Jim Hale, Kerry's dad, built, primed, delivered and installed them for us*. I will give them a coat or two of white paint in my spare time.
If you are handy, I am positive you could DIY something similar. They are made from 1x8 boards. Notice that we kept the bookcases open at the bottom - we didn't want to interfere or compete with our 90 year baseboards. The shelves are set in about 1 1/2 inches from each side wall, because those baseboards are thick and I didn't want to notch them.
You could always add trim to the bottom and fill in the sides with panels, but to me that was extra work, and wouldn't add anything. I wanted them to be simple, easy, and removable without causing damage. Actually, I should ask how easy it will be to pull them away from the wall if we ever want to re-paint the room. I assume we unscrew the anchors and slide them out.
It will probably take me a month or so before they are painted and complete. I will take a million photos when I add books and style them, so we can all have fun filling them up together!
What do you think?!
ps. Just to be super clear, we notched the quarter rounds but did not touch the baseboards.
pps. It took Mr Hale 5 hours to install them. He spent a chunk of time trying to find the studs. He fastened the two units on each side to each other - the two on the left are held together with screws, as are the two on the right. L brackets were used at the top to secure the shelves to the wall, and two L brackets ensure that the shelf over the doorway does not warp. Note: The shelves are not adjustable. They are about 12 inches apart.
ppps. I know I don't have enough books to fill them, but I love having the space to collect more. I can see them filling up over the next decade. In fact, if this turns out to be our forever house, then one day a lifetime of reading will be piled up on those shelves!
pppps. I was leaning towards natural wood...leaning hard. Every time I look at them I still crave the natural wood. However, once the books go in, the wall will be quite busy and alive with colour...so I thought it was better to paint the shelves out and let them be part of the background. Does this make sense?
ppppps. My son added his small painting exactly where he thought it should go (to the left of the encaustic) before I could take the photo.
*Cost: $960 (no blog discounts or blah blah blah...)
