Melissa knew long before we started planning Beanie’s nursery that she wanted a full wall of books to read with our little one. It became my job to make that a reality.

I started by talking about the steps to build our own book ledges in THIS POST. Once we got them primed, painted, and covered with a clear coat, we were ready to hang them on the wall.

The first step was to make sure we hung each shelf far enough apart that even the tallest books would fit. Melissa had her mom measure a couple of the larger books she wants for the future, “I Spy” and “Where’s Waldo.” Both of those would fit in a 14 each space between each shelf, but we decided to go for 16 inches to give us a little extra room.

We also knew we needed the bottom shelf to sit above the outlet so we would still have access to that if we needed it.

I measured the wall and found the studs, using tape as markers so I wouldn’t have to draw on the walls. I made sure to mark each stud every 16 inches up the wall.

Then, I pre-drilled the holes in each shelf to line up with the studs. There were six studs behind each shelf, and we decided to use four screws per shelf, which should be more than enough to keep these securely attached to the wall, even if she finds some sort of super-heavy children’s books made of concrete.

Melissa helped by supporting one end of each shelf while I worked my way across each shelf. She made sure to line up the end with the mark on the tape.

I also started each screw ahead of time to save time.

The first one was the hardest because we had to do all the measuring. After that it went really fast.

Pretty soon, they were all attached and I was ready to touch up the screws with some paint so they wouldn’t show as much. Of course, the screws aren’t likely to show since the books will be sitting in front of them, but this made sure of the fact.

When I left the room to get cleaned up for the night, Melissa couldn’t wait another minute to try them out. She said she was very careful to avoid any wet paint but I made her wait until the next day to finish loading them up with books.

She has been collecting used books from garage sales or borrowing them for awhile now but she’s still hoping to add several more favorites to our own collection. She’s really excited to start reading these to Beanie. Most of them, I’ve actually never read, but I’m sure I’ll get the chance. Plus, she said she has like 20-30 more books on her favorite list she’s still hoping to add to the collection so we’ll need to choose some of the best ones for little babies to put on the shelves at first. Then, we can switch to new ones as Beanie grows up.

We’re another step closer to having the nursery ready. The next big thing is probably to get it all cleaned up and organized so we have room for the crib and the rocking chair.

What do you think of this project? Or Melissa’s enthusiasm for children’s books?