Home Decor and DIY: How to Upgrade Bookshelves

How to Upgrade Bookshelves

Once I decided to build a Pottery Barn knock-off desk for my husband, I knew the desk would be lonely without a pair of classic bookshelves. Its hard to find good bookshelves people, especially tall ones. When you look online, you find a sea of particle board and bad laminate. Luckily, once upon a time (like... the 90's) you could easily find solid wood bookshelves. The best news is, since "they" decided oak is ugly, you can pick up a pair of these babies for peanuts on Craigslist.

After a little searching and a 50 minute drive, I scored a pair of solid oak, 72" x 32" bookshelves (complete with those typical, 90's rounded edges) for $20. Great score, but the plan was to bring them into this century.

The wall these shelves were going on is over 12' tall, so these bad boys needed a pair of heels to raise them up.

How high you can go is dependent on how tall of baseboard you can find. You will need baseboard tall enough to cover the riser, plus a little more to nail to the bookshelf. You can use 2 x 6 for the bookshelf riser, but I find a 2 x 4 is a reasonable size (Remember, 2 x 4 is the "nominal size". It actually measures 1.5" x 3.5"). Measure your bookshelf, but in my case, with a 2 x 4, I was able to use 5.5" tall baseboard.

Now, build a box. If you have a * FULL size nail gun (like the kind framers user, not a finish or brad nailer), you could attach the boards that way. If not, set the boards on edge, vertically. Pre-drill and drive two, 3" wood screws into each end.

Cut and miter baseboard to wrap around, covering the riser, and attach with finish nails. Now, our bookshelf has some sassy high heels, its time to tease her hair.

Try to keep proportions on the bottom and top the same. Since I used a 1 x 4 riser, I chose 1 x 4 boards to add height to the top of the bookshelf. In order to attach the boards, I needed something to nail them to. I cut 3 pieces of 1 x 2. One, slightly shorter than the width of the bookshelf and 2 slightly shorter than the depth, minus 1.5". On the top of the bookshelf, I spaced the strips 3/4" from the edge and nailed them into place.

+ This is the same technique you would use if you were simply adding crown moulding, but you would bring the strips all the way to the edge.

Cut your 1 x 4 the same dimensions as the bookshelf and miter the corners. Place the board vertically against the 1 x 2 strip and nail into place.

If you haven't ever worked with crown moulding. it takes a little practice. I would recommend buying extra material your first time.

I would recommend watching a tutorial too, but here is my Reader's Digest version: On a miter saw, flip the crown upside down and lay it against the fence at the angle it would sit on the wall and ceiling (pretend it's where the wall and ceiling meet). Cut at a 45 degree angle.

I usually start with the most prominent piece first, nailing it into place, then adding the smaller pieces. To keep your joint from pulling apart, drive a couple nails from one piece of crown into the other, going both directions.

Remember, on a bookshelf you can just cut the crown square on the back of the sides and leave the back bare. Its going to be up against a wall.

Now, all that is left is make-up. I primed both bookcases and all the shelves with a stain blocking primer. Then, I sprayed 2 coats of Dark Roast from Country Chic Paint (Yes, it is a chalk-based paint and I didn't need to prime, but the oak looked a little orange and I was worried about tannin bleed). Its pretty much my new favorite color. Its the dark, warm gray that goes with anything. Its perfect if you like an Industrial look. You can see my first project I used Dark Roast on, here. Since these bookshelves will see a lot of use, I sprayed 3 coats of satin lacquer to seal my new paint job.

Here's what she looks like all gussied up.