DIY Bookshelf

A while ago I wrote about a website called Knock Off Wood that a friend told me about.  Our original  goal was to make a new bed with plans from this site, but we started small and made a new bookcase just to see if this whole DIY thing would work for us. 

Here’s Ian enjoying a hodge podge snack in the garage while dad worked on the bookshelf

here are all the supplies used (minus tools)

after assembly… which took less than an hour

  here’s the finished product after sanding and applying two coats of white paint

In use in our master bedroom as a media console

The cute fabric bins are from Tarjay and I added them for a little extra storage.  The lamp (stolen from the office) provides the perfect ambiance at night.  I’m horrible at decorating and even worse at placing trinkets and knick knacks so if anyone has any ideas of ways to spruce up this area feel free to share.  The mini yellow flowers were a Mother’s Day gift from the boys so I threw those on there for kicks and grins.

So all in all…the project was super easy.  I took the directions (printed directly from Knock Off Wood) to Home Depot and they assembled all the supplies together for me. I think the lady felt sorry for me because Ian was super cranky and of course when Ian is unhappy….everyone is unhappy.  They even measured and cut the lumber for free.  I am so in love with them for that because it would have surely taken longer than an hour to assemble if we had to cut and measure everything on our own.

Since I went to Home Depot alone, I kind of went overboard of course. I upgraded the materials used in the plans (because the lady said it would make my bookcases look nicer) and I bought a few extra things that my husband already had like nails, painting supplies, sand paper, wood glue, and wood putty. We kept it all anyway because things like that are good to have around…right?!

The plans on Knock Off Wood were for two bookcases so we have extra materials in the garage waiting to be used. Our plans are to half the recipe and make two night stands.  We’ll let you know how that goes!

I’m super proud of my hubby.  I think the bookcase/console looks really nice in our room and we saved a ton of money doing it ourselves. 

Now on the next project…..