Winsome Mission Beech Wood 4-Tier Shelf, Natural

I was worried at first because the box it came it had multiple shipping addressee stickers on it (yikes, privacy) and was retaped, but when I opened the box everything was clearly factory-wrapped still. There were also no spare hardware, but they were good quality and I didn't need any extra bits. I looked over all the pieces and other than a few superficial scratches, the pins that the shelves sit on being a bit loose, and the screws holding the hinges not having been pre-screwed flush with the hinge plate (not a huge deal and not worth the risk of trying to screw them in further since the hinges were held tight to the shelves), everything was in order and all the holes were in the right place. A rubber mallet, painter's tape, and a wall are definitely your friends when putting this together. I was able to put it together by myself pretty easily by leaning pieces against a wall while working. Putting all the screws in loosely before tightening and using the tape to keep the washers in place before tightening the screws really helped everything go smoothly. I also didn't use the included Allen wrench, I used a ratcheting screwdriver which made things a lot easier. I have two other folding pieces from this company and I love them, but I find it odd that one has straight edges on the shelves, one has rounded edges, and this one has angled edges, though they're clearly supposed to match (the slatted sides are the same, they're all made of the same material in the same stain, and all fold). Despite that, and that they're a bit pricier than typical flat-pack furniture, I'm happy I've purchased them. I don't like particle board, and these are great solid wood and make it worth the price. Out of the 3 pieces, this shelf is the sturdiest.

I am no pro, but I would say that I have better than average skills at this sort of thing. Still, I did not laugh off the possible difficulty or the fact that it is recommended to have a helper. However, being alone and wanting to begin, I put the first of four together alone. As my title says, it was difficult and tedious. This is not to say that the way they are not designed you are not almost guaranteed to get a good job...once you get it done. It took me about an hour and a half although the first is always slower. I have some general ideas on how to do better, but I don't expect to fly through the others. In fact, I dread three more repetitions. There really is no great way around the tediousness of this assembly unless you have elaborate factory jigs. A second person would be a big help in some places and very little help in other places. And you might have a fight in your frustration! I took a star away from this nice, quality product, because I feel that it should be shipped fully assembled. These things fold quite flat even with the top shelf design which is a little unusual for this sort of folding bookcase. I cannot imagine that shipping a container full of them from Asia would cost any more if they were assembled. OTOH, the larger, flatter package would be a bit more difficult to handle one-at-a-time in a fulfillment center and might cost a bit more to ship to the consumer. I'd consider it a bargain to pay ten or fifteen bucks more and have it pre-assembled although that is with hindsight. If I were in shopping mode, I might not see that an assembled one was worth much more than one I would assemble. If it had come in pre-assembled, I'd be trying to give it six stars! Update: Well, I have them all assembled and am so pleased and proud of myself that I have ordered two more to do a 3x2 double-stack. Obviously I have tested stacking them, and it looks real solid. I am also upgrading my star rating from 4 to 5 stars. I still think it would be nicer if the factory did this work for us, but once you have two or three of them under your belt, it is no problem. In fact, it becomes a pleasurable task really requiring only 30 to 45 minutes. IMO, a helper is entirely superfluous. I want to offer a couple of tips learned the hard way. #1 - Ignore the instruction not to tighten the screws until after you have the shelves in place. This instruction is exactly half wrong and the half is important, at least the way I did it. Working on a table or on the floor, mount the three back rails into one of the preassembled sides and fully tighten the screws. Insert the dowels into the other side piece, stick your new bookcase together, and STAND IT UP on the floor. (Best on carpet where things don't slide around.) At this point, the side with the fully tightened screws is stable, and you are holding the other side which is just resting on its loose dowels. Now put the screws into the second side just far enough to bite into the ends of the three rails. Now it is stable, although flimsy, which is necessary to allow you to fit the top into place with its protruding dowels. With the top in place, you can tightened all the loose screws a couple of turns to improve stability. Then insert the shelves starting with the bottom shelf to keep each shelf out of your way as you install the next one. Now you can tighten all the screws, but don't over tighten...just get them snug. #2 - You'll need to contrive some way to hold the washers in place, which can be a nasty problem. I worked this out with a product called Scotch Mounting Puddy, which is available here at Amazon. But since you only need a bit of it, you might want to pick up the smallest and cheapest pack locally at a hardware store or (like me) at an office supply superstore. Right at the beginning (before my step #1 really), I take each of the three rails in hand and stick the washers in place using tiny bits of the putty. Two possible approaches: either put a film of putty larger than the holes over them, or, alternatively, just put three or four bits of putty around the hole and stick the the washers in place. If you cover the hole, you should take a screw and punch through from the washer side cleaning out the putty directly over the hole. If you don't do this, when you insert the screw from the other side, it will tend to push the putty along with the washer out of position. No big deal, really. We're just trying to keep the washers in place for final assembly, something that is nearly impossible without some adhesive. Double-sided tape might work well. Or chewing gum! Maybe super glue...not sure, but if you have some around, might as well give it a try. If you feel the need to clean up any visible putty after assembly, you need nothing more than a pen knife or your fingernail. # 3 - This was supposed to be the assembly phase, but I see that I already covered that at #1. I suggest that before you start, you take the parts in your hands where you expect to work and do a kind of dry run. (It is not the same as a mental dry run sitting in your chair!) I hope this is helpful. Since it is really only the first one that is kind of difficult, I have tried to share what I learned doing four of them (with two more shipping today).

The shelf is the third item in this line I've bought (desk and printer stand are the other two). It's really nice to have matching work/study furniture and I like the ease of folding these up for transport or storage. I found this easier to put together than the others. The desk was especially trying. The bookshelf took a calm understanding of how to work with gravity and a bit of candle wax on the screws to help them go in easier. The hex-key comes included and the other tools needed are a hammer or mallet and an optional bit of candlewax. Got it together by myself in under half an hour. The instructions were mostly drawings with very few words. I'm going to use some Sugru to make a holder for the hex key under the bottom shelf so I don't lose it. Put it near the finished place before adding shelves as those beasts are heavy! But easily manoeuvred by one moderately-strong person even fully assembled. It's very stable while empty and comes with some stuff to attach it to the wall if you have kids, people who stagger and grab hold of the furniture to steady themselves, or live in an earthquake zone. The shelf looks good, feels good, and the finish is nice and even. The box came badly damaged, but the packaging was adequate to protect the contents. I didn't like the stupid bossy sticker on the underside of the top shelf. It said not to remove the sticker and told me some guff about not opening the drawers all at once. um... no drawers on this unit. But I don't like being bossed around by stickers. An idea for the future to reword the warning to be kinder and relevant to the item, but it's probably a government thing they have to put it on, so no loss of stars for a bossy sticker. Yes, I think I'm going to be very happy with this shelf unit.

This shelf system worked as advertised. It's made of solid wood, easy to assemble, and convenient to move with its fold up features. Just as a tip, I use a cordless drill with various bits to assemble furniture, expediting the process and saving my wrists.

This is a quality product and I am extremely pleased with it. I would recommend that 2 people assemble it though because as it is a foldable item it also likes to fold when your trying to put it together! So one to hold it and one to put in all the various screws etc. It is all fitted together with the aid of an alum key which comes with it. It is quite possible to assemble on your own, even for a 70+ year old, like me as long as you have cushions, knees, feet and contortionist moves to keep the various shelves and siding together when assembling, it was a fun and challenging afternoon, but as I said with 2 folks it would be easy and straightforward.