Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)As echoed by other reviewers, this was the most frustrating piece of furniture that I've ever had the displeasure of putting together.
Material quality is middling, instructions are poor, end product is middling, but it ends up looking pretty nice.
I'm the type of person that other people come to when they can't put furniture together and I still had MULTIPLE problems putting this together.
1) For the descending pyramid shelves, there are 3 shorter pieces of varying sizes and 3 tall pieces all the same size (for the two left shelves).
2) These three tall pieces have a "left-right-center" relationship that is not labeled, not clear, not indicated in the instructions.
3) Furthermore the "center" piece has a "north-south" orientation that is not labeled, not clear, not indicated in the instructions (this is the inexcusable one)
4) The screw-holes are not counter-sunk on the bottom or the top. I ended up partially counter-sinking the top screw-holes so I didn't have dumb screws sticking 1/16" out of the top with a sticker on top. On the bottom, I covered them with felt and plan on not dragging it across the floor.
IF YOU DO BUY THIS:
1) Separate the 3 tall pieces. Determine "left-right-center" by looking at the unfinished *back* of the bookshelf. There is a lap/groove that the cardboard back fits into. Make sure that the center piece has no raised lap/groove protrusions.
2) Determine the "north-south" orientation of that "center" piece. I think the only way to determine this is with a damned tape measure. Make sure that the height from the bottom-most holes to the ground are consistent otherwise you will be disassembling the whole thing, popping the nails out of the back, forcing the glue off the top and bottom dowels, flipping, regluing, renailing the center piece and generally getting a lot more frustrated than necessary.
There are similar products by IKEA that can get you a similar effect and are of a much higher general build quality.
All that being said, the end product ends up looking fairly nice.
It would be easy for this product to get four stars:
1) Label the pieces vertical pieces: 1,2,3,4,5,6.
2) Put an "up arrow" on piece #2.
For five stars it would have to be made of more solid material and the shelves would have to fit better between the vertical supports.
If you'd like to continue the pyramid effect, you can get the IKEA "Billy" 15" wide shelf (these shelves are ~10" wide) and slide to the left. There is a slight color variation but it's in the same general tone and not very noticeable. This approximately doubles the amount of linear-feet of shelving if you have a lot of books. For *yet more* storage, you can make sure your ceiling permits it and get another Billy with the extra ~15" tall top-extender. I haven't had the need to go that far but it's good to know there will be a good-looking option for expanding.
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Contemporary Home Office Cube Bookcase Display Shelves
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