IKEA Hemnes Bookcases do not sag!

This is an update on my previous posts about the introduction of IKEA Hemnes Bookcases into my home last May.

• Hemnes Bookcase x 4 for "The Art Library" #1 - shows you what I bought - the Hemnes 90cm wide bookcase by IKEA. ie the naked version as per IKEA catalogue
• Hemnes Bookcase x 4 for "The Art Library" #2 - RESULT! - this shows you the top two thirds of the first one we made up - loaded with books
• Reviews: Hemnes Bookcases - after the carpentry! - This shows you what three look like together and screwed to the wall to avoid them toppling.  

One year on I continue to highly recommend these bookcases.  They are the most satisfactory purchase I've ever made in terms of quality and cost and housing books.

The bookcases are made of robust wood and have shown absolutely no signs of sagging due to the very heavy weight of my art books during the last 12 months since I got them.

Here's a picture of the top five shelves of a couple of them.  We are talking seriously heavy weight art books.  I stagger just shifting a small pile of them!  As you can see there is absolutely no sagging after a year doing a good job.

Hemnes bookcases do not sag when used for heavyweight art books

It is worth noting that since many of books are oversized I've had to resort to lying them down on their sides so that I am can then make most effective use of the shelves and space available.  It just takes a little longer to get at the one at the bottom of the pile.

I'd rather do it this way than have yet another bookcase so it can look "smarter".  I'm a fan of shelves stuffed full of books and in case would continue to stuff books in them even if I tried being neater/smarter.

All I ask is that I can have a rigorous library categorisation system (I'm nearly there)

Almost a full size view of Bookcase 2
Shelf 1 (top) Botanical Art - Art history on left and instruction on right
Shelf 2: Design and Composition on left and Colour on right
Shelf 3: Coloured Pencils on left and Pastels on right
Shelf 4: Van Gogh and David Hockney - plus misc. small art history books
Shelf 5: Warercolour painting
Shelf 6: Drawing pads, large and small Moleskine and Daler Rowney sketchbooks plus some very big books

You can click the images to see larger images if you'd like to try and read the titles of my books!

Hemnes Bookcases - after the carpentry!

Three IKEA Hemnes Bookcases - after the carpentry and bolting to the wall
my two pastel Artbins are demonstrating they can now stack/fit underneath!

This is the third in my saga about developing the ultimate solution for "The Art Library".  I decided in the end to have three of IKEA's Hemnes 90cm wide bookcase  on a different wall and one in another room.  The above is a picture of the three after a day's carpentry.  This was required because:

• there is no way you should fill these bookcases full of books without fastening them to the wall.  As recommended by IKEA, they need to fastened securely to the wall.
• my home was built in 1848 and has walls and floors which lean and lacks right angles which are 90 degrees

In the end we fixed on having a batten fixed to the studs in the lathe and plaster wall and then fixing the bookcases to the batten.  Sounds easy but the nature of the wall meant it wasn't quite so simple

Anthea, my carpenter, then also had to make the adjustments for the floor.  Over the years the joists have sagged which means that the right hand edge of the bookcase sits on the carpet while the left hand edge sits on a 3/4" block of wood - with the two uprights in the middle on gradated wood blocks inbetween.  It's still useful to have the adjustable feet for when I move - and they were very simple to operate even if we didn't put them to the ultimate test in the end!

The good news is that after all the adjustments, the three Hemnes bookcases all fitted together perfectly with no gaps.

The extra height on the left between the carpet and bookcase has also provided an ideal space for my two pastel artbin boxes which are an awkward size and shape for normal storage!

They are also completely rigid and there's no chance of them toppling when pulling out a heavy art book from amongst lots of other heavy books.  These IKEA bookcases still feel very solid and reliable for containing all my heavy art books.  Each shelf can take a load of up to a maximum of 30 kg of books.

Below is a photo taken about half way through the massive exercise of bringing all the art books back.  I'm still finishing the organisation of the third bookcase and will take another 'annotated' photo when done.

Three IKEA Hemnes Bookcases - half full of the Art Library

Bonus #1 - depending on how you look at it - is that my cat Cosmo can now jump from his usual perch on top of the door to a brand new high level run from where he can observe everything that's going on.  It also provides a launch pad for jumping down on our heads if we sit on the sofa now placed up against the bookcases!

Bonus #2 is I think I managed to lose two pounds while hefting heavy art books around the room three times!

The first two posts in this series about my quest for the ultimate solution for 'The Art Library' are:

• Hemnes Bookcase x 4 for "The Art Library" #1
• Hemnes Bookcase x 4 for "The Art Library" #2 - RESULT!

Hemnes Bookcase x 4 for "The Art Library" #2 - RESULT!

This is my review of the Hemnes 90cm wide bookcase by IKEA - bought for my ever increasing library of art books.  In this review, I'm focusing on:

• quality of the bookcase, 
• ease of construction
• whether the art books fit!

This post follows on from Hemnes Bookcase x 4 for "The Art Library" #1 which shows you what the bookcase looks like without any books.

Below you can see the top half of the first of my four new Hemnes Bookcases from IKEA. Three are still in their cardboard packaging and will be erected one at a time over the course of the next week.

IKEA Hemnes Bookcase loaded with art books and sketchbooks
Three more to construct - was it easy?  Yes!
click the image to see a larger image

Summary recommendation

If you've got an extensive library of art books like me, then you also need bookcases.  If you're planning to move and/or prefer non-built in bookcases, I highly recommend the IKEA Hemnes Bookcase on the basis of my experience to date.

For the reasons why see below.

Hemnes Bookcase x 4 for "The Art Library" #1

I've lost count of how many art books I have.  I just know I ran out of bookcase space a very long time ago.  I've also now run out of stacking space on every spare bit of floor and flat space.

The thing is stacks fall over.  Plus I always want the book at the bottom of the stack.  It gets very tedious.

So the stacks have to go and so this week I invested in four new bookcases.  I'm hoping it will be  enough!

The bookcases I've bought are the Hemnes 90cm wide bookcase by IKEA.

Hemnes Bookcase - white
(Width: 90 cm; Depth: 37 cm; Height: 197 cm
Max. load/shelf: 30 kg

I had originally toyed with building a giant bookcase right across one wall - but this seemed a bit pointless given the plan is to move.

The idea is that these painted pine bookcases will give me the most flexible options for the future - and with adjustable legs they give me the best option re 170 year old floorboards right now!

This is the pre-assembly blog post.  I'm calm - I have a plan of action - and "he who must not be bored while I sketch" is going to help me put them together.

If it all goes to plan we should have two assembled, in the right place (after quite a lot of furniture manoeuvring) and full of books by the end of tomorrow.  Then it's on to the next two - after a short breather while I write a review of how easy they were to assemble.

[UPDATE:  See Hemnes Bookcase x 4 for "The Art Library" #2 - RESULT! for what happened next ]

PS  I also bought an Alex storage drawer unit for my art paper.  Just trying to work out at the moment whether I've bought the one on castors as intended!