How to Build a Modern Open Bookshelf {with Drawer!}

hey guys it's sheryl from woodshop diaries and today i'm going to be sharing part one of an unplanned two-part bookshelf series now to be totally honest i never even intended on building this bookshelf so i actually have just been running behind on some projects lately and i didn't have anything to share so i was trying to come up with something that would be kind of easy and quick to throw together to put out a video for so i decided on a bookshelf but the problem was that i had come up with two designs and i couldn't decide which one that i wanted to build so the only logical solution was to take a poll on instagram so that somebody else could choose for me unfortunately the results were pretty well useless because it was almost a 50 50 split but then i got a ton of messages from people saying to just build both which i kind of found comical because i never even intended on building the first one i just needed something to share so here we are at the start of a series i'm going to be sharing the open shelf design in this video and be sure to follow along so that you don't miss out on the cabinet style design that i'll be sharing next week in the meantime if you're ready to get building let's dive on in to part one [Music] i started with the open shelf design because honestly of the two options it was my least favorite what's nice about this project is that i can basically remove and reuse the base the drawer box the shelves and the top to build the cabinet style bookcase design by basically just building a plywood box and putting those pieces into it but i don't want to give too much away i'll be covering all of that in the next video i said all that to say since i will be dismantling this project to build my next one i wanted to build my least favorite first since i'm obviously not going to be keeping it don't worry though you will be seeing a little bit of it in the next video is so stay tuned and if you want to build your own for keeps be sure to check out the plans that i've linked in the description below i built this project design from two by fours in plywood which seems like a common theme and the majority of my projects lately but most of these two by fours were ripped into two by twos to build the shelf frame i trimmed two pieces of 2x4 to five and a half foot long on the miter saw these pieces will be the corner posts and the rest will be trimmed down for the shelf rungs on the frame i took them to the table saw to trim off one rounded edge then i adjusted the saw to cut an inch and a half pieces so i could make my two by twos you can certainly buy your two by twos from the store but i found that making my own is much cheaper and they end up much straighter and cleaner in the end once the two by twos were cut down i cut six rungs for each shelf frame on the miter saw with my corner posts and shelf rungs all trimmed to length i gave everything a good sanding then proceeded to assemble them together to assemble the shell frames i used these timber screws i've used these before on a couple of projects and they're great in that they provide both structural strength and also a decorative detail because these are rather large screws i made sure to pre-drill before driving them because these two by twos can split pretty easily i use wood glue at every joint as well and after i got the top and bottom rungs in place i used a 12 inch long scrap wood spacer block to evenly space all the rungs now i'll be honest with you here in hindsight i wouldn't use these screws for this particular situation again i'd use basic three inch long wood screws and just putty and paint over the holes my reasoning is that i don't feel like the decorative detail showed up in the end product enough to justify the extra expense because they are pretty pricey and it also took some extra work during the painting process which i'll discuss in a minute anyway what's done is done and i assembled two identical frames this way then set them aside to work on the next steps i built the base next which consisted of a 2x4 frame with mid-century style legs attached to the corners so i cut down my two by four pieces and assembled a frame using pocket holes and screws plus some wood glue i put it over the joints on this frame and the shelf frames and while it dried i cut out the legs now if you saw my fairly recent mid-century modern dresser video these legs may look familiar i literally pulled them up from those plans on my website to copy them by the way if you didn't know i have a website full of building plans for tons of things plus lots of basic guides on things like building drawers applying edge banding and sizing cabinet doors i will link it below if you want to check it out once i drew out the shape i cut it out with a jigsaw and then cut four more identical feet and sanded them smooth [Music] at this point the putty was dry on the base so i sanded it smooth and began attaching the legs i used the speed square to measure and mark two inches in from the corner and use wood glue and two and a half inch wood screws to attach all four legs to the base frame once it was together i began the process of painting and this was by far the worst part of this project i didn't film most of it because there was a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth but before i painted i backed out the screws on the front side of the shell