DIY Closet Bookshelves

Measure the space between the floor and the bottom of your clothes or between the ceiling and the top of the clothes rack. Measure the length of the interior of the closet and then measure the depth between the wall and the clothes rack. This gives you the height, length and depth of the bookshelf.

Cut two pieces of 1-inch-thick pine boards to the height you obtained in Step 1 with a table saw. Use boards that measure as close as possible to the depth you determined but that will not rest past the clothes rod. These boards are your vertical supports.

Divide the total height of the supports by 12 to obtain the total number of shelves you need to cut. Cut the shelves out of the same wood you used for the vertical supports. Cut the shelves 2 inches shorter than your desired width to accommodate the thickness of the vertical supports.

Place the vertical supports on their wide faces and butt them side by side, ends flush.

Measure up from the bottom 12 inches and then draw a line across both faces. Measure up 1 more inch and then draw a second line across both faces. Repeat this as you work your way up the vertical supports. The 1-inch spacing denotes where you will install your screw holes and shelves.

Drill four evenly spaced holes along each 1-inch gap with a 1/4-inch-diameter drill bit.

Place the vertical supports on their sides and place the shelves between the 1-inch gaps. Drive 1/4-inch-diameter 2-inch-long wood screws though the holes in the vertical supports and into the shelves' ends.

Paint or stain the closet bookshelf and then wait for it to dry.

Place a corner bracket on the top of the shelf in each corner. Secure the corner brackets to the shelf with the supplied bolt and nut. If you are hanging the shelf off the floor, duplicate the process by installing corner brackets on the bottom shelf as well.

Position the shelf in the closet and then mark the mounting holes on the corner brackets onto the wall. Drill pilot holes for wall anchors, press the wall anchors into the wall and then secure the bookshelf to the wall with the screws supplied with the anchors.