I love books. My children love books. I love that my children love books. I don’t love that my children have a hard time keeping books neat on a traditional book shelf. So I went on a mission to find a better way to store our books. This has been on my mind for months and I have looked at many options. Ikea spice racks and bins have been very popular on sites like Pinterest, but I was inspired by the look of a library shelf.

How do the children reach the books at the top?

These are cute, but didn’t feel functional for our home.

All of the library shelves I found were at least $150 and some as high as $275! That’s crazy talk, especially because I wanted one for each kid!

One of my inspirations. Find it here.

Thankfully I tapped Handy Husband, to build my dream. We found these instructions from Ana White and went for it! We tweaked her plans by not using such a steep angle and kept it stable by anchoring it to the wall with two drywall screws.

My daughter’s completed shelf. We were able to use leftover paint we had in the garage which kept our cost down.

Although it took almost two months worth of weekends to actually complete due to my husband’s shoulder injury and work schedule, it was worth it! We spent approximately $60 for the materials for 2 bookshelves including paint and primer! They look amazing and it gives the books the premier spot in the room.

My son’s completed shelf. My husband brought the chair to the store to match the paint.

The books work almost like art. The kids can now easily put their books away and they always look nice. I am very happy and excited that this project worked out just as I had imagined.