Winsome Wood Folding 4-Tier Shelf

THE BOTTOM LINE:

It's attractive and functional. Despite being unnecessarily hard to assemble, I recommend it.

LOOKS:

This bookshelf is composed of natural-colored wood with a pleasing pattern to the grain. It has simple yet elegant lines.

STABILITY:

On a scale of 1 to 10 I give this bookshelf a 7. This is actually quite acceptable for an item that is tall and narrow and made of light-weight materials. All that is needed here is common sense--put the heaviest books on the bottom shelf.

PACKAGING:

It was well packaged and arrived undamaged.

ASSEMBLY--THE SHORT VERSION:

It was really hard to assemble this bookshelf.

ASSEMBLY--THE PLAY-BY-PLAY VERSION:

3 of the 4 shelves come already attached except for 1 support bracket each that you have to attach yourself by screwing them into predrilled screw holes. This part is easy, and it went fast. The trouble came with the 4th (top) shelf. In order to attach it you have to screw on 2 support brackets that have pegs sticking out of them (again, screwing them into predrilled screw holes). These pegs are meant to fit into 2 peg-shaped recesses in the sides of the bookshelf.

Here's the problem: If you attach these brackets to the shelf first, and then try to 'slide' the shelf into place, you will create a deep gouge in the wood, and --believe me-they won't go in anyway. There simply isn't enough clearance. Even if you do one at a time. Even if you flip up the bottom 3 shelves so that they're not 'holding' the bookshelf closed.

I figured the way around this was to slide the brackets into their 2 recesses in the bookshelf first, (easy,) and then rest the shelf on them, and then reach up from underneath and screw in their screws last. This was impossible. There wasn't enough clearance to get the shelf to fit into place. Believe me I tried.

After 45 minutes of jamming and shoving, and exloring new frontiers of cursing while contorting my body into stranger and stranger shapes (and even discovering a new yoga pose--whose name would never make it past the Amazon censors) I was finally able to accept that it wasn't going to happen.

This cleared my mind to come up with the obvious solution. If I couldn't get the shelf to go into the bookshelf, I would have to de-assemble the whole bookshelf and reassemble it around the shelf. This was actually easy and fast because I have another of their products and had saved the special tool they'd included that fits into all their main screws. I removed the wooden plugs that hide these screws and unscrewed the top two. This created enough 'slack' in the bookshelf for me to fit the final shelf into place, resting on the two brackets. I then rescrewed the 2 screw. At this point I'd planned to screw the brackets into the shelf but now that the shelf was where it was supposed to be it was obvious that the predrilled screw holes were not. On the other hand, now that I'd assembled the bookshelf around the top shelf, both it and the 2 brackets it rested on were jammed in so tight I couldn't have removed them with brute force even if I'd wanted to.

So I called it done.

CONCLUSION:

Aside from wishing more care had been given to preassembling this product, I am well pleased with it. I live and work in a 2 room studio, so each new item of furniture has to be both beautiful and functional to justify the space it's taking up.

This bookshelf passes both tests with flying colors. It is a lovely new addition to my teeny tiny home.

Maybe I didn't read the description correctly or maybe it just wasn't listed, but when this bookcase arrived it was MUCH smaller and narrower than I had envisioned.

That said, I was very impressed with the quality of it and the way it folds neatly when not in use.

If you're looking to use this for actual storage of books and documents (about 80 hardcover books)keep looking, but if you're looking for something decorative to display decorative little things and photo albums (about 8 albums per shelf) this is perfect.

Buy Winsome Wood Folding 4-Tier Shelf Now

I bought this shelf (in black) about 18 months ago. It arrived with a couple minor scratches (as other reviewers have mentioned) from shipping. The shelf is very sturdy and well built (from solid wood unlike similarly priced products which are made of particle board) so I feel completely fine filling it with my college textbooks. I am planning to buy a second identical shelf in the near future.

Initial assembly is a little complicated (as there are similar pieces with slight variations which make it hard to line up holes) but you only need to do that once. After it's assembled, it folds down easily which is great. I've moved twice since buying the shelf and it is a breeze to flatten the shelf, move it out of a building and place it in the back of a car.

I wouldn't call it a piece of fine furniture, but a must have for a student that has lots of books and needs to move around frequently.

Read Best Reviews of Winsome Wood Folding 4-Tier Shelf Here

Got it from AAA.

I have ordered Antique Walnut and what has arived says Walnut on the box, but is wery dark in color. There are lots of defects of the stain and wood, it does not stay straight on the floor very poor quality.

Size and function are as specified and I did not have any trouble assembling it, although it did require some use of force to set top shelf in place.

I had no choice, really, because I needed it to be 14" wide, but if you are flexible with size, get something else.

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I just recieved this thing called a bookshelf. It has no quality at all.

I opened the box, and removed the shelf. One of upright legs on the back had been made with a piece of lumber that had been broken completely in

half and put back together with staples. It looks like a stitched incision. It was completely scratched all over. We had to fix all the scratches.

If I had not had to have it now, I would have sent back for a full refund!!

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually it should have 0 stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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