Wrap-around book display shelves in our office

Frank Pellow

Member
Messages
2,332
Location
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
(part 1 of 3)

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to do something about the cluttered and inefficient office that Margaret and I share. I was too embarrassed to take 'before' pictures but believe me that it was bad.

Our office occupies what was originally the living room in our house. About 2 years ago I moved the wall between the living room and the family room making what had been the living room into an office and making the family room into an office. I lined the walls of the office with recycled rough sawn walnut boards and, for a while, the place looked good. But over time, it got messier and messier.

The worst thing in the office was a 2 foot by 4 foot floor to ceiling alcove that I built into the wall. I filled it with 6 cheap pine panels of the type that one can purchase in cello-wrap at the big box lumber stores. Believe me, six shelves each 2' by 4' can hold (and hide) a lot of stuff. Among the items that were hidden were many large format books and brochures of the type one likes to browse through from time to time. We probably own about 200 of these. I decided that I would like to have a place to display some of our collection.

Following are some notes about the project that I extracted from my weekly journal:

2010, Feb 28:

I started a revamp of the office. Here Margaret’s IKEA :eek: desk is having a part removed:

Margaret's office desk being modified -small.JPG

It used to quite dominate the room. My hope is that with the pie shaped portion of the table removed, the structure will be less unwieldy. Here is my first attempt at a new position for the desk:

New arrangement for Margaret's office desk -small.JPG

I moved the two library file cabinets out from the alcove and am experimenting with some very shallow shelves in the alcove to be used to display the front covers of some of our many many displayable books:

Book display shelves 01 -Testing a different type of shelf in the office -small.JPG

I’m still working out the details.
 
Last edited:
(part 2 of 3)

2010, Mar 7:

I completed the reorganization of the office that was started last week. The main task was to build the display shelves, one of which I experimented with last week. I had thought about building “regular shelves down both sides of the alcove with display shelves at the back but, in the end, I built U shaped display shelves for display on all 3 closed sides of the alcove. The wood used for the shelves was ripped from the old 4 ‘ by 2’ by 3/4” pine shelves that I put into the alcove when I built the wall about twenty years ago.

For each of the five shelves, I first built a base of 9cm wide wood using dowels and glue to make a U:
Book display shelves 02 -Using Dowelmax for a shelf base -small.JPG
(aside: the Dowelmax is a real joy to use)

Next I ripped 1cm by 5cm pieces front the old pine shelves. These were applied vertical to the front edge of the shelves forming a lip. I used glue and walnut Miller dowels to attach the lips.
Book display shelves 03 -Using Miller dowels to attach front rims to a shelf -small.JPG Book display shelves 04-Clamping a shelf rim -small.JPG

There was no ledge for the bottom shelf to fit onto, so I had to attach some feet. I used Miller dowels again –this time larger birch ones:
Book display shelves 05 -Legs attached to bottom shelf using larges Miller dowels -small.JPG

Before finishing and staining the shelves, I tried them out:
Book display shelves 06 -Testing shelves -straight on view -small.JPG

By the way, they are not attached to the wall they just sit on the ledges and with a fairly tight fit they are not going to wiggle out of position.

I was happy, Margaret was happy, and the three other people that I showed them too liked the shelves. So, now to finish them …

I sanded portions of the shelves using my Festool Deltex and Linear sanders:
Book display shelves 07 -Sanding selected places on shelves with Festool Deltex sander -small.jpg Book display shelves 08 -Sanding selected places on shelves with Festool Linear sander -small.JPG

then applied two coats of Old Masters Special Walnut gel stain.
 
Last edited:
(part 3 of 3)

Here are the shelves in place in our newly organized office:

Book display shelves 09 -Finished -1 -small.JPG Book display shelves 10 -Finished -2 -small.JPG Reorganized Office -small.JPG

Notice the cork board on the wall to the right. I also made and installed afew cork boards as part of the re-org.

Now I need to think about building something to replace the IKEA desk :eek:, a portion of which is shown to the left in the last picture. But that won’t happen for at least two years.
 
Last edited:
Well Frank, I take your word for how it was "before", the "after" looks really impressive and a good improvement. Up to your standards as usual.
It is always a privilege to look at your projects:thumb::thumb:

Thanks for posting it.:)
 
Well Frank, I take your word for how it was "before", the "after" looks really impressive and a good improvement. Up to your standards as usual.
It is always a privilege to look at your projects:thumb::thumb:

Thanks for posting it.:)
Believe me, it was very messy before. :( Now that the room is neat and well organized, I hope that Frank keeps it that way. I observe that he has now done so for a week -that's encouraging. :)
 
Top