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This project was a ton of fun for me.  My wife is a teacher and she had these old beat up metal cheap bookshelves.  She brought them home one day to paint them.  I commented how bad they looked and she said, “if you think you can build some better, then do it”.  There was a seperate disclosure thrown in after I got underway on the first bookshelf.  She says, “if you can build one, you have to build 4″.  So, that’s just what I did.  It’s a very easy project. It was easy enough that I went on to build a 5′ x 5′ x 12″ one. Granted, these are not extremely detailed, or anything you might find in some fine furniture store. They are sturdy, quality shelves that look decent and will last. I imagine with a little more time and attention to detail these would be very nice!

Materials Needed (for two 36″ W x 30″ H x 12″ D):

4 – 8′ 1×12 white pine boards

1 – 4×8 sheet of sanded plywood

1 – 8′ 3/4″-1″ trim

1 – 8′ 2 1/4″ trim

1 – wood glue

1 – wood filler

1 – can stain

1 – can polyurethane

1 – box finishing nails (common)

1 – box #6, 1 1/4″ wood screws

Tools needed:

Hammer

Tape Measure

Pencil

Table Saw (with a steady hand, a circular saw is fine)

Electric Hand Sander (you can do this by hand, just takes much longer)

Drill

Level

I started by making all of my cuts. I cut the boards into six 36″ cuts and four 30″ cuts. This will be your shelves and your sides. You should have approximately 4′ of the board left. With this material, I made cleats. I used a table saw and ripped the wood in 1″ widths. I had two 2′ boards left, so they were approximately 24″ in length. Each shelf will require six cleats. I cut the cleats to approximately 10 1/4″ lengths. So, from one 2′ board, I got all the cleats I needed. After the cleats were cut to lenght I needed, I cut a 45 degree angle on one end. Save the plywood and trim for last.

You are pretty much ready to start screwing everything together. I started by putting the cleats on the shelvels. Take a board, determine which side is going to be the top or the bottom and which edge will be the front and back. I don’t think there is any real method to this madness, but me personally, I put the straightest and most square side of the board to the back. I put the smoothest/cleanest looking side as the top.

Now, looking at your shelf, turn the back edge towards you and the bottom of the shelf face up. Which ever side you determined would be the back, on the far left side, measure in approximately 1/2″ and make a mark. Do the same for the right side. This will be where back of the cleat will be. Place the cleat so that the angle you cut is facing up, the back (flat side) is against your mark and the edge of the cleat runs parallel to the 12″ width of the board. Don’t make the cleat flush. Move it in just a hair so there is a small lip. This will help pull the side up nice and tight. As a tip, you can counter-sink the holes so that the flat head of the screws go in nice and flush with the wood. Repeat this step for all the shelves.

Once the shelves are completed, you can start screwing them into the sides. Start with the top, make it nice and flush with the sides. From the bottom of the top shelf, measure down 13″ and make a mark on the sides. Now, take your second shelf and place the top of it at your mark. Screw in the front of the cleat on each side. Leave the back unscrewed for now so that you can put a level to it to make sure you have an even surface. Once this is determined, you can screw in the back of the cleat. For the last shelf, measure approximately 2 1/4″ from the bottom of the sides and make a mark. At this mark, again, you want the top of your last shelf. The reason for measuring it this way instead of from the bottom of the middle shelf is so that you have a nice flush finish when you put your 2 1/4″ trim on the bottom. Repeat the order as you did for the shelf before. Screw in the front of the cleats, level the shelf, then screw in the back. This should ensure that your bottom shelf is also level.

Now, the finishing touches. Measure the size you need from your plywood for the backs (should be approximately 37 1/2″ wide and 27 3/4″ long). Cut and nail it to the back of the shelf. Measure your trim
pieces (should be approximately 37 1/2″ wide for both), cut and nail to the tops and bottoms. For the top piece, flush it up at the top. There may be a small lip hanging, but that’s okay. It will barely be visible and won’t get in the way. The bottom trim piece should be flush on the top and the bottom. This will serve as a “toe plate” with a decorative twist. The final step is to use the wood filler and fill all the cracks, holes, blemishes, etc. After that dries, sand the shelves down real good, stain, then polyurethane.

I didn’t stain these shelves, my wife wanted the natural wood color. So, this was my “mostly” finished product. I am still going to put a little “natural” colored stain on the wood filler in an effort to hide that a little better.