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IdeasDouble Take: New Uses for Your Bookcases
If you ask me, it’s probably one of the most common, yet highly disregarded, furniture items. You likely had one in your room growing up and again in your dorm room when you went away to college. They’re in most classrooms and many offices, and chances are you have at least one, if not two or three, in your home right now.
Bookcases are an ordinary piece of furniture. But what usually gets placed in the corner and stacked high with old magazines and unread books can have a number of unique uses around the home.
In this third edition of the Double Take series, I’ll give you seven ways to use another piece of multipurpose furniture — the bookcase.
Bookcase to bar stand
For holiday entertaining or for the everyday, use short bookcases as bar stands, like Chris from Celebrations at Home did with her Edge Water bookcase. Use cubbyhole shelves to store glassware, extra bottles of wine, cocktail napkins and your shaker, and set the top with a mirrored tray with an ice bucket, cork screw and your mixers. Now that’s my kind of bookcase.
“Built-in” bookcase
Roeshel with DIY Show Off got the look of pricey built-in bookcases in her Vintage Eclectic living room by using two Barrister Lane bookcases to flank her fireplace. With a matching wood grain to her mantle, you’d never know that these bookcases aren’t permanent pieces of the décor.
Faux kitchen pantry
The open shelves of a bookcase can store and organize just about anything in the kitchen. Create a pantrylike storage solution with a series of bookcases to maximize closet space near your kitchen. House extra snacks and nonperishables, along with dishes and pans that don’t get used as much. Dress it up or down, depending on the visibility it has in your home.
Here are two great displays from Hoosier Homemade blogger Liz, who used her bookcases to organize all of her props for her cooking and foodie endeavors.
Room divider or half-wall
DIY Candy uses a large cube bookcase to divide her loft apartment into separate living spaces. With a mix of boxes and baskets to fill the space, the cube bookcase room divider becomes a decorative faux wall.
Toy box alternative
Any parent has seen the aftermath — the toy “explosion” that results when your child’s favorite toy is at the bottom of the toy box. Avoid this mess with a bookcase to neatly organize toys out in the open. If you’re keen on more organization, use decorative containers, like these shark bins Sheena from Sophistiche found, for smaller toys like action figures, blocks or Legos.
Guest room amenities
If you often house out-of-town guests, load a small bookcase in the guest room with all of the essential amenities to make visiting friends feel at home. Think of the things you’d want to find in your hotel room when traveling — mini toiletries, reading material, fresh towels, a small snack, a bottle of water — all are a welcome way to greet your guests. Placed next to the guest room bed, a low-profile bookcase can double as a night stand.
See how Chris at Celebrations at Home used her same Edge Water bookcase in a different way? Once a bar cart, now a guest supply station.
Craft room storage
If you haven’t gotten it already, bookcases can be used for storage and organization. And the craft room is no exception. Bookcases with adjustable shelves are best for this, so supplies can be stored most efficiently. You might not need a whole wall of shelves like one of our favorite craft bloggers, Saved By Love Creations, has here. Even one 5-shelf bookcase filled with bins and baskets can help clean up the craft room.
Of course, there are more ways to use a bookcase — in the closet for sweaters or shoes, in the office for files and (of course) books, in the garage for athletic gear. The options are endless.
So tell us, what are your favorite ways to use a bookcase in your home?
And while you’ve got versatile furniture on the brain, check out last month’s posts on multiple ways to use accent seating and dressers.
Top images from Setting for Four (left) and Mom By The Beach (right).
Bookcases are an ordinary piece of furniture. But what usually gets placed in the corner and stacked high with old magazines and unread books can have a number of unique uses around the home.
In this third edition of the Double Take series, I’ll give you seven ways to use another piece of multipurpose furniture — the bookcase.
Bookcase to bar stand
For holiday entertaining or for the everyday, use short bookcases as bar stands, like Chris from Celebrations at Home did with her Edge Water bookcase. Use cubbyhole shelves to store glassware, extra bottles of wine, cocktail napkins and your shaker, and set the top with a mirrored tray with an ice bucket, cork screw and your mixers. Now that’s my kind of bookcase.
“Built-in” bookcase
Roeshel with DIY Show Off got the look of pricey built-in bookcases in her Vintage Eclectic living room by using two Barrister Lane bookcases to flank her fireplace. With a matching wood grain to her mantle, you’d never know that these bookcases aren’t permanent pieces of the décor.
Faux kitchen pantry
The open shelves of a bookcase can store and organize just about anything in the kitchen. Create a pantrylike storage solution with a series of bookcases to maximize closet space near your kitchen. House extra snacks and nonperishables, along with dishes and pans that don’t get used as much. Dress it up or down, depending on the visibility it has in your home.
Here are two great displays from Hoosier Homemade blogger Liz, who used her bookcases to organize all of her props for her cooking and foodie endeavors.
Room divider or half-wall
DIY Candy uses a large cube bookcase to divide her loft apartment into separate living spaces. With a mix of boxes and baskets to fill the space, the cube bookcase room divider becomes a decorative faux wall.
Toy box alternative
Any parent has seen the aftermath — the toy “explosion” that results when your child’s favorite toy is at the bottom of the toy box. Avoid this mess with a bookcase to neatly organize toys out in the open. If you’re keen on more organization, use decorative containers, like these shark bins Sheena from Sophistiche found, for smaller toys like action figures, blocks or Legos.
Guest room amenities
If you often house out-of-town guests, load a small bookcase in the guest room with all of the essential amenities to make visiting friends feel at home. Think of the things you’d want to find in your hotel room when traveling — mini toiletries, reading material, fresh towels, a small snack, a bottle of water — all are a welcome way to greet your guests. Placed next to the guest room bed, a low-profile bookcase can double as a night stand.
See how Chris at Celebrations at Home used her same Edge Water bookcase in a different way? Once a bar cart, now a guest supply station.
Craft room storage
If you haven’t gotten it already, bookcases can be used for storage and organization. And the craft room is no exception. Bookcases with adjustable shelves are best for this, so supplies can be stored most efficiently. You might not need a whole wall of shelves like one of our favorite craft bloggers, Saved By Love Creations, has here. Even one 5-shelf bookcase filled with bins and baskets can help clean up the craft room.
Of course, there are more ways to use a bookcase — in the closet for sweaters or shoes, in the office for files and (of course) books, in the garage for athletic gear. The options are endless.
So tell us, what are your favorite ways to use a bookcase in your home?
And while you’ve got versatile furniture on the brain, check out last month’s posts on multiple ways to use accent seating and dressers.
Top images from Setting for Four (left) and Mom By The Beach (right).
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