Hi guys
Short of swiping a few cinder blocks from a local construction site and stopping the construction of a children's hospital, what's a good option for a budget bookshelf that wont bow out in the middle like the cheapy officeworks and ikea ones?
Will need maybe 3-4, ideally with doors.
Was eyeing the billy oxberg case at ikea but is way out of budget and has no guarantee of no bowed out shelves over time :(
Yeaj we have a bunnings modular style one but need at least ones with sides and a back so books font fall out :(
Was eyeing the billy oxberg case at ikea but is way out of budget
Second hand on Gumtree.
We got some bookcases made up by a little woodworks place in Melbourne, many years ago now, they have been solid as a rock. Might be worth having a ring around to see what is near you.
Not sure where you are but a lot of the furniture places have outlet centres. If you don’t mind a bit of cosmetic damage you might be able to find something at a discount. IKEA has scratch and dent areas, as well, that are worth looking at. They often have display pieces.
Might be the go. Theres a factory seconds dealer relatively close to me…
We got ours from OfficeWorks and it’s done it’s job holding books well so far. They seem quite reasonably priced too.
Ill check to see.
My experience with officework shelves has not been fantastic with bowing either.
Gumtree or Marketplace. There’s always a steady supply of Billy bookcases on there. Although the billy shelves bow over time too, so maybe see what else is available second hand. Often people will be getting rid of a few at once if they are redecorating.
Ikea updated the BIlly bookcases a couple of years ago with stronger shelving. We replaced some mismatched older ones we had with new ones about 18 months ago and the shelves seem to hold up a lot better than the old ones do.
Oh, that’s good to know, I was thinking of redoing our office including some Billy bookcases with doors.
Might be the go
Have you had a look at the Kallax ones? The shelves shouldn't bow as much as they would on the Billy, and you can buy doors for them
Kallax is more expensive haha
Maybe not cheap, but if Ikea still sell the Billy bookcase with doors then you can't go wrong with them. I would want to anchor them to the wall so that might cost you something too.
They probably don't sell the doors anymore, but I got one with frosted glass (actually plastic) and it looks really smart.
The Ikea cases come with the parts to anchor them to walls now, and you can get them for free at Ikea as well. Think they had a few too many injured customers/kids.
The website says it doesnt include them anymore. I have some hemnes drawers from years ago and i still have the anchors for that.
Just had a look "Serious or fatal crushing injuries can occur from furniture tip-over. To prevent this furniture from tipping over it must be permanently fixed to the wall with the included wall attachment devices.
Fastening devices for the wall are not included since different wall materials require different types of fastening devices. Use fastening devices suitable for the walls in your home. For advice on suitable fastening devices, contact your local specialized dealer."
I like how they include them and then they don't… but I'm wondering if they differentiate the "attachment device" vs "fastening device". I.e. It sounds like they probably have included the l shaped bracket, but you probably need to provide screws/ram plugs or whatever is appropriate yourself.
@Jimothy Wongingtons: Yep, they include the metal bracket, just not the screw or whatever, I guess because they don't know if your wall is made of brick, plasterboard with wooden stud, etc. Just get the appropriate screw for your wall type from Bunnings or wherever
The 40 CM wide Billy Bookcase is better for books than the 80 CM wide because the chipboard used for the shelves in the wider model is more prone to warping. Unfortunately you’d have to buy double though to make up the space.
Additionally, you can buy replacement shelves for the Billys from IKEA, if they do warp, just ensure that the middle shelf (the one what is physically attached to the sides) doesn’t hold anything of substantial weight because it can’t easily be replaced.
For value, and ease of getting replacement shelves, as well as a large range of doors I don’t think you’d really find much better than the Billy TBH.
Edit: As AustriaBargain already said above.
Yeah increasingly looks like we gotta go this way. Maybe ill try and add some L brackets or something to reinforce.
those 4/5 tiers bunnings/sca shelvings with thick ply
no doors though