building wood bookshelves
Bayis
4 years ago
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Comments (7)
jalarse
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Maple bookshelves and poplar paneling in all wood library?
Comments (19)Poplar is dirt cheap, while maple is fairly expensive. Neither takes stain very well as others have said. You might look at a moderately priced wood which will split the difference. Birch is an option, but I have a feeling your cabinet maker may not like it. Alder is another wood that takes stain well and has a similar look to maple. Your cabinet guy will probably be fine with it, since it's currently pretty popular for furniture and cabinets and reasonably priced. Here's a photo of my den in alder. I did the staining and finishing myself so I do have some first-hand knowledge on working with alder (these were RTA unfinished cabs). It is entirely possible to get good results with stain on maple - I made a coffee table with maple legs and alder top that matches the den perfectly. But I think the issue here is that two different people are making the poplar paneling vs the maple shelves, so your odds of mis-matched colors are pretty high....See MoreHelp with and pics Stone fireplace with bookshelves
Comments (0)Hi! We are remodeling our living room and are having stone veneer placed on our fireplace area which is in the middle and stone along the hearth. The stone will be in the middle all the way up to ceiling. We are going to have our contractor build in bookshelves on either side of the fireplace. We have brown leather furniture. I need suggestions for design of the bookshelves and color of wood. Do we want wood look brown shelving or white or cream bookshelves. What would look the best? My contractor is also going to build us a mantle. Any suggestions and pictures would be fabulous! Thanks...See Morebookshelves- desperate, build my own?
Comments (11)I've had pretty good luck painting the unfinished bookcases, or staining them. And the unfinished-furniture guys here don't charge very much extra for making a bookcase to YOUR size instead of their standard sizes. They figure, they'd have to cut the wood anyway, what do they care if it's a little longer? It's only if they need more wood. Once upon a time, Knape&Vogt made this little L-shaped clips that you could use to slip over precut pieces of wood. Hammer a nail in through the holes in the front, and bingo--bookcases. But they stopped making them. I had some sort of tall stuff that was strong enough. I sometimes think you could construct bookcases using the corner braces, etc. Not as easy as the other version, but maybe.... Your lumber yard could precut the plywood, you could buy iron-on veneer edgebanding to cover the front edges, and you could measure carefully and use a drill to help install. Use the braces for top, bottom, and as many shelves as you can, and it'll be strong enough. They'd look a little less than "finished," but they could look pretty decent. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=354&filter=bracket And this company ships free--how's that for odd. http://www.multimediashelves.com/paperback-solid-wood-bookcases.html (also, don't turn your nose up at plywood--it's pretty strong, stronger than pine, I believe, and the front edge can be covered with edgebanding) Here is a link that might be useful: reinforced corner braces--Use for any right angle joint on cabinets, bookcases, shelving...See MoreBest wood to stain dark for paneling, ceiling, and bookshelves?
Comments (7)Maple and a lighter stain. The problem with maple is that it splotches a bit when stained. An experienced finisher can overcome that problem, but many carpenters do not have the experience in finishing. That is the reason many carpenters do not like maple....See MoreBeth H. :
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoBayis
4 years agoretired
4 years agoBayis
4 years agoLyndee Lee
4 years ago
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