Tuesday’s Resourceful Little Idea

Make a Simple Display Shelf for Books

The boy has always loved books and reading, and by the age of two already owned an extensive library of picture books. I was never happy with conventional shelves when it came to storing his books though, as it wasn’t easy for him to identify or choose children’s books when only the spine was visible.

What I wanted was a way for the boy to have easy access to his books while in bed, and also be able to actually see the front covers of the books so he could easily find a book he was looking for. Also, it’s almost impossible for most young children to properly tidy away books onto a normal bookshelf, they tend to just get dumped there, and I didn’t want to give the boy any excuses not to tidy up his own mess!

That is when I designed and built this bedside book rack, using two lengths of 2″ wood and some curtain wire. I used the curtain wire to keep the books from tipping over and off the narrow shelf when small hands were handling the books. I simply glued the two pieces of wood together and then attached the shelf to the wall using L brackets. If DIY projects usually scare you off, please don’t be ascared by attempting this, it really is very easy and simple to construct.

Now that the boy is older he displays his vast Tintin collection on this bookshelf, making it easy for him to find and select whichever Tintin book he fancies reading. I also think the front covers of the book are worth displaying, rather than being hidden on a conventional shelf.

I’d recommend this for anyone with children as the perfect way to display a selection of books alongside a bed, but it would also be a great way of displaying magazines, cookbooks and ‘coffee table’ books too in other parts of the house, or manuals and workbooks in a garage.