Book Shelves Tutorial

Tutorial:

Materials: 

 We made (4) 18 inch shelves (We would have gone bigger but the corner wall was only 22 inches).

• (1) 1''x2''x8 foot board
• (1) 1''x4''x8 foot board
• (1) 1''x6''x8 foot board
• wood glue
• screws or nails--We used 1 1/4 inch screws (about 50) for assembling the shelves and 2 1/2 inch screws (about 15) for mounting the shelves to the wall through the studs)
• Sand paper and/or electric sander
• Paint or stain
• Wood filler/calk optional (We didn't use it, but to make them look more professional, you may want to.)

I started by having my hubby cut the boards for me.  

Each shelf will need a set that looks like this.

They will go together to look like this.

We started out by sanding the pieces with our electric sander.  Sand paper would look fine too, it will just take a little longer.  I just sanded the edges that were going to be exposed so that Baby Boak wouldn't get bumped with rough edges.

As we constructed the shelves, we put down a layer of wood glue, and then the wood on top of it. We stared with the front piece and placed in ON TOP of the largest bottom board.

We had to hold it in place ourselves while Hubby drilled holes for the screws and then put the screws in place.  You'll want to wipe off any excess glue as soon as you've got the screws in.  We did the lip on the front of the shelves first. Then to make some extra "wow" we added a trim piece to the front.

We didn't measure exactly where we were putting the screws because they don't show, but they were about an inch from each end and then a little less then 12 inches apart going down the shelf.

Then we repeated the process for adding the back of the shelves.  We put the back piece ON TOP of the bottom piece.

Once the screws were in, we (don't laugh) taped down the front piece and the trim piece to hold it in place while it was drying. We let the glue dry overnight. 

Next, we sanded the shelves down to even out places where the seams hadn't lined up perfectly.  

Then we applied two coats of satin Olympic paint.  

To mount the shelves to the wall, we used 2 1/2 inch screws and made sure they hit studs.