I mentioned the other day that more storage for books and toys was a priority in the big move to the new nursery. I wasn’t lying, because just look what we did first thing after painting: we made a whole wall of books for Abe!
This isn’t the most original project in the world. Shelves where the books face out so they can look pretty and kids can see them easily make lots of sense, and clever people have come up with many ways to make such shelves. We thought about going the rain gutter shelf route or making some wooden ledges ourselves, but in the end we liked both the look of the Ribba ledges (Abe already has a bunch of Ribba frames in his room) and the fact that they’re inexpensive enough that it’s easy to justify buying them instead of making some (another DIY project is in the works for this room; had we not had that going on maybe we would have taken the time to build these).
I hesitated a little before giving a whole wall over to books, since this is a fairly small room and wall space is valuable. But, really, what’s more important than books, right?
Hanging Ribba ledges is not an especially difficult task, so I won’t go into too many details here. But a few notes:
We were going to center these on the wall between the corner and the door, but it turns out the spacing for the screw holes on the ledges was such that every screw could go into a stud as long as we moved them over closer to the door a few inches. The whole set up looks a little too similar to a ladder for comfort from a toddler perspective, so the more secure the better, we thought. I’m pretty sure the ledges aren’t going anywhere now.
We planned the spacing between the ledges very carefully, making sure there would be plenty of room for “I Am a Little Elephant,” one of Abe’s tallest books:
It’s best to have a baby to help you when you’re putting up Ribba ledges:
The whole thing was quick and painless:
And then I got to do my favorite part, which was arranging books all pretty like. Also putting Abe’s rocking chair with his badger in front.
I’d like to get a soft rug (maybe a shag rug or a sheepskin) to go in front of the shelves and further along the cozy reading corner thing we’re going for here. So that’s coming sometime.
Next up: actually moving his crib and other stuff in here!
P.S. Apartment Therapy has their annual Homies awards going on right now:
I’m nominated in the Home Projects and DIY Blogs category, and it would be fabulous of you to stop by and vote for me if you have a minute (you can vote for as many blogs as you want during the nomination period; this doesn’t have to actually be your favorite favorite blog). Thanks!
(ETA: doh! how about a link with that shameless plea for votes? It’s there now)
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Tutorials and Tips at Home Stories A to Z
Looks so pretty. Like a book store. We had something similar and my neighbor’s boy tried to climb it and ripped huge holes in the wall. Yikes, I was so mad.
Voted for you yesterday too!
Thanks, Julia! I’m going to try my best to keep climbers off of these, but we’ll see what happens in this crazy house 😉
That looks so good. I love all those books on there. It almost becomes an art installation. At least until the baby starts messing with all the books 🙂
Voted for you!!!
Thanks, Katja! Having all the pretty covers displayed was definitely part of the appeal for me…pretty AND functional for the win!
love them! and i love the badger!!! so cute!
Thanks, Cassie! I couldn’t resist the badger at Ikea 🙂
Simple, awesome projects are the best! I’m a former English teacher, a current school librarian, and a life-long book nerd, so I LOVE this. Books are my favorite kind of decor, and I know that displaying the covers is the best way to get kids to pick up a book. And you’ve now got me thinking that this would be the best thing for us to do on either side of the fireplace in our family room.
Ooh, that’s a great idea! I was thinking how it’d be great to have shelves like this for the older kids, too.
Displaying books this way is great for kids. They can easily see them without pulling them all off the shelf. Although, sometimes the goal is just to pull them all off the shelf. 🙂 The rocker and badger are too cute.
He LOVES pulling them off the shelves :)….but he already loved pulling them off the other bookshelf; this way it’s easier for him to help clean them up.
looks so good! and that tiny rocker is a favorite!
Looks good! I especially love Dave’s “Construction Grade” slippers – I have a pair of them myself!
Love these! They look so good in the room. I totally get the concern about giving up a whole wall, but this was worth it!
Thanks, Sarah!
Such a great ideas for books – you get to see all the covers! Love it!
Love! We did this is Ramona’s nursery! So much greatness.
Love these! They look great!
I love your shelves! They look AWESOME! Such a pretty book display 🙂
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I’m obsessed with Ribbas! This looks great. And that rocking chair?? Perfection.
How long are the Ribba ledges you got? Thanks!
We got the longer ones….so 45 1/4 inches. HTH!
I was wondering where you got that awesome rocking chair?
I found it at a thrift store 🙂
Hello!! Could you please share what the distance of the first ledge to floor is and also the spacing between the ledges? Thank you!!
Hi Zaida–sorry to take so long to respond; we’re actually out of town right now, so I’ll need to measure when we get back and let you know!
okay! back home! first ledge to floor is 16.5 inches, and the spacing in between is 14.5. There’s nothing magical about the spacing, though….we just kind of eyeballed it and held some books up there to see what would work best. HTH!
I also love the book shelves and have the ledges in my ikea online shopping cart as I type. 🙂 I would second the request for spacing and measurement information. What a great room and adorable lucky little guy!
thanks so much, Rae! Just got back in town and measured; floor to first shelf is 16.5″ and the spacing in between is 14.5.