frames and wrapped them in painters tape so that i didn't paint over them again in hindsight i would have skipped these screws but it is what it is i painted the two shell frames and the base frame black and once the paint was dry i tightened the screws back up and set them aside to get back to building i drug out a piece of three quarter inch plywood and ripped a strip down to make the top of the shelf and the drawer box at the bottom and i ripped another strip down to use as the shelves later [Music] i trimmed the first strip down into four pieces to make the drawer box and one piece for the top of the shelf and then i began applying iron on edge banding to the plywood edges that will be exposed in the finished product if you want more information on applying edge banding i will link a detailed guide in the description below to assemble this drawer box i used wood glue and pocket holes and screws to attach the top side but since this space was so small i ended up using regular wood screws on the bottom side [Music] it's upside down here in this video but since this will be the bottom the screws will be hidden in the finished project [Music] then i installed a pair of 16 inch drawer slides into the box to add the drawer later i used a scrap block of plywood to space them three quarter inch inside from the front edge because the drawer front will be inset at this point i was ready to start putting everything together but i went ahead and stained the top the legs and the box before doing that just to make things a little bit easier another takeaway while looking back at this project is that it would have been so much easier if i had not done this whole two-tone thing but it is what it is anyway once these pieces were stained i lay them on the floor and use wood screws through the drawer box to attach the frame to each side sorry my head is totally blocking this entire process but hopefully it's pretty straightforward and you don't have to see every detail then i attached the top through the frame using two inch wood screws i left one inch overhang on the sides and the front for this and finally i place it on the base and use wood screws through the drawer box to secure it to the base frame [Music] now all that's left for this project is adding the drawer box and the shelves the shelves are pretty easy i just cut my plywood strip from earlier into three shelf pieces and applied edge banding to cover the edges i test fit them to make sure that they worked then moved on to the drawer i didn't want to cut into a whole other sheet of plywood for this drawer so i went to my scrap pile now you guys should be super proud of me i reorganized and cleaned this up last week so that i can get a better look at what i actually have here i still have a lot of work to do but this is a vast improvement over my last scrap wood video if you happen to see it i picked out a few pieces that i could use to make the drawer and cut them down to size i cut quarter inch dados in them for the bottom to go into and assembled this drawer box using pocket holes and screws i have a complete drawer building guide on my website that i will link below for more details on the entire drawer building process [Music] then i installed this drawer into the [Music] shelf now the final step here was just adding the drawer front i cut this from another scrap plywood piece applied edge banding and stained it and the shelves all at once and if you ever wonder what's going on behind the camera while i'm working in the shop here's a glimpse into the behind the scenes say hello lily no okay lucy may not like wearing hats but she does enjoy the endless supply of treats i give her so she tolerates it anyway then i placed the shelves on the rungs and installed the drawer front onto the drawer box with screws from the inside since i am planning to take this apart as soon as i'm finished with it i didn't bother screwing the shelves in place but you can attach these shelves with screws from the bottom side of each rung if you wanted i polied everything that was stained and added a drawer pull and the shelf was complete i feel like open shelves are kind of trendy right now so if this is your style this would work great to display books pictures and decor on i really like this option to have both shelves and a little storage at the bottom but you could also ditch the whole drawer box and just add more shelves at the bottom if you needed more open storage all in all besides the painting being a pain this project was fairly easy and has a lot of different uses but if you're into the more classic cabinet style bookshelves be sure to follow along so that you can see how i take this and make a part 2 next week in the meantime i really hope you enjoyed this video thanks so much for watching and until next time happy building

Channel: Shara Woodshop Diaries

Views: 33,582

Rating: 4.9708519 out of 5

Keywords: modern bookshelf diy, modern open bookshelf diy, open bookshelf, open bookshelf diy, how to build a bookshelf, bookshelf with drawer, how to build a bookshelf with drawer, mid century modern bookshelf diy, modern industrial furniture diy, diy furniture, diy home furniture projects, bookshelf building plans, black and wood bookshelf, diy bookshelf with drawer, diy bookcase with drawer, diy bookcase, diy modern bookcase, how to build shelf

Id: RYZhjuhxHv4

Length: 11min 25sec (685 seconds)

Published: Sat May 22 2021