Thanks goldgirl, I've actually seen the Woodcraft bookcases at an unpainted furniture store. They do look sturdy. I was told that there would be a six week wait for delivery. Looking around I saw the lumber core at an office furniture store. They were cheaper and I could have them in a week. The gentleman I spoke with brought up shelf test weights. He wasn't sure just what they measured (and neither am I), but said it was an "industry standard". His bookcases' test weights were 125 lb and he assured me this was all that I needed. mogator, I don't know if that means the shelf should support 125 lbs or not. But a 3 foot stack of books is pretty heavy - more than I can lift. I only want to buy once - not have to replace in a couple of years. goldgirl, are your shelves warped at all? The office furniture salesman said that unpainted solid wood shelves would warp more than lumber core. He seemed credible, but I take everything with a grain of salt and try to find out as much as I can from other sources. Thanks for the help.

Thanks. We thought about shelving under the windows, but in order to make a windowseat it really would have to be 18" high and probably more than 14" deep, so it doesn't help with tranistion to the bookcases on the side walls. If we went 18.5" deep we could get the outlet inside the cabinet (top would still be higher than windowseat) but really too close to floor vent which cousin says is too hard to move rigid ductwork in basement and patch the carpet. I think we'll be fine with the outlet just in front of the cabinet so we can recharge Game Boy, cell phones. We may try to put outlets on the walls behind the bookcases (full basement) but since they're exterior walls I don't know if that's going to be hard - would need 90 degree drill bit to drill through sill plate? The walls are just barely 24" so builder didn't put outlets there. Not sure if we could squeeze one on the same wall, right in the corner. I want to add another one at the next stud location so it's more behind the sofa/end table - I hate having the lamp cord trailing over to the side. Plus if we went with the windowseat we would have no place for the new loveseat we bought last summer (thinking it would be a while before we would put in windowseat). It's just in front of the slider now b/c we had the Xmas tree in the bay, and now the bay is a play area. We'll move the LS back to the bay later this year. I guess we could just do shelves and no door/drawer, put the board games in the extra-deep coat closet (when I get the French doors, short pieces of baseboard and casing out of it). But I really need drawers for pens, pencils, markers, paint pens, glue sticks, and pads/coloring books. I don't think chests or cabinets or bins on shelves would work for those. Unless I store them in my kitchen island after I get 2 new drawers in there (used a bath vanity in center of island for baking center, still trying to get Merillat to give me part number for drawer boxes that will fit - might have to do custom). Oh, and the color of the baseboard (and window trim when we put it up - Honey Maple) is pretty close to my kitchen cabinets (Oak Cider). The furniture is a mix of golden and mission oak. Do you think a floor poly or varnish (Waterlox?) would be a good choice for horizontal surfaces (vertical I'd probably do the satin poly I did the baseboards in so the sheen would match)?

loribee and Connie, thank you for the kind words. Connie, I just spent some lovely time on your blog, totally captivated by your new kittens and your roses. (I'm a new native gardening.) I love seeing what people have done with customizing other pieces but we're just not DIY folks at all. Hubby has ZERO interest and my abilities are limited. So mostly we either have to buy ready to go or pay someone to do things. One other reason to replace these is that I can then move some of them into my office which has shorter shelves and into hubby's office which also has shorter shelves. We need a lot of bookspace. les - no, the store won't come out here and it's not custom as in them building various sizes. Plus the store is an hour away. The fitting is pretty basic - I have 67" on one side of the fireplace and 73" on the other. All bookcases are 12" deep and there is 33" and 46" wide one to be used. So 12" + 46" = 58 with 9" left on one side and 15" left on the other because of course the fireplace isn't in the middle of the wall. :) Those gaps are too wide on either side of the fireplace to look decent and if I use these cases, I can't really make something to fit the small space and match. If I use the pine ones I have more widths to choose from, 24, 30, 36, 48 so I could do a 24 and 30 on one side and 30 and 30 on the other side which, when I add in the 12" depth for the cases from the other wall, gives me an inch to spare. But I need to figure out the heat registers and look at the case bottoms better today to see if we can cut the fronts for registers or mount them on bases of some kind. I tell you, I'm exhausted by all of this. Watching them demo the ceramic tile for the wood floor is going to be a piece of cake after this. :) The other think you might consider, and I dont know for sure what would be cheaper, would be to have the bookcases made of stain-grade plywood, or paint grade that you do in a deep black brown, or a white to match the fireplace. I spent another couple of hours looking at the various manufacturers on the stores website and found a couple of entertainment units that should work. I'll ask about them when we go today. Hubby is picky. We need something for the TV, no problem, but then the 4 components (DVD, TiVo, subwoofer and CD player) need a space that is open on both the front and the back. He won't use glass or cloth doors and wants an open back. (We'll just cut what we need from the back if it doesn't come open.) But like I said, I think there are a few pieces that would work and the handyman came by last night and said that he could do the bridge stuff I wanted. It's the heat registers to solve now. And can I just say again, thank you to all of you who read and comment and hold hands through this process? I don't have anyone local here to bounce this stuff around with so I really, really appreciate it.

Thanks for the info. If you've had them that long with big books, they should last ds as long as he doesn't climb on them. He's still got mostly paperbacks, thin hardcovers, though he does have all the Harry Potter and Eragon series. Since this guy was advertising they were nearly 45% off (if you bought all 4 he has), I'm going to ask for 3 for $200 instead of $225. Original price (with extra shelf) was $120 ea plus 6% tax. Dilly_dally - thanks for the link - don't know if we'll have to take them apart/put them back together (definitely have to take extension off - too tall for truck). Seller might not have instructions any more. Does anybody know about Ikea's warranty?