Floor to Ceiling Bookshelves

When I said I wanted floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a carpenter was recommended by both his wife and a satisfied customer—honest, reliable, skilled, no cigarette butts or loud music--and I hired him on the spot, the spot being my dining room.  I didn’t bother to check with the place where I’d gotten bookcases in the past, 99 Sanchez Street, SF (621-3761) until the honest, reliable, skilled, no cigarette butts or loud music carpenter started building something that came up in my study:  A book case just for binders.  He would stain the pine wood the same dark color I had stained the ones I bought to get them to match the walnut-finish particle board one I was giving away.  (One bad deed leads to another.) 

Then, when his wife said something about $400.00, I checked into the 99 Sanchez place to find out what I’d paid for a slightly shorter bookcase.  I couldn’t find out about the ones bought in 2005, but now a pine book shelf 6 ½ feet tall, 36” across and 9” deep would be $275.  If I wanted it 11” deep, it would be $319.  I realized then that this carpenter’s talent and time had been wasted on my bookshelf.  I should have paid him to help me pick up a ready-made one and then let him spend his time and apply his skill to something more intricate, but I was happy with what he did and his charming manner.

This time, though, I decided to check on the more intricate bookshelf in advance and called 99 Sanchez about an oak bookcase.  They missed the oak part and gave me an estimate for 12 feet across, 7 feet tall, and 9 inches deep.  (Did I ever tell them how tall I wanted each shelf?)  They said they could make three 48” wide bookshelves for $398 each if I wanted fixed shelves and $700 each if I wanted adjustable.  But that’s when the oak versus pine question came up.  They would call me back.  Unfortunately, I kept my phone pretty busy after that, calling a gardener to get the number for an electrician to fix my non-functioning doorbell and being referred to a handyman who had the electrician’s number.

In the end no one came.  Geary had meant next Sunday, not this Sunday.  Linda and Edwin had to get ready for a few weeks in China, where they’re going tomorrow evening, and then need to get rid of their van.  Dixon simply didn’t come, which is unfortunate because I was going to get his help with the furnace, too, and possibly with the toilet as well as with the non-functioning doorbell.

But, getting back to bookshelves…Jeff told me that a solid oak floor-to-ceiling bookshelf would cost thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars instead of just thousands and thousands, so he plans to put an edge on the plywood (not particle board—much better than particle board).  I’m not sure edge is the right word.  A “finish.”  Something that will make the bookcase look like solid oak even though it won’t be.  I found myself saying, “The trouble with getting one thing that’s quality is that then you have to get another thing of quality, and pretty soon you’re just surrounded by things of quality!  I said this with an agonized grimace.  Or did I grimace as I said this in agony?  Whatever the case, I made the point that I wouldn’t want such a thing to happen to me and MY home!