DIY Bookcase Ledges for Our Nursery

by TwoPlusCute

In our nursery, we had a narrow wall, that hid behind the open door. It was a wasted space with no utility and at the same time we really needed more space for our daughter's books.
We made these super easy ledges that are not only practical, they made the whole room look better! (You can see our nursery here).

diy bookcase ledges for our nursery, bedroom ideas, shelving ideas

How to make your own:

Cut your boards to size (home depot & lowes will cut them for you).

Glue and nail together, trying to get the bottom board nailed perpendicular to the wall support, to work against gravity (see next photo).

Find the wall studs, mark them with tape. This is where you will screw in the ledges.

Mark where you want the bottom shelf and mark with more tape.

Mark the rest of the shelves, from bottom to ceiling.

Install your shelves, (from bottom to top!):

- screw one side on the wall,

- level it

- and then screw the other side.

Getting some help with the stud finder

If you have a long wall, you should add more screw supports at the center of the ledges.

Fill the screw holes, sand and paint.

(The photos show the finished bookcase wall but without paint- I painted them another day and didn't take pictures of that - /lazy.)

Fill with books and enjoy. :)

ps. Check out this adorable dress up doll we made for our daughter using a...pizza box!

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3 of 5 questions

Ellen Larsen Irion on Aug 04, 2016
Very cute! I have a really similar space. Just wondering if the door opens up and hits into the shelves at all? Do you have some kind of stopper or something?

1
Turk on Dec 09, 2018

What size boards did you get? 1x4 for the back and bottom, 1x2 for the front ledge?
Thanks!

2
Eve64994868 on May 20, 2022

Can I purchase something like this already made

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2 of 32 comments

Eudora LaLonde on Apr 29, 2020

Did I miss the measurements for this? I don’t see them anywhere.

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Ron Edelman on Apr 10, 2021

Can you please include the measurements? What is the depth of the bottom piece? Are the bottom and back boards the same size? Thank you.

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