New Basement Stairs: Part 4 – Bookshelf

When we rebuilt the basement stairs, we wanted them to be against a new wall that hid the fact that we did not have a straight or flush wall going to the basement. The benefit is that we now have a nice, clean look. The dis-benefit is that we lost a bit of space at the top of the stairs, where the new wall sticks out a good 9″ past the original wall.

I didn’t want to completely lose this space, so I decided to build a bookshelf in the wall. It would add some colour to my very white walls and also use the otherwise wasted space.

When we built the wall, we made sure to add framing on either side of where the bookshelf would be (and I clearly marked this for our contractor) so that I would have something to which I could attach the new bookshelf.

I struggled to decide whether I wanted the bookshelf to be white, or match the other wood in the dining room. I opted to match the wood and create a nice, teak accent in the wall. But this meant that I needed to wait until our kitchen cabinets were finished so I knew exactly what thickness of wood I should use.

Because of kitchen was majorly delayed, building the bookshelf was one of my first projects after I had the twins! Luckily they were sleeping most of the day, so I actually had time to make some progress.

I purchased birch veneered plywood and cut it to depth and length on the table saw.

I then put veneer on the edges of the plywood that would be seen.

Once all of my pieces were ready, I stained them using a gel stain in walnut, to match the kitchen cabinets.

I then screwed the shelf together before sliding it in place. I then used then nail gun to tack the shelf in place. I caulked the gaps between the shelf and the wall and then repainted the wall.

Installing the shelf meant that I could finally unpacked some of our books and fill the bookshelf. I still need to find some right-sized art for the rest of the wall.