We had a chunk of wasted space on the side of our fireplace just BEGGING for purpose. That coupled with boxes of awesome books piled in our basement storage, led me and my husband to our latest creation: A homemade bookshelf/library of course!!!! Here’s how we did it:

We went to Home Depot and bought the wood. We wanted the shelves to be 12” wide and 2”thick, however, those boards were WAY too heavy. So we bought 2”x6” boards with the plan to attach them together. We had them cut to our desired length and got started by sanding down the rough edges.

I combined two different colors of stain: dark walnut and kona, to get the look I was going for.

Here is the space that was looking for love. Now that we have completed the bookshelf, I can’t believe I left it empty for so long!!! 🙂 However, it used to be the PERFECT spot for our Christmas tree!!!

We used a simple metal attachment to join the wood together. Same look and affect as a 12″ board, though much lighter.

Next, my husband and I had to decide the details that worked for us. How high up should we start the first shelf? How many shelves do we need?

 

How tall are most books? How far apart should we put each shelf? I love that there are no rules. Whatever works for you and your space is what you do. 🙂

I ordered 10 corbels to fit my 12 inch shelves and my industrial/rustic style from TiredTruckDesigns on Etsy. I LOVE these corbels!!! They are beautiful, sturdy and work PERFECTLY for our design.  Thankfully, my husband is a master mathematician 🙂 so he measured 17” between each shelf and drilled them in accordingly.

 

We wanted to add a cool touch to the top shelf, so we went to Ace Hardware to come up with a creative way to attach it to the wall. After we chose our hardware, I spray painted it a flat black.

 

My husband carefully connected the hardware to the wall.

I found some really cool ottomans from Overstock.com to fit under the shelf. They are SUPER comfy, chic and light enough to move freely. They were also very reasonably priced.

And here it is. After great team work, a little time, and less than $200, we created a customized space in our home for all to share!!! HAPPY READING!!!! 🙂