Winter Pinterest Challenge: DIY book box

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I pinned this image a year ago. I think I pinned it because of the pom-poms above the crib, but later I discovered the book box under the window. I mean, what a great idea! I immediately decided to make something similar and one year later...

...I did.

Not gonna lie, I'm kind of obsessed. I know it took me a year to get around to it, but the funny part is that it was easy to make (isn't that always the way?). All the details after the jump...

First, measure your window and decide how big you want your book box to be. I picked up a few pieces of pine shelving at Home Depot and Adam cut them to size for me using our table saw (of course you could also have the folks at Home Depot cut them for you). I wanted the view from the front to be of a solid piece of wood, so I planned the layout and measurements accordingly. It's kind of tricky to explain in words, so here are a couple of pictures - the first one shows all my pieces laid out and the second one is basically what happens when you "fold" them into place.

The important thing is that a) the front is one solid piece of wood and b) the sides extend slightly beyond the back of the box. This is because I attached the box to the wall using a cleat. The longer sides will make it look like the box is flush against the wall.

To assemble my box, I ran a bead of wood glue along each seam and used finishing nails to hold it all together. When nailing my boards together, I used a carpenter's square to keep everything, well, square. I used a nail punch to set each nail, then filled the holes with wood filler and sanded everything smooth.

To match the rest of the dark wood tones in the room, I applied one coat of stain (Minwax's Jacobean) and sealed it with a coat of satin poly.

To attach the box to the wall, I made a cleat from a scrap piece of wood. The cleat is secured to the wall with screws (make sure to screw into studs) and the box is secured to the cleat.

Since a wooden box + books = heavy, this approach ensures that it's nice and sturdy. The last step is to fill the box with books and enjoy!

I love walking into the nursery and seeing the new book box. The room feels much less cluttered now (before the box, the books were just piled on the floor) and the best part is that we were able to make use of previously wasted space (which is a pretty big deal in such a small room).

I've linked up with the Winter Pinterest Challenge! Click here, here, here and here to check out lots of great projects.