How to Make Simple DIY Book Ledges

We needed a solution for our daughter’s story books. A few pine boards, and a little DIYing later, I created a couple of simple book ledges. Today, I’m showing you how!

We had a problem in our little girl’s room, and I’m sure it’s been a problem some of you have experienced too. Too many books, and really no good storage solution. Her book collection grew significantly over the last year, and the little end table they were on just wasn’t cutting it anymore. It was totally disorganized, and was actually chaos. If you touched ONE book the whole tower came tumbling down. These DIY book ledges were just the thing!

I had previously built a picture ledge for some family photos in our living room, and thought it would be a great solution for her books. A few pine 1×6 boards later, I believe I created the perfect solution. They’re just the right height for her to reach, and she loves pulling the books down. It’s also been so easy to shuffle through what she has, and she thinks she’s always getting new books…Even though I’m simply pulling the ones from the back to the front.

What I used…

1 8′ pine 1×6 board. I cut this into four equal 24″ cuts.
1 8′ pine 1×3 board, I only needed two 24″ cuts, leaving me 4′ of 1×3 for another project
Miter saw
wood glue
finishing nails (I actually used my husband’s nail gun for this)
Spray paint with primer

How I did it…

I started by measuring how much room I had on the wall for the ledges. It worked out perfectly for each ledge to be 24″ long.
Once I had my measurement I cut my 1×6 board into 4 equal 24″ pieces. I used two of the pieces for each of the book ledges. One piece as the back, and the other piece as the bottom. I cut the 1×3 into two 24″ pieces. This is what I used as the ledge for the front to keep the books from sliding out.
After all of my cuts were made (there were six total) I laid my boards out, and started attaching them. One 24″ 1×6 for the back, one for the bottom, and a 24″ 1×3 for the front ledge. I applied a small bead of glue down each seam, and then used the nail gun to give them a secure hold.
I let the glue dry for a few hours, and then took them outside to be painted. Originally I thought about priming and painting them with latex paint, but I honestly didn’t feel like dirtying up a paint brush. ha! So, I found a can of white spray paint in the garage that was brand new, and thought I’d give it a whirl. This particular can of spray paint also had primer. It only took two coats to completely cover the boards.
After the paint was dry I predrilled holes in the back of each picture ledge, and used screws to attach them to the walls in her room. We are fortunate that the walls in the whole house are solid wood (yes, they are original shiplap…and, no, my husband won’t let me uncover them…trust me, I’ve asked!) behind the drywall. I really never have to worry about finding a stud.

That’s really all there was to it. They were such an easy DIY project that really made a big impact in her little room. Not to mention it’s a whole lot more visually pleasing than the leaning tower of story books. I always love DIY projects, but this is one of my favorites. I say that about them all, I think. They’re all my favorites.

Have you been DIYing? I’d love to hear about it. As always, thanks for spending a tiny part of your day with me.