DIY Wood Bookshelf – Easy for novice wood worker!

After building these frames, which were my first woodworking attempt, I was feeling quite brave and adventurous and like I could build anything!  I had been wanting a bookshelf for my daughter’s bedroom, but did not want a cheapo bookshelf.  I wanted something solid and made of real wood  that would last a lifetime (or at least something that would tolerate a 4 year old’s torture!).  Problem was, I didn’t want to pay the prices stores charge for solid wood bookcases.  So,  I decided that I would attempt to build a bookcase for my daughter (and hopefully show her that girls can use tools and build things too!) I want her to have some furniture that she will appreciate when she is older knowing that her mom built it for her.

So, I searched Pinterest for a bookshelf plan that both looked nice and buildable (especially to my novice eyes!)  Remember this was only my second attempt at building something made of wood, and my very first piece of furniture. My Pinterest search led me to the website of Ana White, who I must say is AMAZING!! She has hundreds of furniture plans on her website that are all free and very easy to follow.  If you are just starting out with building furniture, her site is where to go.

So, the plans I found on her website were for the Kentwood Bookshelf (click here for plans).

I was able to build the entire bookshelf in one weekend, so it is a fairly quick and easy build, especially for a newbie.  The build would have gone much faster had I had my Ryobi Airstrike nailer, but I didn’t have it in November when I built this bookcase.  Instead I had to hammer in all the finish nails to the top and back of the bookcase, and that took quite a while.  Other than that, all of the cuts were very straight forward and simple, especially if you have a miter saw.  The only  part I struggled with was making sure the shelves were straight.   For this part, I cut two boards to the height I wanted my shelves to be, and then set my shelf on those boards to make sure it was straight and even.  The top shelf was supposed to be the shortest shelf, but ended up being the tallest, so I didn’t get my shelf measurements exact, but it ended up working out because the top shelf will fit some of her tall dolls and her books will fit on the middle shelves.

I purchased two pink storage cubes off of Amazon for about $10 that perfectly fit on the bottom shelf, and those hold toys and dolls.  The storage cubes can be ordered in several different colors, I chose dark pink to match my daughter’s room decor.  Below is a link to the storage cubes that fit this bookshelf perfectly:

The hardest part was all of the finish work (filling the holes with wood filler, sanding, and painting).  I have never painted furniture before so I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing. After sanding, I just started painting the bookcase with nterior white paint. Next time, I would definitely use primer first as it took about 6 coats of white paint to cover the wood.  Laslty, I did not seal the bookcase with a varnish, which I now wish I had as the white paint is getting some marks on it from toys and books.    But, the white paint can always be touched up and varnish applied later.  Here are some more pics of the bookshelf prior to painting:

And lastly, a picture of the finished bookshelf in my daughter’s room: