Adding some wall-mounted bookshelves?

Question

My cozy apartment is nice, but needs more book-shelving. I'm wondering about head-level shelves that I just fix onto wall studs? I'm marginally handy; is this project easy? Cheap?

Answer 1

Easy depends on the tools you have available.

Cheap? could depend on how you make them, hehe....Inexpensive? depends on what you use to make them.

I wouldnt hang any too close to a door... be too easy to bang your head on one.

You can make from fairly simple shelving to very elaborate. Lets look at the simplest form.... most bookshelves do not need to be very deep, for a single row of books. About 12" is sufficient for most...you can of course, make them any size you like. For the simplest form, lets assume you use a stock size material, like 1x12 for example. This could be pine, oak, cherry, poplar... solid, or glued up panels, or even veneered plywood (which would be easiest to cut on a table saw).

The simplest assembly would be to use the 1x to make an open box. I would add a pair of stringers to the shelves to screw it to the wall... these could be as simple as 1x2 strips. You can find both the dimension lumber and the trim strips at places like Lowe's. This will give you a 2-shelf unit... one inside the box, and the top of the box. Make it taller and you can add shelves, (plan on 12 inches minimum between the shelves, unless they are paperbacks)

Some options to throw into the above, would be a trim rail, pegs or hooks to hang things on underneath, cork on the ends (or bottom stringer) for notes, etc., lighting, doors... all kinds of things you can do with it...but the basic design is still just a box, hehehe.

Look around when shopping, and you may even find that something like this already exists (which you could either purchase, or gain insight from)

Have Fun

Answer 2

Well I think the easiest way would be buy shelf brackets and a shelf of the right thickness and width. Almost all lumber yards have these. Find the studs, this is important! Then just screw the brackets to the studs using a fairly long screw because you are probably going thru sheetrock before you hit the stud. like 2 1/2 or 3 inches. use appropiate smaller screws to fasten the shelves to the brackets. Of course make the brackets level.