did last time (ikea) or you are ready to spend and get it custom-made.
I think you should take your time and choose wisely.