Anyway, we moved. And I love our new house, but there was no wall of built-in bookshelves waiting for us. I didn’t want our books just sitting inside moving boxes for months while we figured out what we wanted to do with them. So I unpacked them and put them onto two small bookshelves that we had inherited from the studio house. Since they were free to us, I wasn’t going to complain, but they certainly looked temporary as they weren’t large enough to hold all our books and they just didn’t fill out the space at all.
See:
First I started shopping online, but everything I found either felt a little too generic or was a little more pricey than I wanted to spend. Trey suggested we just build something that we liked, and so then we started sketching out a few ideas.
We both ended up liking this kind of open-shelving meets a diamond shape idea. So, we went for it.
Supplies:
-one 1×10-6ft board
-two 1×10-4ft and 3.5 inch boards
-two 1×10-2ft and 7.5 inch boards
-two 1×10-1ft boards
-12 (or 13*) 8″ x 10″ shelf brackets
-4 3″ x 3″ angle framing anchors
-drywall screws with wall anchors
-white spray paint
-power saw (if cutting the boards yourself)
-powder drill
-level
*We bought 13 brackets. You can see where we planned to place them from the small pieces of tape in the photo above. We ended up only using two brackets on the center shelf, but we’re going to wait a few months to see if it bows any. If it does, we may add that last bracket.
Altogether this project cost about $120 and took us two days to install. We could have easily done the entire project in one day, but we split it up into a Saturday and Sunday project because we had other stuff to do that weekend. 🙂
Step One: Cut your shelves to the size you need. In the supply list I’ve indicated the final sizes of the all the shelves we installed. We actually bought two long boards and cut the shelves to the sizes we needed as this made the project more economical for us. But you could also have your hardware store cut the boards for you.
Step Three: Install your shelves. Be sure to use a level to make sure you get them perfectly straight. Since the brackets are in a specific design, mimicking the diamond shape, we knew we likely would not get to install them all on studs. So we used wall anchors when needed. Well, really Trey did. He did most of this part. Which is for the best because I am notorious for “eye-balling” things. So when levels are needed, I am not always the best person for the job. Ha!
Credits // Authors: Emma Chapman and Trey George. Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.
31 Comments
These look awesome! Book shelves are one of my favorite things and these are so unique!
Love it! Super striking. One question: how do you keep the ones on the very edges from toppling? Especially on the top shelf?! 🙂
I love this idea! We’re about to move to a new place and I really want a whole wall of books in the office/guest room, but I don’t know if I’ll have space with all the furniture, but this would take up less wall space and still have the same affect!!
Love this idea! Diamond shelves makes a room a lot more unique, lovely x
Paula | http://www.namelessgap.blogspot.com
That looks great. Handmade and bespoke and the diamond shape is ingenious. The whole setting with the pieces of decoration look great
The longest shelf already looks like it’s bowing in some of your photos, it definitely needs the third bracket in place.
Such a fantastic idea, and so much easier than you’d think. Thank you for the inspiration!
Nice idea! Also, I was scoping out your books. Isn’t The Interestings great? Meg Wolitzer is a great writer, and if you have a chance to go to a reading, she is just as witty & smart in person!
Honestly, my favorite part of this post was seeing what books you have! I love scoping out people’s bookeshelves 🙂 I see that you have two copies of “Spilling Open”. That book is such a treasure. Here is an ABM idea : maybe you could do a feature of you and your staff sharing a few of the books that have impacted your lives and why. This would be fun with alboms as well 🙂 Anyway, the shelve display you created is very charming. Yay,
These bookshelves look amazing, I love them! I’m moving soon so I’m always looking for awesome inspiration on things to do in my new home. This definitely makes the list! Thanks for sharing!
elainea
toast the girl almighty
I love how this turned out! http://www.hannamarielei.com
I love these bookshelves! They add such a great dimension to the room!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
I love that this project is so cute and affordable! It really livens up the wall and makes great use of the space. I’m hoping that I have space for a shelf like this in my next apartment so that I can try out this tutorial!
-Helen
http://www.sweethelengrace.com
dang girl! I love it!! super cute and functional!! I don’t have a ‘kid friendly’ wall in my house to try this but I love it!! The only place i can keep books safely is in my office 🙁 not really displayable 🙁 yours looks awesome though!!!
Such a cool idea to form a shape with book shelves, this makes it a wonderful center piece of the room I think!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
Aw this looks awesome! Big bookshelves give such a homey feeling, I don’t think I could live without them. The majority of my book collection is crammed into some plain Billy bookshelves. Does the job but def. does not look as cool!
I love the symmetry of this project and it beats the hell outta the ‘before’ bookcases!
This is amazing. Please do a CD/DVD storage idea next. We are using apple crates to store CDs and don’t get me started on the DVDs ?
Do you mind sharing where you got your brackets? Those are perfect for the shelves I’m building!
I love it, I really do! 😀
I have a big statement wall I’ve been wondering what to do with. This is an amazing idea! I may do another design than a diamond (my wall is horizontally large so I’ll need something that fills the space more). If those are all the books you have between you and your Husband…..I must be a hoarder because my collection is much bigger…..and I’m on my own!!! I have this solid wood bookshelf in my living room that my mother ordered from this local wood working shop when I was fifteen. I meant to order an other identical one (or two) for years…..but they went bankrupt 2-3 years ago so my dream of a beauty and the beast inspired “library room” is on the back burner for now. The one bookeshelf does not even fit all my books and it’s already jam packed (with two rows on each shelf and no nick nacks except my sound system). Anyway, I digress, this is a beautiful ingenious idea!
Was going to say the same thing!
Looking good x
http://jessicawoods.fr
You are always so creative & helpful!
http://www.llindatt.blogspot.com
Love this idea! I want to try this when I redo my bedroom! 🙂
-Lauren
http://www.musingsofaflowerchild.com/
What a transformation! The shelves are incredibly cool – love the diamond shape.
Erin | beingerin.com
omg i freaking love this idea! so wish i had a wall big enough for this!
The two plants on the right and left of the book shelves add so much to this. Lovely!
x // http://eliseandthomas.com
These shelves are gorgeous!!!!!! I love them!
So cute and simple!
http://www.throughmyowneyes.com
terrific job! i wish ! were savy with using tools. I love DIY and have good easy ideas but the tools are my downfall. everything would probably fall off the walls. maybe some time you would have a video on the proper way to use nuts and bolts etc. thanks