Adding a bookcase to your décor is a brilliant way to add character to your home. Not only can they hold and display your beloved books, but can also serve as excellent storage space. Simultaneously, they can add value to your house. Since most DIY bookshelf design ideas are meant to fill up your bare walls, you can also save up some precious floor space by choosing to organize your literary collection in a vertical manner.
Needless to say, putting together a bookcase is an ideal décor idea for small houses and apartments. If you want to make your home look modern and sophisticated, just choose a wall and install some shelves to display your books along with other knick-knacks and prized possessions. When it comes to designing bookcases, all you need is a flair for creativity, a small budget and a passion for reading.
Affordable DIY Bookshelf Ideas For Your Home
Here are a few simple bookshelf designs that are pretty easy to put together. Moreover, these bookcase ideas won’t be too heavy on your pocket either.
Floating Bookshelf
This cheap DIY bookshelf design idea is perfect for dorm rooms and studio apartments. Apart from not taking up a lot of space, it also gives a modern look to your place.
Despite the fact these bookshelves appear suspended in mid-air, they are strong enough to hold your belongings. They aren’t too difficult to install either.
These shelves are called floating shelves essentially because you can’t see any hooks or brackets supporting them. This is done by nailing a wooden cleat to the wall before sliding on a hollowed out shelf on top of it. For a sturdier bookcase, you can even use nails to secure the shelves to the cleats.
Apart from books, floating shelves are also a refreshing way to display small potted plants, photo frames and other accessories.
Pallet or Crate Bookshelf
Do you want to give your home a cosy, barn-style feel?
If so, this bookcase idea will be a perfect way to spruce up your place while simultaneously providing some extra storage space. Also, since wooden crates and pallets are available for pretty low prices, this DIY bookshelf design idea is also not going to cost you much.
However, you’ll need to make sure the material you are using isn’t damaged in any way or it could bring the entire structure down.
You can arrange and rearrange the crates from different angles until you get the desired result. Then, once you are satisfied with how it looks, nail the pieces together. It’s better to paint the crates before you assemble them. Moreover, just use a fresh coat of varnish to seal the colour once it’s all put together.
Along with books and decorative items, you can even place wicker baskets in the empty crates in your bookcase for creative storage space.
Birdhouse Bookshelf
If you are looking for DIY bookshelves for small rooms, a birdhouse inspired bookcase is perhaps your best option. These bookshelves are ideal for children’s bedroom and playroom. You can easily find big, wooden birdhouses in the market. All you need to do is remove the wooden plank at the back and add some shelves.
Since one birdhouse is likely not going to be enough to store all of your kids’ book collection, you can use more than one and either mount them on the wall or put them on the ground. In case you can’t find ready-made birdhouses, you can always make them yourself for even cheaper.
You can also paint these birdhouse bookshelves in bright colours to compliment the décor of your child’s room. Moreover, you can use these shelves to store other items like colouring books, boxes of crayons, board games, action figures and other toys.
Ladder Bookshelf
If you’re a fan of vintage décor, your home is incomplete without a classic ladder bookshelf. While there are several ways to turn a ladder into a shelf, the easiest one is to take an old ladder or a step ladder and attach a wooden plank to each step to create shelf space. It’s better to secure everything with nails. Moreover, don’t forget to create a base for your ladder bookcase.
Since most households already have ladders, you can just utilize that and buy a new one for your house. Another option is to buy a second-hand one and repainting it in accordance with the theme of your home. Generally, dark or rustic wood stains incorporate well with almost every décor.
Traditional Bookshelf
Nothing can make your home look expensive and luxurious like a traditional bookshelf. Generally, these bookcases are large, heavy and have horizontal shelving along with a back wall. Although they come in all sizes, both tall and small, these bookshelves are usually made of wood. They have a solid appearance with some artistic details. However, these bookcases are easily available in every material.
Be it your bedroom or the drawing room, you can place a traditional bookcase pretty much anywhere in your house, depending on the floor space. Moreover, unlike most other homemade bookshelf ideas, these bookcases are timeless and can be used in all kinds of settings.
Industrial Bookshelf
Industrial bookcases are the perfect way to add a little bit of charm to contemporary home décor. Like most pieces of furniture listed in this article, you can either buy an industrial bookshelf or go the DIY route and make one for yourself using metal pipes and wood boards. These bookcases usually don’t have a backing wall and can even be used as dividers in big rooms or studio apartments.
You can simply customize your bookshelf by adjusting the dimensions of the shelves in a variety of ways to fit your needs. For instance, you can remove some open shelving to create space for your television set. Similarly, you can paint it in interesting ways to brighten your home or office space.
Tree-shaped Bookshelf
If you are tired of your boring, bare walls, add a whimsical element to your home décor with a tree-shaped bookcase. Yet another popular DIY bookshelf design idea, this artistic bookcase functions both as a storage space for books and a piece of decoration. While the tilted branch-shaped shelves illustrate an actual tree, the unique position and shape of the shelves allow you to organize your books and other items in a creative manner.
In order to create a tree-shaped bookcase, you’ll need a long and thick piece of wood to act as the stem and smaller pieces of either wood or plywood to serve as branch-like shelves. Even if you have no prior experience putting together something like, you cannot go wrong with this design.
Depending on your needs (and vision), this bookcase can be as simple or as intricate as you desire.
Skateboard Bookshelf
Are there any old skateboards lying uselessly in your storeroom? If so, take them out and hang them on a wall using small wall brackets. This is perhaps one of the simplest and most creative DIY bookshelf design ideas that you can use to upgrade the décor of your children’s bedroom.
However, in order to make sure the skateboard doesn’t fall off the wall due to the added weight of the books and everything else that you decide to fill it up with, secure it to the wall bracket using carpenter’s glue since using a nail and hammer would damage the entire board.
Hanging Bookshelf
This minimalistic bookcase doesn’t require a lot of construction material and tools, which makes it an ideal DIY project for beginners. To create a hanging shelf, you’ll only need a piece of wood, some paint, leather or suede straps and a handheld electric drill. Make sure the shelves aren’t too big or else the leather straps might not be able to support them.
Assembling these shelves don’t take long either. However, before you begin, paint or stain the wooden pieces in accordance with your décor choices. Once the paint is dry, drill a hole on each end and make it big enough to loop the leather through it. It’s really important to tie multiple knots to secure the shelf before looping the strap through the second hole and repeating the process.
You need to measure the distance between the two holes on the shelf before marking the exact spots on the wall to place hooks to hold the leather straps. That’s it. You can display some lightweight books and plants on these shelves for a simple yet vibrant look.
Cube or Box Bookshelf
This elegant and sophisticated DIY bookcase design idea does not only add depth to your room, but it is also very affordable and requires little work. Moreover, you can use combinations of sizes to make storage space for different things apart from books – like a vintage radio or your children’s school trophies. Cube shelves are highly versatile and very simple to put together.
If you want to create a uniform look, buy several pieces of wood in similar size and fasten four sides together with screws before putting on the back. You can easily put together several such boxes in the span of a few hours. Like other projects, it’s better if you paint the shelves beforehand. Make sure to use a coat of varnish once you’ve assembled all the boxes together and fastened them onto the wall.
Depending on the theme of your home and the space available, you can experiment with different styles and shapes to create a unique bookcase.
