When we first bought our house we chose to use the dining room as an office/ library space. The walls were so red! So we did some minor updates (check them out below). Although the space was ok, ultimately it didn’t work long term.
Some of the challenges:
Since the room wasn’t defined enough or the space was too big – it was always messy.
It was the room that people walked through when they came into the house to get into the kitchen – and since it was a ‘hallway’ of sorts, there was no privacy at all.
Oh and did I mention the room was always messy
So….. it was time to create what I wanted
First I hired someone to put up a wall and move the electrical.
I saw an idea on Pinterest, where instead of building fully custom library cabinets, to use builder-grade ones and paint them.
And then building up the bookshelves using good quality wood.
Just 5 Days to Create this space!
The most advanced power tool I had used was a drill – that’s it.
This required a power saw. I was so scared of using it. In addition to that, with everything else going on – the project really dragged out. Once I had all the wood and tools in the house, and the cabinets installed – it only took 5 days to create this. And I did have help.
Because I had dragged it out – I ended up hiring someone to paint the room and help install the bookcases and paint them so that I could get it done faster.
So that was the first of many orders to home depot.
Here are the products I used
I measured the wall a bunch of times. You know the saying – measure a million times to get it right (ok it’s not a saying I was just being super compulsive about it because I didn’t want to have to order and order and get the wrong cabinets.
Cabinets
Bookshelves
Next, I chose Red Oak Birch 3/4 inch plywood for the counters and the bookshelves.
I wanted something a little thicker so it would provide stability.
The way I measured for the shelves was by going according to the cabinet width
- I used a 15 in, 20 in, 30 in, 36 in, 36 in, and a corner cabinet with a 29-inch width
- Each of the bookshelves matched up to the cabinet
- I measured the ceiling height from the top of the countertop – in my case, it was 60.5 inches.
So the side panels of the bookshelves were 60.5 inches tall by 12 inches wide.
How I Measured for the Shelves
Each shelf was measured as follows:
For the 15-inch cabinet/bookcase – the shelf itself was 13.5 inches wide by 12 inches in depth
20 – 18.5 inches wide by 12 depth
30 – 28.5 inches wide by 12 inches depth
36 – 34.5 inches wide by 12 inches depth
29 – 27.5 inches wide by 12 inches
For the shelf material, you can buy the wood that is already 12 inches wide and then cut it down to size – but those are also 1 inch thick – which was thicker than I wanted to use.
It will up your cost vs buying a sheet that is 4×8 (heads up though it’s not exactly 4ft, it’s a drop less so measure it and divide exactly by 4′.
This one is the most time-consuming part – I measured each board to the height that I wanted. I already own enough books to fill all the shelves, so I measured it out to the height of the tallest book – These worked for me based on my ceiling height and needs
10, 10, 9, 13, 13
There are 5 shelves. The bottom shelf is the top of the cabinet.
The challenge I ran into was once the bookshelves were built – they didn’t line up perfectly. I covered that with 2.5-inch flat molding and it finished it beautifully. Although I have a Home Depot Pro account – I can not find the order for this specific wood. What I can share is that it is very thin. (I know the HD vs Lowes debate is strong – I think it depends on where you live – there is one HD store that is amazing and their customer service is top-notch)
I also put 3/4 inch molding in front of each shelf individually and at the top.
Then I went to Sherwin Williams (after going to 4 stores to find the wood stain I wanted), and the saleswoman mixed me up a batch of what we thought would be a beautiful gray – but turned out to be a baby blue. So after adding so much black paint and creating our own color – It turned out more Navy. I love it! The room is bright and vibrant.
The cost of materials was higher than I anticipated due to the inflated prices of lumber right now – That was $700 dollars.
Cabinet cost – 759.84
Help – $1200
Paint $25
Update – it’s been 2 weeks and I’m obsessed with working in my office every day – I can actually sit and get lost in my work – so this was worth every moment and penny.
