Tools Guide

Hey guys! Here is a "blast from the past" tutorial that has been sitting in my archives for forever... seriously, it's about time it sees the light of day! 

Oh yeah, don't mind the door-less kitchen cabinets in the background. I took these photos weeks ago when I was working on repainting the kitchen. Newsflash: I still have two more doors that need to be hanged. And I thought I could paint them & be done in 2 days. HA! #life

So, by popular request, here is the tutorial for the bookshelf that goes along with my amazing DIY desk. You can see that tutorial (and the plans) HERE. 

Everyone always mentions this bookshelf when they visit our house for the first time, and it makes my husband and me chuckle every time. This is such an easy project guys. Seriously. No fancy tools or angles needed! If you don't own a normal saw, you could even get away with having your lumber store do the cuts for you & just using a drill + screws at home.

Speaking of simple, check out how we supported the shelves! SUPER EASY & I think it looks amazing.

The books though... not so pretty. 

I want to wrap them in paper, or stack them all with their pages showing, but I don't think my husband would appreciate me messing with all his history, football, and political books. Oh, and those white three ring binders? Yeah, those are full of magazine clippings from the Patriot's almost perfect season. I say a bookshelf should look pretty & have everything match... and garage rubbermaids are for football books... my husband says bookshelves are for books.... hmmm, I guess he does have a point.... 

I am horrible at drawing up plans digitally. My bran can only handle so many programs. Lol! So since this is such a simple build, I just drew the steps on the photo. Haha.

So here are the specifications to help you build your own bookshelf:

1. 1"x12"x8' board for the top and bottom.

2. Shelf boards were about 31" long each (still using the same size of 1"x12"x8' board, cut into 31" sections.)

3. The shelf supports were made of a 1x2" board, cut into 12" wide segments (to fit the width of the shelves) and just drilled straight into the supporting boards shown in step 4.

4. The supporting side boards are made up of four segments cut from a 1"x12"x8' board, making them 31" tall.

Each board is connected to each other using at least 3 screws drilled directly into them from a flat angle. It's best to predrill, and you can putty over the holes in the end if you like.

See how I stained this desk/bookshelf HERE.