Winsome Studio Shelving, 3, Honey

Being senior citizens (both of us are a tick over 60), my wife and I have always bought the best furniture we could afford from the day we were married. Since we were into Early American and Traditional furniture, furniture makers such as Ethan Allen, Pennsylvania House, and Tell City were the sources we bought our wood furniture. Solid hard rock maple, cherry, and walnut, these types of wood furniture are what we've invested in over the years. These were not veneered plywood-based pieces, but solid hardwoods in the aforementioned woods. Expensive... yes (for example, $1,200 in the mid-'80s for a Queen Anne style sofa table), but they look as good now as they did when we purchased the majority of them 25 to 40 years ago. Ethan Allen is still around, but they've reinvented themselves, and both Pennsylvania House and Tell City no longer exist. It seems the younger generation desires cheap, e.g. throwaway furniture, thus great American furniture companies have gone away in favor of those in China, Thailand, Vietnam, and IKEA's many sources, which often tends to be Poland.Why did I discuss these companies, simply to lend some credibility that I know how good furniture is built, in terms of joinery, and overall construction and attention to detail. For the price paid for the Winsome Wood 4-Tier Bookshelf in Honey, this item is an excellent value. Is the joinery perfect? No, but it's certainly good enough for its use and $79 price! I'm not certain of the type of wood used here since the country of origin is Thailand, but its real solid wood, not a veneered form, and certainly not particle or flake board based. It's likely a wood that's plentiful in Thailand - if any other owner knows the wood type, please comment. The joinery on the upright side pieces is acceptable; the joinery on the individual shelves is excellent.The instructions, essentially graphically based, are very straightforward and easy to follow. The instructions recommend two people for assembly, but I assembled it by myself in less than 30 minutes. One area was, and still is, a bit cloudy, and that pertains to the three horizontal pieces that connect the left and right uprights at the rear of the unit. These pieces have two dowel pins on each end that fit into two holes at the rear of the left and right upright piece. The dowel pins are fluted, and this implies that wood glue should be used. Nothing was stated, or graphically implied, regarding the use of wood glue at these twelve strategic points. I submit that if you plan to never knock this down into its individual pieces again. you may wish to strongly consider the use of a bit of wood glue on the dowel pins. However, if you do plan to take it apart in the future, certainly don't use the glue. I didn't use wood glue, and have noticed these three horizontal pieces do rock a bit back and forth. I'm seriously considering taking it apart, and applying wood glue to the dowel pins, as I'm sure it would increase the structural strength at the rear of the unit.I did not use the 4mm Allen hex wrench supplied in the package to install the hex head wood screws. Rather I used a hand driver with a 4mm hex head for the initial "loose" tightening of the screws. I put some Bee's Wax on the threads of the screws, and this makes the process much easier as it lubricates the threads and wood during the tightening process. This is an old wood worker's trick to ensure that you don't crack the wood. A bar of hand soap, especially Dove, will work in a pinch. I performed the final tightening after all of the shelves were installed with a 4mm hex head extension on a 3/8" socket and ratchet. This made the installation of the top very easy, as the supplied 4mm Allen wrench interferes with the upright side pieces when tightening the top shelf. I know many homeowner's don't have these various types of tools, but I used to work on European cars as a hobby, and I have tons of unique Metric tools, including socket sets with Metric hex head drivers.The color is a touch lighter in color or hue than viewed on Amazon's product page, but this could be the calibration of my LCD monitor. It's used in our finished basement with some oak office furniture that I hand finished with walnut Danish wiping oil, so the Winsome bookshelf is certainly a lighter shade than the oak, tending toward almost a light to medium maple color. But, it's totally acceptable for our application to hold photos, and other small items. The finish on the uprights and the tops of the shelves are fine with no roughness whatsoever. It's obvious there's a difference in finish of the top and bottom of each shelf, but the tops of the shelves on our unit were sanded smooth and the finish was even. All in all, very acceptable finishing of the bookshelf. We considered a leaning shelf, aka ladder shelf, for this application, but we have a cat, and we've been told that the leaning shelf becomes a new toy for any feline!Overall, this bookshelf is a serious bargain at Amazon's current price point. Go to Wally World or any other Big Box store and price out something similar in particle board. There is absolutely no question that this is superior to any particle board-based inexpensive bookshelf. What amazes me is given Amazon's profit margin, the margin of the importer (Winsome), what the cost of production of this product must be. No wonder American companies can no longer compete at the low end with this type of real wood product. This bookshelf probably hits incoming customs at a cost of less than $25 to $40 per unit (likely even less I'll wager), and that's simply unbelievable given the overall quality of this bookshelf.

