Easy DIY Book Storage

by Lia with Southern Yankee DIY

5 Materials

$10

2 Hours

Easy

I built this book storage unit entirely out of scrap wood using plans I created! Usually, I follow woodworking plans that already exist or go off a picture I find, but this time I just went for it. Working off my own plans was intimidating for me at first because I had no idea if it would turn out good but y ’all I am glad I womaned up & did it because it’s perfect!

Supplies

Supplies:

1×3 Scrap Wood Pieces
1-1/4″ Pocket Screws or 1″ Regular Screws
Kreg Jig (if you want to use pocket holes)
Drill or Hammer
Miter Saw or Hand Saw
Paint/Stain

Cutting the wood

Start by cutting your wood pieces to size. I wanted my unit to be about 23in wide so I cut all my wood to that length. 8 pieces total cut at 23in. Now cut two more scrap wood pieces at 12 1/2in.

Next, use your Kreg Jig to make pocket holes on each side of 6 of the 23in boards. I only did one pocket hole per side but you can definitely do two for extra support. If you are not doing pocket holes skip this step

Cutting the leg pieces

Now we will work on the leg pieces. Using your miter saw or hand saw cut one side of each of the leg pieces at 45 degrees. If you are using a hand saw here is a miter box to help you cut your angle.After you have your two long legs cut we will work on the short legs. These will be your two 12 1/2" pieces. (If you are not using pocket holes skip cutting these boards into two smaller pieces & just cut the 45-degree angle) Cut one half of the board at 6" that will make your other side 6 1/2". Take your 6 1/2" piece & cut one side 45 degrees. The photo above should help to make more sense of these cuts!

Add Pocket Holes

After you have your small legs cut its time to add pocket holes to the middle section. This is where we will attach the small legs to the big legs.

Pocket Holes

This is how the small legs should look

Attach the legs together

Attach your smaller legs to your larger legs using 1 1/4" pocket hole screws. To know where to attach the legs you can use a square. If you don't have square you could stand the large leg up & small bottom leg & just mark the spot where both legs are flat & even. (Obviously, a square is easier but sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do😉.)

Making the other set of legs

Copy those steps to make your other set of legs. If you didn't use pocket holes you will need to attach your legs from the outside using your 1" screws.

Attching legs to slats

Finally, its time to attach your slats to the legs. Attach them using your pocket screws starting at the top of the long leg. I attached all 6 slats to the first leg before moving onto the second. There is 3 3/4" in-between the back of the book storage slats & 3/4 in-between the bottom slats.

Attach second side

Once you have all the slats attached to the first leg, attach the second leg the same way. Now that our book storage unit is built we can move onto the finishing touches!

Sanding the unit

Next up is sanding! I use my Ryobi sander for all my sanding projects because it goes a lot quicker but you can definitely use a sanding block instead.

Ta-Da

Finally, you can paint or stain your book storage unit any color you want. I ended up painting mine white to match the bookshelves that are already in Eli's nursery!

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3 of 9 comments

ElMar on May 28, 2020

Love the idea... was thinking someone could use your leg design and attach a wooden crate set at the same angle🤗👍

2 Reply
- Lia with Southern Yankee DIY on May 29, 2020
  
  That's a great idea ElMar!
  
  Like
Mum147024595 on May 07, 2025

Definitely a great idea! I'm going to build a little bit longer one to store games in!

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