Rain Gutter Bookshelves

I have much to catch up on from our 10-day trip that included stops in Fresno, Sequoia National Park, Ridgecrest, Death Valley National Park, Las Vegas, St. George, Zion National Park, Las Vegas (again) and Fresno (again). But I couldn't wait to post about today's super easy, super fun project: Rain Gutter Bookshelves. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM!


Sarah's comment: "This is sooooo AMAZING!"


Will's comment: "Woooooowwww!"


We read books for more than an hour before going to bed tonight. We easily could have kept going ...


I fell in love with the bookshelves as soon as I saw it on All Things Thrifty. I used this tutorial from Raising Olives. Mine are 5 feet long (I had a Home Depot employee cut my 10-foot rain gutter in half.) There are 4 end-caps and 6 brackets between the two shelves. I washed and put on the end caps, but Rog did the hard part of leveling and screwing the shelves into the wall.

I love how they bring color to the stark white walls of our apartment. I love that they don't take up a lot of space - especially since space is a premium in their little closet-bedroom! The kids love that they can see the book covers so it's easy to pick which one they want to read. Love Love Love them!

Just in case you wanted to see the "way before" pic. This is all I could find as I glanced through my picture folders tonight: