Building Bookcases

Starting to get a good collection of books?  Find yourself stacking them on the floor, under the bed, on the nightstand, or wherever else you can find a level place to put them?  What you need is a bookshelf!  You can go to the store to buy one easy enough, but where is the fun in that?   Build your own and some character to the home for your precious books.

When you take the time to be creative and build your own bookshelf, you discover that it can be fun.  You can be whimsical, serious, historical, ethnical, or whatever you like.  What is your favorite thing in the world?  What is your hobby?  Incorporate that into building your own bookshelf.  You do not have to be a professional carpenter to do this.

If you like the outdoors, make your bookshelf out of branches.  All you have to do is go on a hike and pick up some sturdy pieces.  Make sure that they are not rotted.  You can always cut them down if they are too long.  Try to choose some that are not too much more than two inches thick.  How tall do you want the shelves to be?  Most bookshelves are between 12 and 18 inches.  How deep do you want your shelves?  12 inches is a good depth.  Once you decide, you can begin building.  Make sure that you have a hammer, nails, twine, and saw.  Check with your local hardware store on the size of nails to use based on how thick your branches are.  

You want to build the sides to your bookcase first.  Lay down the branch(es) that will make up one side.  About one to two inches from the bottom of the branches and what will be sitting on the floor, use your hammer and nails to connect a piece of a branch horizontal to the frame.  It will look like you are building a ladder.  To reinforce it, you might want to tie some twine around the connection.  This helps to give the bookshelf a rustic look.  Measure your 12 to 18 inches that you have decided on for the height of each shelf.  Add another piece of a branch.  Continue on till you reach the top.  If you have less than a shelf height left at the top, you can use that to display knickknacks.  Once you have one side of your bookshelf complete, do the other side the exact same way.  Verify all measurements.  If the sides are not even, you books will slide and the whole thing will be wobbly.  

Lay the sides facing each other.  You now want to add the base of each shelf.  Use more branches to build that.  Nail them in to the “rungs” of the “ladder” you built.  Continue to the top.  Sit up your bookcase.  Place your books on your new shelf and enjoy.

Using branches is just one way to build your own bookshelf.  Use your imagination.  Or, you can just go to the local building supply store and pick up all the pieces.