I’ve been working on bookshelves for the apartment for a while now, and they are finally finished. I think the total time I spent on them was only 8-10 hours, but it has been spread across about 4 weeks, so it seems like this project took forever! But now that it is done I am so stoked on how it turned out.
There’s a little 16” deep alcove on one of the walls in the living room, so I wanted to build a shelving unit into the wall. Since we don’t own the place, we can’t exactly make a full built in wall unit. So I designed a built-in that only requires two screws into the wall! I framed out the structure using 1 inch square tubing; (welding is so handy) and I used 3/4 inch birch plywood for the shelving. I got the plywood for free and the steel only cost $40, I got some aluminum metallic paint ($25 for a gallon), and some special screws for wood to metal ($8). I only used about 4 oz. of the paint - so my total cost for a custom built shelving unit was under $70!!! Radness.
Cutting and routing shelves. Got a new 1/2 inch round over bit for my router - super nice!
The metal structure has two legs that sit onto the carpet, which bears most of the weight. I then bolted into the wall sides to prevent any tipping of the metal structure; which equals minimal wall patching when we move out!
The final product! Stoked! 64 inches wide x 72 inches tall!
Want me to make you something, or at least design a solution? Email me - etrine@gmail.com
