Disclaimer: This is a long post. With a lot of pictures. I venture to say it’s taking me longer to get this post around than it was to actually do the project. With the cabinet finally finished, I realized that my daughter really needed some more room for her books. I didn’t want to fill that pretty thing with all books, so I had to come up with something.
So here’s the something.
I will admit that it’s the first project involving wood/nails/labor that I’ve done completely by myself. Needless to say, I was a little apprehensive, but it turned out better than I expected.
As the books were being placed on the shelves, my little one kept saying, “Hey! I forgot about that book!” “Oooh, I wanna read that one!” Mission. Accomplished.
How about a tutorial for this oh-so-easy project? The first stop was to Lowes for some primed MDF strips. I spent more money with the primed version; However, I know you could do this for less money. I knew I’d be painting it light, so I didn’t want to worry about priming it. Worth the money, really.
I drew a small bead of wood glue along the edges to be nailed and held it for a few seconds. It offered some support and kept things from shifting while I was nailing them together.
I knew I wanted three shelves, and they measured out around 27” each. This meant I needed an 8 foot piece of each. I took the three pieces up to the wood-cutter guy (official name) at Lowes and had him cut them. Yeehaw! How easy is that?
After painting them (including the exposed edges), my husband screwed them into some studs on the wall. I didn’t bother hiding the screws. Who’s gonna see them?
Because the beauty of this project is really in the color of the books, I wanted the shelves to be as simple and streamlined as possible. Luckily, that was also the easiest to build.
And of course, it wouldn’t be a success unless this goofball liked them. I think she approves.
Supply breakdown:
- 8 feet, 1×6 (three shelves at @ 27” each)
- 8 feet 1×4
- 8 feet 1×2…………………………….Total of $28.00
- Wood Glue $2.97
- Nails/nail gun, paint—already had
Latest posts by Chris (see all)
- A Day in the Life - September 4, 2019
- Game Organization - March 25, 2019
- Party Beverage Bag - December 31, 2018
ha! Love your daughter's picture!
Love it! Nice to see you using a nail gun because to me…those seem intimidating!
Love those shelves! They are so simple and clean looking. Thanks for sharing.
Brittany (aka Pretty Handy Girl)
I have the wood downstairs to make some shelves just like this! I'm so glad to hear how easy it was from you. I'm making some for books in my sons room and also for DVDs in the family room!
P.S. "If you take a mouse to school" is one of my favs!
We (well, mostly my husband) is in the process of making some shelves just like this for my daughter's playroom!
I LOVE the way they turned out!!!
AWESOME!
~Bec 🙂
I loooooove these Chris, they are perfect for this space, how cool that you built them yourself, great tutorial, bravo girl!!!!
xoxo
Kate
love it!!!!
Love these shelves Chris! And for the cost…even better! Shelves can be so pricey! I love how the book covers are visible too! Nice job 🙂
Great job! Love that last photo of your girl!
Did you get my email about the giveaway?
Having raised three SONS to adulthood, I am so envious of your delightful daughter. What a great job you did on the bookshelves. She should be quite proud of her room!
That is one impressive nail gun. I still have to use a hammer and nails (my poor thumbs). I guess that's why I try to avoid nailing something together like the plague.
But your cute little shelves might just have convinced me otherwise.
Great project. And hooray for your girl loving the books again.
Nicely done! I need a solution like this for my daughter's room and I love how easy and functional this is! And the fact that it doesn't take up floor space is a major bonus. 🙂
Love it! Great tutorial as well. Your daughter is gorgeous and looks like she is so much fun!
They are lovely 😉 Thanks for sharing the how to!
Lissa
I love the simple lines of the shelves and that picture of your daughter is the cutest!!!
What a simple and great project! Love the model haha. 🙂 Great job!!
Fabulous, functional and how pretty do all these books look on your new shelves! Great job! Janell
love it!
Love this! About to work on a project and need thinner types shelving for my sons books and this works perfect, thanks for sharing!
the picture of your daughter is priceless! love this project.
Adorable–both the project AND the model!
love these. and the books even look great against the blue wall!
Great job!!! I agree with you on buying it primed. One less thing right?! Your daughter is awesome for posing!
xo
Mindy
I want some now…thanks for adding more to dos to my to do list! lol
If you get the chance come see my before and after…
http://thescreamingmeme.blogspot.com/2011/05/lets-have-garden-party.html
I LOVE it! I am going to have to make some of these too!
Those look great! I've seen this sort of thing before and will love doing it with my millions of kids books!
What a great idea! I think I need to try this in my kids room…your daughter is adorable too!
Turned out great and very functional!!
Great job! I love that the children can see all of the books, too…makes them more enticing I think!
-Stacy
Thanks so much, Chris! Your post was particularly timely for me, as I was planning to make some similar shelves from ana white's site but was going to need to borrow a jigsaw from the tool library to do it. These are a little different than what I had in mind but so much simpler that I'm going for it. Thanks again!!
These are great! Thanks so much for the detailed tute. I've been thinking about making something like this for the nursery.
Great Job!! I just saved the info as I hope to accomplish the same.
oh wow! i love your blog! and I just realized I am your 5000th follower!!!
I love them! Thanks for sharing and providing the information to make them. I have a slight addiction to books…and am in desperate need of a way to rotate through them all. Perfect solution:o)
-Mollie
I love these shelves. Sweet, simple and just perfect. Thanks for sharing!
very cute! we could use some of those! hope all is well! susan
Looks great. Anything that encourages reading get s a smiley face from me.Hugs.
