Bookcases

As anyone who has studied our bookcases recently can attest, they are in somewhat of a disarray. Both Alaina and I really like to read, but I think we like collecting books just as much. About half of our shelves are currently filled with not one but two rows of books. Something had to give, and we didn't want it to be those shelves, breaking in half and crashing down in the middle of the night.

So for nearly a year now I've been planning to make some built in bookcases at the top of the stairs. The inspiration for our design is a set we found in a model home not far from where we live. It looks a lot like the photo above, though neither the model nor ours will go above a door like this one (I do think, however, that it is very cool!). Most of the wood has been purchased (although some of it has been used in the meantime :) for at least eight months, but not until this last weekend did I really get started. My dad helped me rip the four-by-eight sheets of plywood into the sides and shelves of the bookcases, and with a few more zips of the saw all the shelves were cut to length, too. So I'm making good progress, and hope to have the project completed in another week or two.

But along the way, as I looked for some help with the design phase, I came a cross a most interesting bookcase: one called, appropriately enough, "Broken Shelves." You can read all about it and see more pictures here (especially check out the picture with the dog!). While it is a far cry from what I'm building, I must admit I am fascinated by it, and wish I had a place for such a structure!