I do things very much like you do in your way of dealing with books, Sunny43. I, too, love books, and have many "types" like you do, plus I re-read the favorites, and refer to books all the time as well. I also have a bookcase in my bedroom, plus a large one that I bought from a bookstore in the garage, and three 84" high bookcases I refinished in the livingroom. I, too, would love to have floor to ceiling bookshelves! I would love to have a whole library room just like that. I am thinking of revamping the one in my room, as I don't regularly read those, instead maybe I can put the current reading material on there, that is usually in a pile by my bed, do you think that would work for clearing away the pile by the bed? Then put the books that are now there on the other bookshelves, or in the garage. Speaking of the garage books, do yours get to smelling mildewy or moldy, or musty? Or does it depend on what kind of year round weather you have? When you say you have a built in bookcase in your livingroom, is it built into, attached to, the walls? The reason I ask is because I don't understand something--when I called around for a craftsman to "build in" a bookcase in my house, they all said they would make them on site (at their workshop) and then bring them in. To set in. To me, that's "free standing," as I thought "built-in" meant attached to the wall, thus when you move, you don't take it with you, as it's "built in?" Don't people do that anymore? Oh and I had asked for three, with top shelves and a little area that juts out a bit from the width of the shelves, so you could rest a book or a plant there, then underneath that, two doors with a shelf behind the doors. That was probably 3, 4 years ago and the one man said that would be $6,000 dollars, so I ordered three unfinished ones from the internet and re-finished them myself. Now I am going to order from the same people what they call a "cubby," to put boxes of video tapes and DVD's on. This way, I can set it in a 14" inch area next to the bookcases, and paint it to match! I am happy about that, as it will blend in well. I have a question for you all about that: It is a tall tower with I think six shelves, room enough to put two photo boxes on top of each other per shelf, (you can put 10 VHS tapes in those). You can get understated nice looking ones, (I have some in catalogs) but will that look too much like an office? This furniture website also offers baskets with liners, which probably would look nicer in the livingroom, but they are dust catchers and I would like to have lids, tops, on the containers as well. Also no see-through. Any suggestions? Thank you!

Peg board is a good idea and I'm not really sure what kind of hooks are out there either, so I'd have to look into it further. I looked at pegboard today, the very heavy duty ones are kinda spendy for a 4 x 8 sheet. I'd probably go with the 1/8 inch material and reinforce with a 2x4 frame. I had actually considered using wooden doors securred together. I found a bunch of louvered bifold doors today at a local salvage place. (habitat for humanity resale store)and I thought I could attach a shelving track to the doors for adjustable shelves. So where the chairs would go, I could use some type of utility hook screwed into the door. I think even though the space is small that with creative use of space and organization of the items in there, it should work. Keeping in mind that this is a trial run and I can always take a bigger space if need be.

Thanks for the rug feedback! The colors turned out great, bright but vintagey feeling. Perfect for me. nosoccermom, I don't NEED all that furniture...but I kind of WANT all that furniture. Especially the freakin sweet coffee table. sueb, the main reason is that the main traffic path of the house cuts through by the table there. And kitchen stools back up to it. So it seems that ending the rug with the table kinda works? Also I have having a problem with getting enough rug in behind the chairs on the right without ending a rug right in the middle of the path from the laundry room to the kitchen. So it seemed to work to pull the rug all the way over to the wall on that side even though it's a bit oversized really. My house has no center hall or staircase, really no hallways at all, so all traffic goes through the rooms on either side. It's kind of confusing and people always get lost, which is impressive considering our main floor is less than 1000 square feet. My non-declawed cats destroy all upholstered things and most rugs, but they are cute. This post was edited by robotropolis on Thu, Apr 17, 14 at 14:33

That column about stacking bookcases can't be downloaded until you register, which I haven't done yet, but I like what the writer says in the synopsis: "We make them that way because that's the way we've always made them." What's important for furniture users and buyers (and DIYers) to realize is that the way things are "always done" has often evolved for the convenience of woodworkers or to reflect the tools and materials they most often have, for mass production, or for other reasons that sometimes don't matter for a one-off idiosyncratic project like this one, or for the non-woodworking builder who has fewer tools but more flexibility in other directions. In those cases, DIYers are sometimes on their own in terms of design because we have to think outside the box. Below is a link, for example, to a project my husband and I did recently, where our constraints and wishes kind of precluded doing things the way they are "always done" and we had to figure out a whole different way to build drawers. I'm still not totally clear on some of your project details, for example why you wouldn't be attaching at both ends of the row, whether you can screw into the floor, whether budget is an issue, and what the overall intent of the project is in terms of appearance and function, but there are a couple of alternate ways of thinking about this project. For example, you could look at it more as a wall-framing exercise than as a set of four bookshelves, and take your construction clues from how a wall would be constructed and installed. The stacking boxes that are apparently the idea in the Popular Woodworking articles may also be a good approach. You can construct the stationary and mobile sections differently, and also, your two stationary sets together could be constructed as one unit. But there is another option if you want to stay with free-standing bookcases that you install and connect. This evolves from the recognition that the back is much more effective if it is inset. Go ahead and use 3/4" plywood, but cut it to fit entirely within the case of your shelves. Lay it on the floor, and then assemble your case around it. Screw the case sides to the top and bottom, as you intend, but then also drill and screw them into the sides of the 3/4 ply all the way around. Now you have a pretty solid box that will not rack, and in which the backing plywood also helps keep the vertical elements in line. An advantage to this is that your plywood edge will not show and in fact, if you use finish-grade plywood, the backs of your shelves will actually look darn good. Now you can attach your shelves. One of the tricks I use is to shop the moulding section quite carefully (actually I scour a specialty moulding store). Whatever the moulding pieces are designed for, they can be used for other things, for example, keeping corners square or supporting shelves. The discussion about your lumber selection question also leads me to suggest that you expand your search beyond your big box stores. I shop for the best lumber I can find and often have to go to specialty stores to get it, and I usually pay a premium for it - but since I'm not paying for labour, the total cost of the project still often ends up being very reasonable. Besides getting lumber that is dried in keeping with the sort of work you want to do, you also get a better selection. And I will say that in the square-cut-and-screw method of attachment, a hardwood like maple is going to give you a way better result than a softwood where the fibres on the corners are apt to crush easily when the unit is stressed, resulting in wobbly joints. You may also find that the aesthetic appeal of using really nice lumber is such that you will be happier with better thinner boards than with lesser quality thick boards. Plus, thinner boards give you more room on your shelves. KarinL Here is a link that might be useful: home-made drawers