Easy DIY bookshelf

UPDATED:

Last fall I participated in the Pinterest Challenge (fall edition), hosted by a few of my favorite blogs YoungHouseLove and Bower Power. Well, they’re back again! This time they brought along  The Great Indoors and Hi Sugarplum! Stop by and give them a visit and check out the cool things others have done!

Here’s what I’ve been up to.

I try to cut back on the clutter around the house. So occasionally we purge items that we no longer need or use. However, with Baby J’s arrival that means holding on to many things a bit longer.

Crib, swing, stroller, baby bounce this, baby bounce that, you know, all of the things that I couldn’t wait to get rid of and that includes the many, many baby books. Don’t get me wrong. I love reading to Baby J and the Little One, but there comes a point where things start to get out of hand.

So the Little One helped me tackle the task of creating a separate space for her books.

First we cleared out the shelf. Then we sorted the books. She liked this step because she got to point out all of the “baby books”. From there……well the books stayed stacked up for a few days as I tried to figure out how I was going to make the Little One a book shelf. And she reminded me several times that she NEEDED a book shelf so that she could put her books away.

So this is the basic look I was going for. Not so much the style, but I like the slim profile of it and how it’s not free-standing, but is attached to the wall. I wanted to take advantage of the space behind their bedroom door, so this wall mounted style was ideal. You can check how it was created here.This can be done a number of ways. This is what I did.

A while ago when the Borders in town was closing and selling everything in the building I picked up these two shelves (of some sort) for $1 a piece. So here’s what I started with.

Other supplies/tools I used were scrap wood, wood glue, circular saw and paint.  I used a leftover piece of pegboard and placed my “shelf” over it to trace the bottom board of the shelf. Next, using the circular saw I cut it out, then glued the two pieces together. After it  dried I primed and painted the two shelves.

I attached two keyhole fasteners to each shelf, and drilled two keyhole screws into the wall.

And the finished product.

The Little One and I are pretty proud. She now has her own bookshelves just for all of her “big girl” books.