Monday, February 20, 2012

Built-In Bookcase - Part 1

I've spent many an hour at the Barnes & Noble cafe sipping coffee while thumbing through books and magazines.  Before SB started school it was our weekly date.  We'd go to storytime then while away the morning with a snack and a stack of reading material.  We still manage to have a Barnes & Noble "date" on occasion.  Consequently, we have a houseful of books.

I've shown our family room wall of books & media here, and of course each of the boys has bookshelves in their bedrooms.  But we needed more bookspace, and I was tired of looking at the 70s jail cell bars that were separating my foyer from my living room.
Stupid bars separating my foyer from the LR behind my FIL

So a project was born.  I was hoping to have finished this over the weekend, but my brother was visiting with his newly-minted fiance(Yay! Finally!) and all construction work came to a grinding halt.  I actually took the recipocating saw to those bars a really long time ago, leaving a blank space over a half wall.

I punched a hole into the wall and shined a flashlight around to make sure that there weren't any wires or anything in there.

Then started the demolition process.  The studs were taken out very carefully with an oscillating multi-tool, so as not to damage the wall on the other side. 

At first I had only been planning on having a bookcase that was the width of the upper opening, but after staring at that hole for awhile, I decided to take the bookcase all the way to the wall, so as not to have a weird little corner space.

CG jumped in on the rebuilding process.  We're a team, and he likes building things.  Using construction adhesive, we attached a sheet of v-groove paneling to the existing drywall for the bookshelf back.  There were some wires along the left side, and instead of rerouting them, we planned to box them in.  For symmetry sake, we built a matching box out of 2x4's for the right side, too.

A 2x4 header attached with our Kreg Pocket Jig, and a sheet of Luan on top are starting to make this half wall look a bit more like a bookcase.  I wish I had a "tada!" after photo to share, but we'll try for next week.

Thanks for popping in and DIYing with me.
Tuesday To Do Party

18 comments:

  1. That is going to be an awesome project when all is said and done.

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  2. Oh this is gonna be good! What a great use of a previously wasted space.

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  3. What a great idea!! Makes good use of space that otherwise would be meaningless!

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  4. Wide, deep, and chunky looks really good. Bravo.

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  5. will be interesting to see this progress. You can still use the wall space in the corner for small display shelves (even display select books) or just hang something flat and eye catching there. Or add a quote1 Lots of possibilities.

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  6. Good Idea! I am following you on Linky. Would you follow back. Pat

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  7. Ooh, I can't wait! What a great project.

    Isn't it amazing (awful) what builders came up with to divide foyers from living space? In our last house, when we moved in, there was a deep half-wall with slats above on one side to the ceiling. But the top of the wall was a 'rock garden,' I guess you'd call it. The many cats who lived in the house with the prior owners called it 'litter box.' Gross. It was one of the first thing to go.

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  8. What an awesome idea to transform an otherwise "dead" space. I'm excited to see the result :)

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  9. Way to go using that space - it looks like you are as big a fan of Barnes & Noble as my household. We are not DIYers so we just had bookcases built for our family room. Of course, I ended up displaying more pretties than books but that will no doubt change as time goes on. Glad I stopped by, I will definitely check back to see the finished shelves.

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  10. That's such a clever idea. I can't wait for the "ta da" ...

    :)

    Linda

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  11. I found your site through the bloghop party! I am your newest follower! I would love if you followed me too at www.lakemurraycottage.blogspot.com.

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  12. My husband and I have a thing for B&N and books too. I am repurposing a china cabinet into a bookcase to store our ever growing collection. Depending on the project, we DIY together too. Can't wait to see the finished built in.

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  13. Oh, I just know your built in is going to look fab!! You're both such talented people. Have a wonderful week.
    FABBY

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  14. Can't believe you did not like the jail cell bars!! I used the reciprocating saw to take down the top part of my kitchen bar...Soooo fun! I can't wait to see it all done. Oh, congrats to the brother and his fiance!!! Yea, we love,love! More blog material LOL!

    Carol

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  15. Great progress! Can't wait to see what you step 2!

    blessings,
    karianne

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  16. What a great project. I can't wait to see the finished project!

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  17. What an awesome idea....YOU are so creative! I can't wait to see it fnished. Super cool! :)

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  18. That looks awesome so far!!! Very inspiring!!!

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