The possessions that by far take up the most space in my self-proclaimed lifestyle of minimalism are my books and my records. Until now, I just had a crappy WAL-MART (yes, I went shopping there, but only once, I swear) shelf for my books, and a bunch of cardboard boxes for my records. Besides looking bad, this system also wasn’t very space-efficient, so I decided to search for something much less crappy.
One of the benefits of living in a major metropolitan area is the availability of an IKEA store. For years I have drooled over the elegant and affordable furniture in IKEA catalogs. I never had enough motivation to rent a UHAUL and drive from Omaha to Chicago and back just to own some IKEA furniture, as some people I knew had. So until now I had to settle for either a) wannabe modern furniture or b) midwestern traditional, pardon my English, rubbish - either way from Nebraska Furniture Mart since they pretty much monopolized furniture in Omaha.
Another great benefit of living in a major metropolitan area, especially The Bay Area, is there are more than enough people to make Craigslist useful. So once I had decided on a piece of IKEA furniture I wanted I searched Craigslist and luck had it that there was some guy in Cupertino selling his old one for half the price of new.
The shelf system I got was IKEA’s Tunhem Bookcase. As I could tell from the dimensions, it had the perfect depth for records and plenty of height for all of my most prized possessions. When I went to pick it up, I was amazed at how lightweight it was, yet it had the appearance of solid wood. Assembly was easy: I put it together without any instructions within about forty minutes and didn’t even make any errors that required backtracking, as usually seems to be the case when I’m assembling furniture. Once I was loading my stuff onto it, I was impressed by the flexibility of storage on the unit. The shelves can go on countless increments, and always have the appearance of being solidly tacked into the sides. After experimenting a little, I found a configuration that allows the Tunhem to be a book shelf, an entertainment center, and a record shelf all at once - with room to grow. Isn’t it grand?
Nick said,
December 14, 2005 @ 12:50 pm
The bottom shelf looks bowed. Is that the shelf, or just the picture?
kadavy said,
December 14, 2005 @ 12:55 pm
Yeah, that would be the distortion. My camera doesn’t have the best optics.
Ron said,
December 15, 2005 @ 11:22 am
If those shelves can support that whack of records without bending they can support anything.
You could always attach a section of PVC pipe to the back of this unit to act as a cable duct.
The beauty of IKEA furniture is that it tears down easily for when you have to move, or is easily configurable or modified. Just add drill and imagination and go!
erin said,
September 15, 2006 @ 10:03 am
i love this bookcase. i bought the tunhem tv stand & intended to buy the cabinets/bookcases later ($). i went to ikea this summer, and whaddya know: they have discontinued it. so now i have to either stain my tv stand or get a new one (or just have it not match). maybe i can find one for sale…
kathy lambert said,
October 19, 2006 @ 12:05 pm
I am desperately trying to buy another TUnem bookcase! They are discontinued? Anyone want to seel one?
jt said,
October 2, 2007 @ 9:15 am
nice - am currently hunting those ‘perfect vinyl shelves’. you should take it easy on the stackage. vinyl can be particular about having too many LPs leaning on it. Some recommend no more than 50 albums together. That’s why I want to find shelves with plenty of partitions.
Evan said,
January 12, 2008 @ 9:09 pm
with regards to mr jt
you should also move your records to lower on the shelf, unless its anchored to the wall, it’s gonna be way too top heavy.
magda said,
February 27, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
Yeah right! I loved the Tunhem for my books and vinyl too, until one of the shelves split and nearly damaged some of my records.
Sigh. The Catch 22 of IKEA.
Jeannie said,
September 10, 2008 @ 9:59 am
My friend has the Tunhem storage cabinets for her son’s rooms. Two with the solid doors and one with the glass doors. I love it for my son, but it’s discontinued. :0( Does anyone know if there is any way to get a hold of the discont’d items anywhere? I have tried craigslist and ebay, only came up with the book shelves so far. Thanks.
kadavy said,
September 10, 2008 @ 12:19 pm
Craigslist would be your best bet, so you’re on the right track, @Jeannie. Just keep trying I guess - or steal it from your friend’s house