Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Invisible Bookshelves

You've all seen these invisible bookshelves, right?  The books stack horizontally and and appear to just float on the wall.

Floating Bookshelves

They look really cool, but they can cost a bundle.

Fortunately, they're easy and cheap to make from simple L-brackets.

A bit of careful measuring and making sure they're level, and you're ready to start stacking.

Easy to Make

Just make sure they're well anchored to the wall!

An Invisible Set of Shelves

 

31 comments:

Elyse said...

Cool! This is so much better than other ideas where you have to destroy a book to be able to have "invisible" book shelves. =)

Barb said...

Yeah, I'm really not fond of destroying books - books are my friends!

Thanks for stopping by!

kimmomofeight said...

LOVE it!!!!

Lisa said...

I want to know more about the newspaper on the wall. It looks very cool!

David Seo said...

Awesome idea!

What if you added a clear plastic band (or large rubber band) around the bottom book so you can actually hide the L brackets inside the book?

I think that would be even cooler cause it would really look floating, even from beneath.

Barb said...

David - That's BRILLIANT!!!

I'll give it a try and report back next week.

Lisa - the explanation for the newspaper on the wall can be found here: http://maydecemberhome.blogspot.com/2008/11/alternatives-to-wallpaper.html

And Kim, thanks so much for your support. You're the best!

Jo said...

That is just awesome! And it looks so good! I've been running out of space for my books, this might be a good way to solve it! Thanks!

Jonathan Lin said...

This is great!

Barb said...

Thanks Jo and Jonathan! I'm glad you like it!

Moose said...

These look really clean. But actually owning books is so like, what 1997? After reading them, I take them back to the library...

Owning books = Bad for environment.

Sharing books = Good for environment.

Mick Morrison said...

I don't believe you wrote a post about screwing angle brackets to a wall. ?

MBC said...

Nice idea. Thanks for sharing.

Barb said...

MBC - thanks

Mick - put that way...

Moose - you make a good point.

And I do actually make heavy use of our local library. The books I buy are the ones I know I'll look to again and again and often they're second-hand when I buy them.

ellear said...

I couldn't have found this at a better time. I just purchased floating shelves and attempted to store some books on them knowing full well that it couldn't hold the weight (what can I say, I like to learn things the hard way!) Frustrated, I was looking for another option today and stumbled across this. Just having your basic bookshelf wasn't really what I wanted and this is the perfect alternative. I will be at my local hardware store tonight purchasing those L-shaped brackets. Yay for new shelving ideas!

Barb said...

Yay for great timing!

I'd love to see pics when they're done.

John S said...

If you put a book with a paper cover (I forget what it's called) on the bottom, you could slit the cover in two spots, slide it onto the brackets, and you could have the appearance of floating books without ruining an entire book -- just the cover.

Barb said...

Another brilliant suggestion!

(It's called a dust jacket)

Thanks!

Karena said...

very cool idea and I saw you on Beach Bungalow!

Barb said...

Thanks for the head's up!

And, um, I'm glad you like the shelves.

J.R. Flowers said...

They look great, but it's all about those brackets, isn't it? I've been searching for them online, but can't find them anywhere -- where did you get them?

Barb said...

Down at my local Home Hardware. I think they're a pretty basic hardware store item...

Bonnie- amour amour said...

Wow! This is seriously genius!! thanks for the great tip!

Barb said...

You're welcome! Thanks for the great compliment!

Patrix said...

Do you have to anchor the brackets to studs only? If yes, then won't the dist.bw studs be a limitation? If no, then what else can we use to anchor the brackets firmly considering that books can be heavy. I'm planning to stack Nat.Geos which can get heavy.

Barb said...

If the wall behind is plaster or drywall and sturdy, you can use those plastic anchors to secure the screws.

If you're worried about the weight of the magazines, you could try having less space between the brackets (vertically) so that you can't overload them.

Good luck!

Little Gray Pixel said...

Love this idea!

For Moose, you wouldn't be able to enjoy those books from the library if no one ever bought them. Without buyers, there would be no publishing. There's give and take to everything. Just something to think about...

Barb said...

And the conversation continues. I love it!

Marcus Pereira said...

I must say that is wonderfull!

I was looking for something I could do in my badroon and... that's it!

Thanks,

Now you can say:"hay, my idea is in a badroon in Brazil! Isent that cool?" LOL

Barb said...

These bookshelves have traveled more than I have! :)

But, yes, it's very cool.

Dana said...

I've got another idea about how to hide the bottom brackets.

What if you slid a paperclip around the bottom leg and then bent out a portion to form an arm to support the book cover. you'd see a tiny portion of the paperclip arm, but not the whole L bracket.

What did you end up doing?

Barb McMahon and Alan Mailloux said...

Thanks for the great idea, Dana!

I ended up taking the lazy route and just ignoring the visible bits.