Easy and Inexpensive DIY Bookshelves

For the longest time I’ve wanted some wall bookshelves in both the playroom and my kids bedroom. I kept thinking I’d do the rain gutter ones that are all over the blogosphere right now, but for some reason they kind of intimidated me (I’m not comfortable with that section of my home improvement store). I finally decided to make my own out of wood.

I got the plans from Ana White (if you don’t know about her site yet, check it out – she’s awesome!). She did 8 foot long ledges. Mine are each a little less than 2 feet each. The beauty of this project is you can customize them however you want. They can be as long as you’d like and as deep as you’d like (up to at least 9 inches). Mine are just under 5 inches deep. I just measured the spaces I wanted to put them and decided how big I wanted them.

I went to Home Depot for the wood because I don’t have a power saw and they’ll cut it for me. I went, picked out the lumber I wanted, figured out how I’d like it cut and they did it for me. (It’s supposed to be 2 free cuts then something like 20 cents each cut after that, but I’ve never been charged before.) I then brought the cut pieces home and put them together! They were really easy. I spray painted them with paint I had around, though next time I’ll use regular paint and a brush because it took a million coats to cover some of the knots in the wood, even with spray paint primer.

I hung them up and admired my work. And then decided I wanted to play with my Silhouette…

So I added this cute quote with vinyl and I love how it turned out!


I love their little reading corner now! (This is in their playroom – the books were on a toy shelf across the room before.)


One of the best things is my kids don’t mind cleaning up the books with these shelves. I guess it’s easier for them. Or they’re just liking the “newness” of these shelves. Either way, I’m a fan.

This is a little reading section in their bedroom. I haven’t added any vinyl and don’t know that I will because there’s an alphabet wall above the shelf (I’ll share that someday) and it’s already a bit busy.

The shelves seriously took hardly any time at all to build. And they didn’t cost much either. I meant to keep better track of how much they were, but I have a bad memory (I’m almost 8 months pregnant, plus have 2 little kids at home, so it’s understandable, right?). I think they cost around $10 for all 3 of them, not including paint, screws, or vinyl (all of which I already had).

So there you have it! Super cute, easy, customizable book shelves (or any other kind of shelf) for cheap!