Custom Bookshelves on a Budget: Creative Ideas
Custom Bookshelves on a Budget #1. Shop for the “accidental” bookshelves.
Oddball pieces of furniture and storage sometimes make great “accidental” bookshelves. For example, old upright VHS tape storage units can become a home for paperbacks, and they actually resemble the spinning paperback holders used in some public libraries. Discount retailers like Target also sell relatively inexpensive cubby-style laminate storage units which can also work splendidly for certain sizes of books. The point is that you’re not just limited to the aisle of assemble-it-yourself bookshelves. Look in other departments: outdoors, hardware, kitchen, closet storage, and even bathroom sections of department stores offer pieces of furniture that can, with little or no modification, become custom bookshelves on a budget – fitting and looking even better than things that were actually intended to hold books.
Custom Bookshelves on a Budget #2. Make your own modular bookshelves
[For this idea, I must give credit to my friend Jen, who decorated her apartment several years ago with shoestring style.] Using only three basic materials, you can create sturdy but easily disassembled custom bookshelves on a budget. The shelves themselves will simply be even-lengthed pieces of wood, which can be purchased at places like The Home Depot (or The Home Despot, as I like to call it). Select the depth, length, and thickness you desire. Then, using either paint or varnish, you can finish the shelves to suit your tastes.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the DIY modular bookshelves is what props the shelves up from each other. Here, you’ll be looking for anything (1) sturdy, (2) adequately tall, and (3) flat on both the top and bottom. Glass “cubes” (though they’re more like super-thick glass tiles) can be used. If you’re wondering what these look like, imagine just a piece of a bubbled bar window. You can also use maroon bricks (several on each side) for a warm look – or perhaps something cold and metal for a more industrial feel. If you stroll up and down the aisles of a mega-hardware store or craft shop, you’ll find something appropriate to your taste and budget. Selecting the materials themselves is what’s so fun – you decide the height, depth, length, color, and feel without spending ridiculous amounts of money for someone to build custom bookshelves on your behalf.
Custom Bookshelves on a Budget #3. Redefine existing space with little or no cost.
Perhaps the easiest way to create so-called custom bookshelves on a budget is to use the spaces you already have in your house or apartment. A deep windowsill, especially the sort just inside a bay window, may provide a one-shelf nook. The toppers built to cover some old-school radiators can also function this way. You can arrange infrequently used books atop kitchen cabinets if there’s space below the ceiling.
I even have a friend who turned a shallow closet into a bookshelf by installing some inexpensive shelves from Ikea and leaving the door open for a “book nook” look. It’s possible that you don’t even need to buy anything at all to hold your books if you just use the space and tools you have creatively.
