Rustic Bookshelves

Sorry for the lag time on the dining-room-turned-office update photos... that room has not gotten any of the other promised updates since I posted about my beloved fiddle leaf fig (which by the way, is absolutely THRIVING so far knock-on-wood).

The original plan was to hang shelves for book storage on the walls flanking the entrance to the living room... three on the left wall, and two on the right wall so there would be room underneath for a nice comfy chair to read in... here's how we I envisioned it working out...

Since painting, and rearranging some of the furniture, I hung one of the shelves, but after getting it up, I wasn't convinced that I LOVED it... so I waited a week to see if I wanted to hang the rest, or if I wanted to switch up the plan.

The good news is, I do like it, so I want to hang the rest of the shelves...

The bad news is, I do not trust our plaster walls to support a heavy load.  After hanging the first one, I'm having visions of these shelves coming crashing down in the middle of the night after the plaster crumbles from the weight of our books... no bueno.

I wanted these shelves to function as a bookshelf, but I just don't see that happening now... I am so sick of staring at the cardboard boxes in our living room full of the books that used to be in the dining room (not a good look by the way) so I want to find somewhere to store them... stat.

What I need is a bookshelf... a small, pretty, but functional bookshelf, that can go along this wall in our living room...

Let's pretend that this photo wasn't taken right after I dumped all my treasures from Ikea, and that it's not a complete mess... sadly the console table still looks like that - books galore.

I plan to sell that console table (which really is a shame since I love it even more after painting it white recently (remember when it was blue and in our hallway??) It's come a long way since then...

Anyway, back to the bookshelf for this space.  I want it to be about four feet wide, and about three feet tall, and I really want something with an aged wood look...

Something like the Copenhagen Bookshelf from West Elm would be perfect... if it weren't like 7 feet tall. Simple clean lines, and that gorgeous wood... if only it had a little brother bookshelf!  Back to the drawing board...

The Emerson Bookshelf from World Market is also along the lines of what I'm looking for... although again, too dang tall!  Sooo frustrating!

But then... hello... what do we have here??

Overstock to the rescue?  This one is actually a TV stand, but it could actually work!!

It's 2.5 feet high, by almost exactly 4 feet long... I'm not loving the turned detail on the metal legs... I wish they were a bit more simple, and a few bad reviews always get me nervous, but this could be a serious contender...

I need to make a few more measurements to see if this size will fit, and do a bit more digging of course to be sure this will work in our living room...

What do we think?