Thursday, January 03, 2013

lucy's book wall


We have been living in our new home for about 6 months and are just now getting around to organizing and nesting. We have been busy getting each of our rooms unpacked (yes we still haven't unpacked everything yet!) and decorated. In the weeks and months ahead I will be sharing a number of our DIY projects and peeks into our home.

First on our list was to tackle Lucy's room. Her room is small so we are limited with floor space but desperately need a way to store things- especially her growing collection of books! Just about the only option we had for storing and displaying her books was a book wall- or little ledge shelves that the books can rest on. Thankfully I have a structural engineer for a husband (actually a structural engineer turned stay at home dad) and he is quite handy when it comes to building things. 


I explained to him what I wanted and he came up with his own version of a ledge shelf. He used 1x3 and 1x2 inch wood to create shelves that were big enough for books but didn't stick out too far. (see Andy's sketch above)

There are a number of different ways to create ledge shelves and you can find all kinds of great tutorials all over the web with variations. See HERE, HERE and HERE


We wanted the ledge shelves to go all the way up the wall so Andy made four shelves that measured 3 feet long. Once the shelves were assembled we filled the nail holes with wood filler, sanded them down and then I white washed the wood.


Next, using anchor screws we hung the shelved 16 inches apart.


Once they shelves where installed we filled them with books!


tea towel animals from sarah young   big bunny made by me


We LOVE how the wall turned out- it is such a wonderful way to keep things organized and a fun way to use books as art. Lucy also LOVES the wall- she loves to stand on her tippy toes and grab a book.



19 comments:

Virginia said...

Oh that's fabulous and a great place to keep a growing collection, I miss my son's book collection, Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaur's, Percy the Park Keeper and The Very Hungry Caterpillar all firm favourites!

HollyM said...

It hats a a practical and attractive way to store them . I loved all the children's books we read with our kids.

Sue Marrazzo Fine Art said...

GREAT IDEA!
'Love the name..LUCY!

Mode Chic said...

Me encanta esta idea !!!
Besos
www.modechictoni.blogspot.com

dibujosdenube said...

Una idea bonita y sencilla!!!
:D

Angie said...

Oh, I love this! Thank you for sharing, I am going to pin this to do at our house during the cold, hibernating, months!

Megan said...

Love the shelf, but dang she is so stinking cute.

Julie Wasson said...

thank you. this is a great idea. we are moving this month and I need great storage ideas especially for the play room

Anonymous said...

This is lovely, a great way to make storage. Her room is twice the size of our little one's ;)

Michelle said...

Maybe I'm weird, but I think the big bunny has a smile just like Lucy's.....

God's Little People said...

Michelle above commenting, that's exactly what I thought - bunny face look like Lucy :-), seriously!
Love this shelf idea - makes for a really cute wall display too.

laurie said...

as a reading specialist, i am thrilled that you have so many books already for lucy! you would be surprised at how many children come to kindergarten who are not familiar with books and how they "work". i'm sure lucy will not be one of them. :-)

Mary-Beth said...

I love the shelves and was so thrilled to see the tea towel pillows! I have been looking for something similar and hadn't found it, but I was able to order the tea towels through Sarah Young's shop because of your post. Thank you for sharing! Also, I just wanted to say your planner was so beautiful that it inspired me to make one and it was such a fun process. I am always bursting with inspiration when I leave your blog. Love your creative mind!

Art by Katalin said...

What a great idea..looks lovely! And what a nice selection of books you already have! I will try and recreate this for my little one (who already loves her books though she's only 10 months) because we are very tight of space also. Thank you for the inspiration! :)

livethegoldenrule said...

This reminds me of a project I seen on the DIY channel. It was the Bronson Pinchot project. He made these type of shelves in a beautiful home he was restoring. I want to say he called them some kind of "library display" type shelves. Said he wanted the covers to be seen as art, and to also be able to find a book easily. Good job, Andy!

CraftyMomOf3 said...

totally gorgeous!!!!

Tessa said...

I have wanted to make shelves similar to these for a while. Andy's sketch makes it seem much more simple than I would have thought. I ADORE her room! Cute bunny!

Amber said...

I'm also a structural-engineer-turned-stay-at-home-parent and really dig these shelves. Isn't it great when simple construction makes for great design?

We've got plenty of book storage around here but are in need of storage for the matchbox cars and trains that keep multiplying. This will work nicely in our playroom.

Thanks for sharing!

maria f. said...

Do you know Richard Scary's "Cars and Trucks and Things that Go" where you search for Goldbug on every page. Great kids' book!

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