Staples® Calandro™ Bookcase, 4-Shelf, Espresso

Calandro espresso bookcase review

BEFORE YOU OPEN THE BOX...make sure you have a cordless drill or electric screw driver with a phillips-head bit (the kind that looks like a plus sign). Otherwise, it will take ...Read complete review

BEFORE YOU OPEN THE BOX...make sure you have a cordless drill or electric screw driver with a phillips-head bit (the kind that looks like a plus sign). Otherwise, it will take you forever to screw everything together.If you have a staple gun, use that to attach the backing board to the frame at the end.If you are not afraid of the bookcase falling over, don't bother attaching the little white nylon strap to the top. Otherwise it looks silly.Not all pieces were 100% flush--there are thin gaps (less than 0.2 inches) between some of the front pieces. But for [$], you cannot and should not expect perfection.Once it is constructed and books are on it, it looks like a nice piece of office furniture. THe dark mahogany color blends in with other, typical office furniture of the same color.If you get the lighter colored bookcase, the thin gaps between the pieces could be more noticeable, so be careful.You don't need 2 people to put it together. I did it in about 1 hour using an electric drill/screwdriver and staple gun.If you don't use a staple gun, make sure you have a hammer to nail in all those little nails on the backing board.Too bad it's made in China and not in the USA. Surely there is some pre-fab furntiure company that Staples could source these from, right? Right?