DIY guide · Bookshelves
From a first bookcase held together with screws to built-ins scribed to a crooked wall. What to buy, which joints to use, how long a shelf can be, and plans made to your measurements.
Where to start
A weekend
Two sides, a top, a bottom, fixed shelves and a back, all held with screws. Have the panels cut where you buy them and you only drill and drive.
Two weekends
Cut plywood yourself with a guided saw, join with pocket screws or dowels, iron on edge banding and drill a row of holes for adjustable shelves.
One to three weekends
Fit cabinets into an alcove, scribe the edges to walls that are never straight, rout housings for the shelves and finish it all in paint.
Types of bookshelves
IllustrationThe classic first build. Stands on its own, moves house with you, and teaches the joints every cabinet uses.
Open the build guide
IllustrationShelves above, cupboards below, filling the recess beside a chimney breast. The look of a house that was built that way.
See the plan
IllustrationThick shelves with no visible brackets. Quick to make; the work is in a fixing that suits your wall.
See the plan
IllustrationFloor to ceiling, wall to wall, maybe with a rolling ladder. A run of identical bays built one at a time.
Design yours
IllustrationShelves up both sides of a doorway and across the top. Turns a wall you walk past into the room's best feature.
Design yours
IllustrationA bench in the bay with drawers below and shelves either side. A reading corner that holds its own books.
Design yours
IllustrationLong and low, with square compartments 330 mm deep for vinyl and the turntable on top.
Design yours
IllustrationTiers that step back as they rise, for plants or a child's books, with the faces out.
Design yoursPlans
Each one becomes a 3D model, a cut list, drilling maps and step-by-step instructions, at the size you need.
Scribed into a chimney-breast alcove: cupboard below, adjustable shelves above.
A simple open bookcase with fixed shelves. The right first project.
Hollow-core shelves on a hidden cleat. The drilling sheet locates every fixing.
Three units, wall to wall, with a plinth, face frame and crown so it reads as joinery.
Before you design
Books are heavy. Set the span, the material and what goes on it, and see how far the shelf bends.
A rule of thumb for a shelf 280 mm deep resting on two supports, not an engineering check. Caminu checks every shelf in your plan.
Before you design
Walls are rarely straight. Measure the width at the floor, the middle and the ceiling, and the height at both sides. Work from the smallest numbers: a built-in is made slightly undersize and scribed to the wall.
Paperbacks need about 200 mm of height and 150 mm of depth. Art books and vinyl records need 330 mm or more of both. Sort what you own into two or three heights before you set the shelf spacing.
Fixed shelves hold the sides together and stop a tall bookcase from bowing. Adjustable shelves let you change your mind. Most designs use both: at least one fixed shelf around mid-height, with adjustable ones above and below.
A shelf full of books is heavy. In 18 mm birch plywood, keep spans under about 750 mm, or add a centre divider, a thicker shelf or a stiffening strip along the front.
Joints
Start with screws. Add the others as you get the tools.
The panel's end meets the side and screws go through from the outside. Pre-drill and countersink, and it holds for decades. The heads show, so plan where.
Drill, countersink, screws
A jig drills an angled hole on the hidden face, and the screw pulls the joint tight from there. Strong, fast and invisible from the outside.
Pocket-hole jig
A groove across the side that the shelf sits in. The shelf can't drop, the bookcase stays square, and glue does the rest.
Router and guide
A row of holes with small pins that the shelf rests on. Move a shelf in seconds when your books change.
Shelf-pin jig, 5 mm bit
Materials
| Material | Cost | Stiffness | Edges | Finish | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birch plywood | €€€ | Layered edge: show it off or band it | Oil, lacquer or paint | Almost everything. Holds screws well. | |
| MDF | €€€ | Smooth, paints well once sealed | Paint | Painted built-ins with short spans | |
| Pine boards | €€€ | Solid wood, no banding needed | Oil, wax or paint | Rustic bookcases and floating shelves | |
| Oak or walnut | €€€ | Solid wood, no banding needed | Hardwax oil | Floating shelves and heirlooms | |
| Melamine chipboard | €€€ | Needs edge banding | Ready finished | Inside cupboards, short spans only |
Tools
Enough for every first-build plan here.
No saw? Most timber merchants cut sheets to a list. Take the cut list from your plan and pick the panels up ready to drill.
Each one opens up a new kind of build.
Safety
A tall bookshelf full of things can tip when someone pulls on it or a child climbs it. Every plan ends with the wall fixing for that piece. Here is what holds in which wall.
Something else in mind?
Say it the way you would to a carpenter. Caminu draws it, checks the spans and writes the guide.
Questions
Than a flat-pack one, rarely. Than a solid or made-to-measure one, almost always. Sheet material is the biggest cost: a 900 mm bookcase comes out of one or two sheets of plywood, and the screws, sandpaper and finish add little.
Birch plywood for most people. It is stiff, holds screws well, takes oil or paint and comes in large flat sheets. MDF is cheaper and paints beautifully but sags more and needs care with screws. Solid wood looks best and costs most.
250 to 300 mm suits most books. Go to 330 mm or more for art books and vinyl records.
In 18 mm birch plywood, about 750 mm under a full row of books. Longer shelves need to be thicker, get a stiffening strip along the front or a centre divider. Try the sag check on this page, and Caminu checks every shelf in your plan.
No. Most timber merchants and DIY stores cut sheet material to a list, accurately and for a small fee. Take the cut list from your plan and you only need a drill-driver to put it together.
With an anti-tip fixing into something solid: plugs and screws for masonry, a screw into a stud for stud walls, and rated cavity fixings where there is no stud. Fix it before you load it.
Both. At least one fixed shelf around mid-height holds the sides together and stops the bookcase racking; adjustable shelves above and below let you change your mind.
From the blog
Guides
Measure an alcove that isn’t square, choose the material, space the shelves and fix them to the wall: a practical guide to built-in alcove bookshelves.
Guides
A cut list turns a design into panels you can cut. What it contains, how finished sizes, saw kerf and grain direction work, and how to send one to a panel-cutting service.
Keep going
Show Caminu your room and describe the piece. You get the 3D model, the cut list and the assembly guide.