Bookshelf (Design by Strooom)

1. be strong enough to not bend, even when fully loaded with heavy books
2. be hung to the wall, so it would be more ergonomic and easier to clean
3. have no screws or fittings visible in order to keep the minimalistic design

1. Wooden 'hooks' which are attached to the wall with plugs and screws/bolts. I used 3 hooks per side (so a total of 6). Each 'hook' is attached to the wall with 2 screws/bolts.  These 'hooks' and their screws/bolts are carrying the whole weight of the bookshelf, so you should dimension them right for the job. I took 8mm bolts
2. 2 Sides : left and right are symmetrical (identical but mirrored). The sides are 'hooked' upon the hooks mentioned above
3. A number of shelves, 5 in my case. They are all identical. They fit between the two sides.

1. make the sides higher or shorter, depending on your ceiling height. I kept ~40cm of space around the bookshelf. My ceiling is 265 cm, So I made it 180cm high
2. make the shelves shorter/longer. Mine are 155cm, but you could take any length... (see last section)
3. vary the number of shelves. I took 5, but you could easily make more or less shelves. You need one at the top, and one at the bottom. All the remaining shelves are evenly distributed vertically.
4. change the depth : I took 30cm as this fits most books, but If you build it for pocket size books, or CDs/DVDs/BRs, you could make it (eg) 15 cm deep instead

• 4 pieces 1781.4 mm * 290.7 mm * 18 mm Blockwood. This blockwood has one side with a quality veneer, Oak in my case.
• 5 m of 32 mm * 32 mm wood, eg. pine
• 5 m of 70mm * 9.3 mm solid wood, Oak in my case. This kind of wood is available from wooden floor shops.

• 10 pieces of 1414 mm * 290.7 mm * 18 mm Blockwood
• 14 m of 32 mm * 32 mm wood, eg pine
• 8 m of 70mm * 9.3 mm solid wood, Oak in my case. This kind of wood is available from wooden floor shops.

• The blockwood costs ~ euro 40 / $ 50 for a 122*244 cm panel, and you will need 2
• The solid 'floor' wood costs ~ euro 40 / $ 50 per m2, and you will need about 0.8 m2
• The wood use for spacers and hooks is rather cheap, lets say euro 20 / $ 25
• Bolts/ plugs / other : euro 20 / $ 25

Here is a (Google) Sketchup model that allows you to examine and modify the Bookshelf. 

SketchUp is free 3D software which is really powerful and easy to use !
If you like woodworking, you should try SketchUp.
Many tutorials are available, especially in the podcast arena. 

1. Cut 6 identical pieces of 30 cm long from the 32mm* 100mm wood
2. Then cut each piece in half under a 45 degree angle : this will yield 6 sets of 2 pieces each : one to attach to the wall, and one to go inside the 'sides'
3. Using a drill press, drill the holes for the screws/bolts : MY bolts are 8mm * 100mm, so I drilled two holes of 8mm all the way through.
4. Depending on the length of the screws/bolts, you will need to 'sink in' the screws. I used 8 mm * 100mm bolts : they stay 50mm in the wood, and 50 mm in the wall, so after drilling a 8 mm hole, all the way through, I drilled a 16mm hole, 50mm deep only. This can be done best with a so-called Forstner drill-bit (see image below)
5. You may want to sand and/or round of the hooks that will go on the wall a bit at their front side. This way it will be easier to slide the 'side' panels over them when assembling the bookshelf.

1. Put one blockwood panel (1781.4mm * 290.3 mm), face-down (ie the nice Oak side down) on your working table. Protect underside if needed to avoid damaging the wood.
2. Glue the 3 matching parts of the hooks onto it. 'Dents' need to be facing 'down'
3. Glue 32mm * 32mm wood strips at the other 3 sides, they function as a spaces. it's easiest to keep these strips 5 mm to the inside of the panel.
4. Glue the second blockwood panel, face-up onto it. Align both panels so that they are exactly on top of each other.
5. Glue two 290.3 mm long strips of Oak (70mm * 9.3 mm) to the top and bottom of each side. Check that the front of the side is now all flat. (use sander or router to remove excess if needed)
6. Glue a 1800mm long strip of Oak to the front.
7. Use a router with flush bit to remove the excess of the front, bottom and top strips
8. Cut 5 pieces of 270mm * 32 * 32 and glue + screw them to the inner side of each side. These will be the guides carrying the shelves. If you round of the from side of these guides, sliding on the shelves will be easier. Warning : until now both sides were identical. In this step, the left and right side are no longer identical : the guides need to go on the right for one and the left for the other side.
9. Oil everything with wood oil.

1. Put one blockwood panel face-down
2. Glue two 32 mm spacers onto it
3. Glue the second blockwood panel onto it, face-up, check alignment
4. Glue the front strip
5. Remove the excess front strip with the router and a flsuh-routing bit
6. Oil with wood-oil

• the hooks need to align on a vertical line, if not, you will have difficulty sliding the sides over it.
• the hooks need to aligned on a horizontal line, if not your bookshelf will not end up level
• the hooks need to be spaced correctly, or not all 6 hooks will carry a load.

This is really fun : moving your favourite books in...
Click the image to view the animation.. :-)

1. Add lights : due to the hollow nature and the design, it is easy to add some LED lights into the shelves. This could be done with traditional spotlights, or with the more fancy LED strips.
2. If you make really long shelves (>3m - > 10ft) I would advise to support this with some extra 'hooks' which are attached onto the wall. (horizontal hooks, this time)
3. Put your stereo equipment in it and use the shelves ans sides to hide all cables
4. You could cut a groove in the front strips, which wold allow to slide glass panels in, making this shelve a display case.