A Wall-Mounted Bookshelf in the Nursery + A Roundup Of Similar Ones
/I’m making slow but steady nursery progress, and the latest is a cute lil’ bookshelf for Margot to enjoy as she grows. Best of all, it magically fits oh-so-perfectly on the otherwise unusable wall.
Margot is only a few months old but has a book collection the size of my own. While many are stacked in the closet for swapping out as she ages, we wanted a sweet spot where we can easily access her current reads. Her nursery is pretty small so there isn’t much room for a freestanding bookcase (nor do I want more furniture to dust underneath!) so I hunted for a wall-mounted bookshelf and found the. perfect. one!
A good portion of her room serves as a hallway (see the layout and floor plan here) with two doors that open into her room. It makes for lovely flow through the house, but a pretty challenging spot to put anything.
There’s a small bit of wall space (a whole 31”) between the doors when they’re open. But because we walk through there so much, we don’t want to add anything deeper than the depth of the doors.
Magically, I found a perfect wall-mounted bookshelf on Facebook Marketplace. This 4” deep bookcase perfectly tucks up on the wall and is even shallower than the 8” projection of the doors. Huzzah!
We installed it using a metal cleat system and metal anchors. The typical plastic anchors don’t work in lath and plaster walls, so I only ever use metal ones. I’ll admit that they are finicky and sometimes make matters worse, but after a few failed attempts, we got everything in place. The heavy bookcase is thoroughly supported with a screw in a stud, another screw in the metal anchor, and with the weight distributed on a metal cleat. You can never be too safe with mounting heavy objects to walls.
The goal with the bookcase is to let Margot access her books herself (when she’s mobile). We want her to see the covers of the books, be able to reach them, and be able to put them back.
I’m a fan of Montessori-style education, environments, and philosophy. While not a strict follower, I certainly appreciate the Montessori goal of creating spaces that encourage natural interests and activities through child-led play and exploration. This bookshelf is one way we hope to encourage Margot’s interests and future love of reading.
She’ll only be able to reach the bottom shelf for a couple of years. Our 10” tall baseboards prevented us from hanging the shelf any lower, unfortunately (but not unfortunately because I love a chunky baseboard). But we’ll make a point of rotating her books to the lower shelf so she can access new and favorite reads.
This bookcase has a charming detail on the side that I think is really sweet. I thought about painting the off-white color a different hue, but I’ve grown to like the simplicity and how it doesn’t distract from the colorful books.
I got this bookcase used on Facebook Marketplace and the gal said she bought it from Pottery Barn. However, I looked all over and can’t find the original! So, I rounded up a collection of similar bookcases for ya.
Similar Wall-Mounted Bookcases
