Faux Fireplace Bookshelf

In a house full of book lovers, there is never enough shelf space. Even though I know digital books save space, there is still something about cracking the spine of a new book open wide for a fresh adventure, or even just the smell of paper an ink. The problem with a love affair of literature, is that your collection can grow quite rapidly. Even with frequent sorting,loaning, and donating, we still have a lot of books we can’t just bear to part with. I needed one more shelf. As much as I loved how pretty the mantle looks with my “faux” logs and the brick backdrop I made,but , I knew it was time to make the ultimate sacrifice (In fact, this mantel has been many places in my home.). I need to to be functional storage as well. That’s how this became a faux fireplace bookshelf.

Hubby picked up 2-6 inch boards the length of the interior mantel, two-13 inch tall boards and two-11 inch tall boards.

I remembered to snap a picture just as I started painting. I screwed the first long board onto the top of the 13 inch sides to make a shelf for all of my tall books. For the second shelf, I did the same thing, only I placed it on top, so they are not attached to each other. This way they are easily removed and I can adjust which shelf goes where easier.

It looked pretty just as an empty shelf, but I knew it was meant to be used. Not all of my books are the pretty, old, kind either for display, but they are well-loved. This shelf needs to function, so I filled it up! I even could have used another layer. We still have more books!

This way I can maximize the space and it was really for a few dollars and super easy with this faux fireplace bookshelf!