I bought a total of six of these, two initially and four more a week or so later. This is a very nice shelf and easy to put together alone once you develop a knack for the "Winsome Wood Way." I realize there can be a "bad one" here and there, but I never had a bad shelf (including the 6 other Winsome Wood products we have around here, purchased at various times). I've gotten adept at assembling Winsome Wood items (including these shelves, which are a bit heavier than the skinny tall/short ones they make) myself since it's far faster for me to drag them upstairs (under 30 lbs each) and knock 'em together than it is to wait for my husband to get around to it. They are high quality (given a price of under $70 each, shipped) and hold a fair amount of books. They are FAR AND AWAY better than anything made with particle board. Real wood, really sturdy, and really easy to assemble (and once you get used to how they do things, you don't even need the directions for this or any of their other fantastic shelves or the writing desk). So even if you had a bad experience once...it's worth getting more; you do get better at assembling them, and they're sturdy and inexpensive. Protips: put in one of the middle shelves first, then the other middleish one, then the bottom one; it makes it easier to do it alone than trying to balance it by starting on the bottom. Just be gentle and you won't break it. If you've got strong sunlight through a window coming in, it's best because the holes do tend to line up nicely and you can see them to flip the thing upside down to assemble the top (hardest part since the wrench is a bit too long, but you can get it done.

Slight pain to assemble but not difficult. Looks great and feels sturdy!

I share my home office with my husband and the room also acts as a hobby room. Needless to say it is a tight space. My working desk/space has been struggling with organization for a long time -- I have a work computer, personal laptop, many reference books for my job, all computer accessories necessary for teleworking and it is a lot for one desk to handle. The space between the desk and the wall is only 27" and I was looking for a shelving unit which would keep my laptop near to eye level while seated at the desk. This unit fits perfectly into the space and holds all the reference books with space to spare fore the accessories and other accumulated items from my workspace.The unit arrived in a sturdy box and well packaged to prevent damage to the individual pieces. Another reviewer mentioned that the paper had adhered to the pieces and as you can see in my photos, this also happened to me. A few damp paper towels and some time removed the paper that had stuck. It cleaned up just fine, but did increase the time for full assembly. Once all the pieces were removed from the packaging and cleaned up from the stuck paper, I discovered the top shelf's underside had a significant scratch and scuff. Fortunately being on the underside, I decided to not worry about it since it wouldn't be seen once assembled.Assembly was very straight forward but not necessarily "easy." The unit comes with pre-drilled points for the provided wood screws which need to be driven by hand into the wood with the provided hex-allen key. This means if you are not careful, it can be easy to not drive the screw straight into the wood, increasing the potential for splitting it. I was successful to not split any of the shelves during assembly but the hex-allen key was very slow and by the end of the assembly my hands and fingers were in pain from using it to drive the screws into solid wood.PROS -- Solid wood and sturdy; fits small spaces; honey finish is warm and inviting; simple and straight-forward assembly.CONS -- extra time needed to clean up stuck paper prior to assembly; assembly was difficult using the provided hex-allen key to drive the wood screws; my unit had some damage but was determined acceptable since it would not be seen once assembled.

I recently purchased a supposedly " high end " nursery set from natart cribs that was advertised as solid wood . Upon arrival I discovered that it was ~ 75 % plywood or laminated board!! That is not solid wood to my definition. The winsome book shelf was exactly that , solid wood . The finger and plank joinery was excellent as was the finish , Even the screw hole plugs where a perfect fit and finish. Will definitely by more of there product .

Sólido, con muy buen espacio para libros y excelente acabado

This bookcase is the perfect size for the space needed. It's handsome in its simplicity. Unlike the labyrinthine directions that sometimes accompany such products, these were clear and straightforward. I like that air circulates around the entire shelf--far less dust settling behind the books, and what's there is easy to wipe away without removing all of them.

Took a little while to assemble but well worth it for a solid wood piece. Recommended

Everything you want in a bookshelf!