Old Bookshelf Restoration

9 Materials
$75
1 Day
Medium

I had a problem, I had too many books and not enough bookshelf space. I really did not want to buy another bookshelf from IKEA so I decided to make my own. Luckily I found an old bookshelf frame in the garbage that I decided to use as my base.

I checked a nearby garbage dump next to my apartment and found this beauty.


I also found some old bed slats that I thought would make great shelves with a little work.

After disassembling the bed slats and removing all the staples, I cut them to equal lengths so they could be used as shelves in my bookshelf. Then I sanded them down.

I marked three spots on each set of corresponding slats.

Then I drilled a whole in the same spot on each of the matching slats.

Fitting metal dowels into the holes that I had just drilled, I connected the sets of slats together so they formed a shelf. I now had 4 shelves from the bed slats.

Next I removed the back of the frame. This is a very tedious and annoying task, as the back was held on by many staples, but a good pair of pliers make the job a bit easier.

I decided to paint the back black and let that dry.

While the back was drying I laid out a plastic drop-cloth and placed the 4 shelves on it. Using RUST-OLEUM spray paint+primer, I painted the shelves fossil grey.

I did the same for the frame.

After the back dried as well as the frame, I reattached the back and added some slats across the for extra support.

This is how the bookshelf looked before adding the shelves.

Then using a level and a tape measure I attached L brackets to hold the shelves. I decided to not space the shelves equally.

This is how it looked. Then I did one last this thing. Using the leftover pieces of slats I created some dividers and attached them using L brackets.

This is how the bookshelf looks at the end. I started adding books and will be adding more books as well as some small decor items

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Michael Kossowsky
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