apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

ok - I know this is technically a book shelf but have you seen the shelves you can make using a book as the base?
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2007/01/how_to_make_an_16.html

You could cover a wall with these and it would look cool and orderly.

i have a couple of old crate boxes... one is dewars, another coca cola... (we need a few more actually) and they stack nicely, and i have them in the living room for his puzzles & books (i didnt want to keep stacking them in the corner or schlepping them back & forth from his room). you can score them at flea markets & tag sales & garage sales all the time.

I know it is a shelf - but what about shelves made from gutters? We have them in my sons' room. You can see the cover of the book and find the one you are looking for easily. I know you are trying to stay away from a book shelf but these have a much more casual look than a typical book shelf.

I know my son is considerably younger than yours (he is only 1), but I don't want to put his MANY books on a shelf so he can get to them. I am going to buy some wood crates and paint them colors to match his room. The plan is to screw them on to the wall in various locations and heights, but I have debated letting them sit on the floor.

Also, if you have some milk crates and can sew... here is a tutorial to cover them with fabric... http://lauragunn.typepad.com/theundercovercrate.pdf

The Ikea Lack shelf... turned on its side so that it's laying on the ground horizontally ... is the most wonderful kid's bookcase AND you can have it double as a train table/toy counter or put a cushion on it and kids can sit there and read!

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00045560

I was going to say the 'gutter' idea - but someone beat me to it! But here's the link to the blog I found it on - sounds like a cool idea to me:
http://watibg.blogspot.com/2008/09/home-improvement-part-2.html

Also - what about using a ladder? How they have magazine racks now that look like 'ladders' - it could be easily made with some dowel rods or repurpose an old ladder. If the books won't hang on it (chapter books and novels may not work so well) you could sew 'pockets' to it over the dowel rods and hang down. Does this make sense? I can see it in my mind, but am not sure how to describe it!

Another idea is to get some kind of old trunk, suitcase or even old guitar/instrument case and have it open against the wall and the books can be put into it.

Just a few thoughts - good luck!

you'd probably want to make sure they're easily accessible. I've seen someone hang a big quilt-ish thing on the wall with big pockets in it for books, but i don't think that's the look you're going for. of course, you could hang separate solid-color cloth pockets all in a row along a wall to hold a few books each. You could also do one long shelf all around the upper half of the room, as long as you have a safe and easy way for your child to get the books down.

variations on bookcases
http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/bk10/index.cfm?pkey=cbookcases|k

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/pk374/index.cfm?cm_src=rel


http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/k4004/index.cfm?cm_src=rel

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40049684
stack the books or put them in baskets