P.S. I have your lovely blog on my cottages page at Katherines Corner 🙂
These are so cute! I totally need something like this. Cute picture of your daughter too. 🙂
The photo of your daughter is just priceless! What a beautiful girl! And these shelves are fantastic! Sure wish I had a nail gun!! Thanks for the tutorial!
This is so awesome! I can't wait to do this in my sons room it'll be so cool Thanks for all the great ideas. Have you seen Hallmarks new children's book there really good books. I went there today for the first time since December and they have a book corner and probley 50 books or so, we bought Watson the interactive squirrel and pip the monster they were outstanding. =)
wonderful simple but a great WOW! impact! Love it and your daughter is super cute too!
Alex
http://www.youhadmeatcraft.com/
Those are great! I love how those shelves show off the covers of the books, which can be so cool. It's like free art. You don't get to see the covers with traditional bookshelves!
Chris,
I LOVE these bookshelves you made! I featured them on my blog. You can see the link Here: http://keephomesimple.blogspot.com/2011/05/budget-friendly-inspiration.html
BTW, I've spent so many hours this weekend looking through your blog. I think it's my new favorite. Thanks for being so inspiring. Have a great week!
~Robin {Keep Home Simple}
What a great job Chris. I am beyond proud of you and all the wonderful things you do for your family. Olivia looks VERY pleased. What a good picture of her.Loved your flash gaget for your camera. What a difference in the pictures. Great buy. Love you very much!! Mom
What a great project, you make it look so easy! I love the photo of your daughter in the end, I agree with her, 2 thumbs up!
These looks amazing. Great good! I just pinned it to share with my friends.
I absolutely love this idea! I have been looking for a very narrow bookshelf for my son’s room and this idea is so much better. I’ll put my husband to work on it immediately!
Sounds like a great idea, Laurie! 🙂
These book shelves look so nice, I made my daughter 3 of them for her room, super easy and they came out absolutely beautiful.
Hi I’m Kelsey (mama mazzone)
A new follower.
Love your blog and all of your design ideas!
These shelves look great! Thanks for sharing, I would love to do something like this in my girls bedrooms.
I’ve been looking for easy bookshelf ideas and I think I found it! Thanks for sharing this idea!
Such a cute idea, and love your blog! I would love it if you would link this up at my linky party as well! Here is the link http://www.thesouthernproductqueen.com/one-stop-shoppe-linky-party Happy New Year!
Love the simplicity of these shelves! I just got a nail gun for Christmas and these are now on my to build list.
I would love to invite you to share this at my party going on now… http://radcrafter.com/2012/01/thingamajig-thursday-party-9/
Alida
This is fabulous!!! Would you please share this with our readers for Fun Stuff Fridays? http://www.toysinthedryer.com/2012/01/fun-stuff-fridays-5.html
I love your selves, they turned out great. I just wanted to share that some of the school teachers in the district I work for use rain gutters for book selves, which works well too. 🙂
Great Idea!!
I am a new follower
I am redoing my son’s room and this will give me extra room space. Now I can get rid of the book shelves. I going to share this idea with my cousin who has a 4yr old boy. I know she will love this idea.
Thanks for sharing your idea
Thank you, Melanie! I’m glad it could inspire. We all need some of that! Good luck!
Just curious as to how you attached the front shelf. Did you use finishing nails and then cover them or just glue? I see that the back piece is nailed to the bottom but didn’t see how you attached the front. Thanks!!! Hoping to make them this weekend for my nursery!!
Love those shelves! I’ve been really bummed about how to fit everything in my sons’ room…They are sharing right now and most days I’m overwhelmed with how to fit all their stuff in one room AND make it look good. This post has given me the inspiration I needed to get their stuff in order 🙂 Thanks so much!
Are nail guns expensive? Couldn’t I just hammer these together?
Oh yeah. You could certainly just nail them. No nail gun required! I got my gun for Christmas. I believe it was @ $150?
I like this idea, its simple yet it looks great. I understand you used wood glue, have you experienced any issues with them? (ie. over time, due to the weight of books the shelves fell apart)
Not yet, Frank. They’ve held up wonderfully!
I love these shelves and I really want to make them before I move into my new apartment next weekend. I’ll have to use a hammer and nails because I don’t have a nail gun but I don’t see in the pictures where you attached the pieces together? Are the nails visible in front? I’m not too experienced with these types of DIY projects but I would love some advice if you have it! Thanks!
I love these shelves because they provide great storage while letting you see all the books. We are always forgetting what great books are lying around and this makes it so much more fun.
I am doing this project this week!! I love it!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Can you tell me, where did you find your super soft green bean bag chair? I’m having the hardest time finding one at a reasonable price.
I just found your blog and am in love… I even let the kids drag out the bounce house so I can read back posts.
My big question is how your husband screwed these into the studs? I don’t understand, and my ikea spice rack book racks are held up with L-brackets that my 1 year keeps trying to rip off the wall. It’s time for me to do something new and I love these!
Ha! Meredith, that made me laugh out loud. 🙂 If I can remember correctly, he used L brackets at the top of each shelf. We figured with those, the base molding, the crown molding, AND the trim molding, that sucker isn’t going anywhere. Hope that helps!
Love! Did you use nails for the front lip as well or did you just do wood glue?
Hi Kendra! I used small finishing nails–just to be sure. 🙂
You can do the same thing with the photo frame shelves at IKEA. They have black or white ones in two different lenghts for $9-$14. The front lip isn’t as tall though on those.