DIY style
Built In BookShelves
The easy and inexpensive way
THIS WAS SUCH A FUN, EASY PROJECT!
These built in bookshelves were such a fun, easy, inexpensive project! I think we did the whole thing in one night! I want to do them all over my house now! They really added a HUGE wow factor!
You can find Ikea bookshelf hacks all over Pinterest, but I don’t have an Ikea close! So I set out to find a way to do it with Target bookshelves! We bought the Target Room Essentials 5 Shelf Bookcase. Keep your eye out for sales. I snagged these two years in a row for quite a bit less. Both times in the middle of July.
FIRST STEP MEASURING…
Before we added these built in bookshelves we just had a flat boring wall. As you can see in the pic we had a 2 inch deep little lip. I believe this is where they went from 2×6’s to 2×4’s. Not sure why they choose to do it right in the middle of the wall but it made a natural spot to end our bookshelf.
The first thing you will want to do before you even head to the store is measure. I drew up a little sketch to help me. Measure your space, and minus out the bookshelves. Since we had 78″ of space, we could fit 3 bookshelves that were 24.49″ wide. We wanted to add trim pieces between each shelf, so we needed at least a one inch gap between each shelf and also at least a one inch gap between the end shelves and walls. From my sketch you can see that I will have 4 “spaces” or gaps between the shelves. Since my 3 bookshelves total 73.47″ and my total space was 78″…. I have 4.53 for gaps. I decided to leave 1″ on the two middle gaps and added the extra quarter inch (.26″) to the two side edges. Now when I head to the store I know I can buy a slightly wider trim piece for the two sides.
Second Step: Pop off Baseboard and Build Frame.
After popping off our baseboards we built a simple frame to sit the bookshelves on. It lifts your shelves off the ground, so you can add your baseboard back on around the shelves after. If your planning to reuse your baseboard make sure to take it off carefully. We planned on replacing ours. We built a simple frame out of 2×4’s and whatever scrap wood we had and screwed it to the wall. Make sure it’s the same depth as your shelf.
Third Step: attaching bookshelves
After our frame was attached to the wall, we set our bookshelves on top of the frame and securely attached them to the wall with the including mounting brackets. We also wedged pieces of extra trim in the gaps between the bookshelves and the walls to give it extra support and to insure it didn’t wiggle. We did 3-4 pieces in every gap. Afterwards, it was very tight and not moving anywhere.
Fourth Step: Taking it to the ceiling
If your doing built ins they really just have to go to the ceiling. Right!? So we bought two extra bookshelves which we cut in half and secured on top of the other shelves.
Fifth Step: TRIM!!!
I really love trim!!! I know… it’s not normal but it just makes such a huge difference so quickly! It’s one of my favorite upgrades! We added slightly wider trim to the sides and slightly smaller trim to the two middle pieces. Then we added a baseboard around the bottom and crown to the top! It really dressed it up nicely! We also added a long piece of melamine board to the outer side and screwed it into the wood pieces that were wedged in to support it.
One mistake we made…we should have added an extra plain piece of trim around the bottom before adding our baseboard. This way the vertical pieces would have a flush edge to butt up to. We ended up angling the cut, which was fine, but in hind sight I wish we would have added that extra piece.
Sixth Step: Fill Nail HOles, Caulk and Paint
Lastly, puddy the nail holes, caulk the seams, and paint the trim. We didn’t paint the bookcases at all. Only the trim. Just have the trim paint matched to one of your shelves and you will save yourself a lot of work. Initially I thought I would puddy all the shelf holes, but since finishing the shelves, I haven’t even noticed the holes, so we left them. You can easily use some mud if they bother you, but then you’ll need to paint the shelves as well.
There ya have it! Target Built In Bookshelves!
Sometimes, when my daughter is at school, I lay in her bed and just look at them! They turned out so beautiful! Be sure to check out her whole Teen Girl Bedroom Makeover or our $35 Door and Trim Makeover!
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