Modern Bookshelf Made From Pallets

Hubby has been in the mood...to bring home pallets that is. And when they are good pallets (heavy wood, not broken) and when he is willing to take them apart for me, I am a happy builder. I decided to use some of that recently acquired pallet wood,

to make a bookshelf with a modern, boho feel to it.

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I haven't done a lot of building in the past 18 months, so this took a bit of thinking and a few mistakes, and because of that, I didn't take any process pictures. But, you can see all kinds of pallet building ideas in my books that you can get HERE.

Using 1' x 1" brackets, I joined the 5.5" pallet wood together on the top and bottom to make an 11" deep shelf. It is 40" tall and about 29" wide.

I wanted to use natural wood colored slats on the back to give it a more modern look. At first I placed them with gradually increasing gaps in between them--from a quarter inch wide gap to a two inch gap. I brad nailed the heck out of them to the back and turned it around and did NOT like it. The shelf isn't wide enough to show that the different spacing was purposeful. It looked instead like maybe I was drinking while attaching the slats. SO...I pulled them all off, pulled out a million brad nails, resanded the slats, and attached them again, this time evenly spaced.

The wood slats were ripped form a 2" x 6" board. I added a natural wood piece horizontally across the top and bottom of the shelf. BTW, I painted the shelf black first before adding the wood slats and trim.

I styled this sparsely (because it will be for sale) with thrift store items. Hints for styling a bookshelf: prop a picture and other items on the top, even if it is a taller shelf, use interesting items for bookends, add a mirror either on the top or on one of the shelves, stack large books horizontally and add a curiosity on top, use interesting objects in tones that fit the mood or style--wood, baskets, white dishes, tarnished silver, cloth covered books that are all in the same color. 

A vintage oil painting with lots of green in it adds some color. The cowbell makes a fun bookend.

This bookshelf is a great size for lots of spaces. It holds plenty of books and decor and was a fun build (once it was finished 😆).