DIY Industrial Design Bookcase

Helloooooo! So I was going to give you the whole spiel about how sorry I am that I haven’t posted in a while, and how busy I’ve been, and how overwhelming life can get… but let’s face it, you get it, because we’ve all been there. So I’ll save it. ;)

Today’s project is the first thing that has really truly inspired me in a while. I am so in love, it’s not even funny. But first, let me give you the backstory. 

After living with our lounge room arrangement for the last 3 years, we felt like a bit of a change last week (you can see what it used to look like here). We moved everything around, and it looks really great, but we ended up with no place to put our bookcase, and a rather bare looking hallway. The solution is obvious, right?

We couldn’t put our existing bookcase against the wall, because it just stuck out too far and made the hallway between our lounge room and our kitchen too narrow. The bookcase was about 30cm deep, and I figured that we needed something closer to 15cm (which, coincidentally, is about the depth of most books). 

So I stared at the wall for a little while, did a bit of online browsing on the Bunnings website, and came up with a brilliant plan.

Here is what we used to make the bookcase: 

• 3 x treated pine boards (14cm by 120cm)
• 4 x 3/8inch threaded rods (36inches) 
• 24 x 3/8 inch zinc plated nuts
• electric drill with 1cm drill bit

The process was super easy. We measured and drilled a hole in each corner of each board, about 3/4 of an inch in from both sides. Then we fed the threaded rods through the holes, one board at a time, and fastened each board above and below with nuts.

The bookcase fits perfectly in our tiny hallway – it doesn’t stick out any further than the skirting board at the bottom of our staircase.

We kept the wood natural and the threaded rods visible because we both like the rawness of the functional, industrial look. It goes nicely with the rest of our decor, and particularly the recycled wood and raw calico of the frame on the wall above. The aim was to make something stylish yet inconspicuous, so that the hallway wouldn’t feel crowded, and I feel like we struck a perfect balance. 

The real added bonus was that it actually fit more books than the old bookcase. In case you were wondering, the books that are on the shelf now are my ‘to read’ books – ones that I’ve purchased or borrowed or been given, that I haven’t yet got around to reading. You may notice that there’s quite a few… hence why I have banned myself from buying new books this year. I’m hoping to cut it down just a bit by December! 

Anyway thanks for checking in – it feels amazing to be back on my blog. I really miss it when I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve got a real backlog of projects to share, so stay tuned. <3