Bookcases: What Kind Do You Need?

In our modern, multi-media world, the idea of acostly but still elegant shelves available at places
"bookcase" is almost quaint. The items manylike Pier 1 or Pottery Barn. The difference
people use as bookcases are sold asbetween them and the "entertainment storage
"entertainment storage units" and can also beunits" is that these bookcases are usually made of
used for CDs, DVDs and other media. Thesehigher quality wood and have the look of a
often come with adjustable shelves (totraditional bookcase. The more expensive ones
accommodate the variance in height betweencome already assembled and finished, but you can
CDs and books) and are sold unassembled atget very nice-looking some-assembly-required
places like Wal-Mart and Target.bookcases for a reasonable price.
These pre-fab storage units usually function wellAnother option is having shelves built directly into
enough as bookcases, CDs racks or knickknackthe walls of your home. This is almost always
holders, but they lack the elegance and statelinessdone when the home is being built, though it is
of the old-fashioned bookcases. They are usuallypossible to add them after the fact. Built-in
made of cheaper material, too, and are not nearlyshelves save space, obviously, and are sturdier
as sturdy. They work well if you only have athan even the strongest freestanding bookcases.
couple dozen books to display, which is common(There's no way to knock over built-in shelves
today, as many consumers own far more CDsunless you knocked the whole house over!) They
and DVDs than books anyway.are especially prized in small apartments or homes
If you have a large library of books, a morewhere space is otherwise at a premium. It's an
traditional bookcase may be in order. The priceoption worth considering when looking for a new
range on these bookcases run the gamut, all thehome.
way from hand-crafted mahogany cases to less