SwampDragons

I think these were the standard 79.5 inch tall shelves. We didn't have to cut them, but the ceilings in that room were unusually tall -- they're not your standard 9 ft ceilings. I don't live there any more so I would have to guess, but I think they were closer to 11 ft. that's probably where the confusion is.

The L-brackets definitely supported a good portion of the weight; they all went into studs. We had that set of shelves pretty seriously loaded up and didn't ever have a problem, and we lived in that condo another two years after we built these in. If I recall right, that kickboard isn't entirely for show either; the counters are also resting on a wooden frame, so not all the weight of the loaded cabinets is on that rail. I think I left that step off since it was part of the installation instructions for the cabinets. I'm not a tiny girl and I could climb up onto the counter to reach a top book without feeling any instability or hearing so much as a creak.

It gets down to about 10F (-12C) here in the depth of winter, but right now it's hovering around freezing at night.

Just each other and the wall.

This is super cute :D

Using hose to do the joining is a _brilliant_ idea! I'm definitely going to do this with my toddler.

Just gorgeous! I love the bridge design in the guard rail and the overall simplicity of it.

Thanks! I ended up replacing the philodendron with a plastic plant, because it was a pain in the neck to climb up onto the counter to water it, but it is really nice to have a pop of green.

Ah! That photo is totally unclear, sorry. We never installed the little plinth; what you're seeing in the step 5 photos and earlier is actually all the individual adjustable shelves for each bookcase stacked on top of each other. We used them as spacers, to make sure the base of the bookshelves were the right width apart, since we didn't have the real base installed. They're not actually attached to the bookcases in any way, though. We just slid them out and hung them using the little ikea shelf pegs once we were done screwing the bookcases into place.

I think you're right, especially considering labor costs of hiring a contractor. And it would probably have taken a lot longer to finish. As it was, we knocked the whole thing out from beginning to end over a 3-day weekend and had a ton of fun doing it.