Monday, October 11, 2010

HOMEMADE Book Display Shelves

Sorry to yell, but I am so excited about these beautiful shelves! I have been searching for a solution to the problem of our library shelf. We have a dedicated shelf where our library books go while they are on furlough in our home. But the books I would check out specifically for BigBoy would often times go hidden amongst the big kids' books not to be discovered again until it was time to return them.
I've tried baskets but mine seemed too easily tipped over plus you could still only see one or two book fronts at a time. So I went looking for display shelves online and found an excellent tutorial.
Husband brought home the wood after having it cut at Home Depot, and I put them together. They weren't very complicated at all and really look great filled with colorful books!

 Here is a close up if you want to see how they go together. You can find the tutorial that I followed here except that I didn't have a nail gun and just used a hammer and some finishing nails. I also made mine 36 inches long. You can purchase a RIBBA picture ledge from IKEA (if you have one nearby) and they come in two different sizes. But if you need a custom size, make some of these!

We also decided to mount them with removable picture hangers, not wood screws and they are very sturdy. I used two packs per shelf. But if you have a little one who might try to pull himself up on these shelves, use the wood screws!

I plan to use them primarily for the rotating library books that I pick out for BigBoy and our own seasonal books as well. The top shelf is filled right now with some finds we picked up at our library's book sale over the weekend, not to mention a delightful treasure whose arrival I had been anxiously awaiting! It's gorgeous and I can't wait to start reading it with my kiddos!

And speaking of library finds, while most of the books we brought home were for the children, I manged to score a few keepers for myself!
Happy Monday, everyone!

14 comments:

  1. They're beautiful! Thanks for the inspiration :)

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  2. What a great idea! I'll have to file it for when we find our house (soon, soon).

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  3. Holy cow! That is awesome!

    P.S. I went looking for the Hershey kisses at Walmart today. I couldn't find them. I looked like a mad woman eyeing every square inch of the seasonal candy section.

    Where did you find them in the stores? Which store?

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  4. I got ours at the local Super Target. They were on an end cap in the Halloween candy section.

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  5. Beautiful shelves! I love the look. I wish we had the wall space for something like them.

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  6. Your shelves came out great and the idea of dedicating the shelves for library books is brilliant. Ours always seem to go missing too. I think I am going to have to make a couple more just for that purpose!

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  7. What a blessing to find your blog! I came here by way of "Pondered in My Heart" and I'm so happy I clicked the link. I shall add you to my sidebar, and would love a visit from you as well. :) Cheers! +JMJ+

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  8. That's a great idea. Right now are library books sit in plastic bags on the floor.

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  10. Ian,
    I know how handy you are. You could definitely make some of these. We used to have our library books on a big wicker basket. It started falling apart. Now, the bulk of our library books sit on a dedicated shelf on one of our bookcases. The older children keep a few audiobooks in their rooms. And now, these shelves work perfectly to display the science themed picture books we use for BigBoy's schooling.

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  11. These are great, Charlotte! I like to keep our library books together, too, especially when they relate to a theme or season. You could display just seasonal books, too, I suppose. Just think how pretty they will look with a handful of favorite Christmas books displayed!

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  12. Those shelves are PERFECT!! I love them! I've been looking for something similar, but now we might just need to try and make them ourselves! (The closest IKEA is 4+ hrs away.) Thanks for sharing!!

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  13. These are great! I want to make some myself for the very reasons you mentioned about library books! My girls always manage to get them mixed in with their books and sometimes they don't get read. Thanks for posting this!

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