How to make front facing bookshelves perfect for a kids' room

In today'southward post: Acquire how easy it is to brand front facing bookshelves with basic supplies from the hardware store. This is a slap-up way to store and display books in a kid's room!

We have a bit of a book problem in our house. We have lots of them. We have a full sized bookshelf upstairs, two full sized bookshelves downstairs, a half sized bookshelf in the front room, and stacks and piles and bins full of books scattered around the business firm. Now, nosotros as well have some empty wall infinite, particularly in the footling kids' rooms, where I haven't done a ton of decorating. After seeing some front facing bookshelves on another weblog, I knew I needed to combine my empty walls with my surplus of books to brand something both functional and attractive:

It didn't cost much and it wasn't very hard. This set of three front facing shelves probably cost under $20 and took an hour or 2 to put together, and so another hour to sand and paint. I love them and then much I immediately made four more (for the iv other kids in the business firm who all wanted their own shelves also).

Read on to acquire how y'all can brand some likewise!

How to make front facing bookshelves {DIY kids bookshelves}

Yous'll demand the post-obit supplies to brand three two and a one-half foot long forepart facing shelves:

Pine boards (as discussed below)

wood glue and clamps

2 or ii 1/2 inch forest screws

drill

sander (or sandpaper and some muscle)

paint

studfinder (for mounting on the wall)

Ok, lets talk woods. The size of woods you demand volition depend on how big you want your shelves to exist. Wander over to the "hobby wood" department of Dwelling Depot and notice their pino boards. You'll run into iii numbers below each pine board, which will look something like this: 1x4x8. The first number simply means the board is one inch thick. The second number tells how many inches tall the board is (4 in this example) and the third number tells how many feet long the lath is (8 ft). If you want to make three ii and a half foot long shelves you'll want to buy boards that are 8 feet long, so that'due south the measurement I'll exist using from here on out.

For the forepart lip of the shelf you'll want to find a 1x2x8, which is also called a furring strip. These may only exist available in 8 foot lengths. Look through them and pick one that's nice and directly and not completely full of knots, fries, or slivered forest.

Adjacent, get a 1x4x8 for the back section of the shelf. Again, look for one that'southward as straight and smooth as y'all can find.

Finally, you need either a 1x6x8 or a 1x8x8, depending on how deep y'all want your shelf to be. I used 1×vi boards for the shelves in my baby girl's room, and that works well for picture books. For my older kids' bookshelves I used 1×8 boards since their books take up more room on each shelf.

Take hold of one of the handy great carts that permit you lay lumber down flat on them and pull it (with your 3 your old sitting on superlative) with i manus while you push button your baby in the stroller with the other hand to the back of the lumber department where the big saws are. Ask the helpful employee back there to cut your boards down to size for you lot.

OR, if you're really savvy, head straight to the saws in the first identify, and pull the boards you need out of their leftover woods section. Nothing's marked, but if you can figure out what y'all need you lot'll probably save yourself some money.

At domicile, assemble the rest of your supplies:

Lay your i×eight (the bottom piece of your shelf) downwardly and run a thin line of gum all forth one edge. Place the one×4 (back slice of the shelf) on top of information technology and clench the two boards together, making sure to line upward the side and front edges likewise equally possible.

When you clamp the pieces together wood will spill out the seam – just wipe it off with a newspaper towel. Tighten your clamps until y'all tin't see any space left between the two boards.

Flip the board up so the i×8 is standing straight up drive screws through it into the 1×4. I started by drilling guideholes, but I found that pine is soft enough that I didn't need to drill holes first as long as I started the screw nice and slowly.

Employ the built in level on your drill to brand sure you are driving the screw in direct. You want it to go direct into the 1×2. Be certain non to try to drill into or through any knots – you lot might end up splitting the wood. I used on screw at each end of the shelf and one spiral in the eye.

I constitute that as soon every bit all iii screws were in I could remove the clamps and get on to the next step, which is to repeat the process with the ane×2 pieces that class the from of the shelves. Information technology'southward even more than of import this time to make sure the front and side edges match up, because this is the most visible role of the shelf. It'southward probable one or more than of your boards won't exist completely straight, and then lining things up tin exist a little tricky. Only do your all-time and recollect no one will exist examining the last project with a magnifying glass.

At this point I set my front facing bookshelves aside for a few hours to brand certain the glue was completely dry out. Then I pulled out the sander and gave it a good one time over, concentrating on the front portion of the shelf. I didn't sand the back at all (it's just going to be upwards confronting the wall), and I didn't worry besides much most the bottom either. I did round the edges just a petty so the corners wouldn't be quite so abrupt.

After yous sand, wipe the shelf downwards chop-chop to remove all dust. At present you tin paint as you want. Nigh people would probably tell you to prime it first, merely my primer was all dried upward and I was too impatient to look until I could go go more, so I only painted each shelf with 1 good glaze of the satin paint I used for the trim in my business firm.

When the pigment stale I gave it another quick sand for a slightly distressed look.

To mount the bookshelves on your wall, just discover and mark the studs where yous'd like your shelves to be. Once again, I started by drilling guideholes but so realized I really didn't need to. Elementary bulldoze a screw through the back piece of your shelf into a stud in two different spots, making certain the shelf is level before driving the second screw.

Then stand back and savour your fantastic new kids' bookshelves!

You lot may also like these posts:

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Best book series for kids ages 8-12

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