Rain Gutter Bookshelves~

Today, I wanted to share with you a project my hubby and I did last week!

We made bookshelves out of rain gutters....turning our reading corner into a very kid friendly place to be! (mom and dad love being there too!)

What could be more enjoyable than having a kiddo...(OK at our house its more like or 2 or 3 kiddos) snuggled on your lap to read a good book? Could it be looking in from the kitchen to find an older sibling reading to some of the younger ones? Or it might just be listening to your baby babble as she "reads" the book her way?

We are a reading family!
I have wanted this style of shelf to display our books... forever!
I never thought rain gutter?!

I had always wanted a place for our library books and other seasonal books with themes such as apples,harvest,Christmas etc...
Displaying the books face out make the books more inviting. Seeing the book cover, draws the kiddos to a book that might other wise get over looked if stacked on a traditional bookcase .
The rain gutter shelves makes the wall look festive with themed books that can be changed out.... its like rotating wall art!
These shelves have changed the focal point of our living room! We are all thrilled with the way the gutter shelves really transformed the space..... giving a better definition to the reading corner!

I discovered this wonder rain gutter project over at Kimberly's blog....Raising Olives .

The gutters come in 10 foot lengths ($4.95each). I bought 3.

I...(well my husband) cut the gutters with a hack saw by hand. He is such a pro there was no need to sand any rough edges! He cut each one into two 5 foot pieces. Then cut some of those pieces into 2 1/2 foot lengths.

The shelves we hung in the living room are two of the 5 foot pieces. I will put another 5 foot section in the "N" boys bedroom. I put a 2 1/2 foot piece in the dining room and still have a 2 1/2 foot piece that I might put in the girls room next to Jackie's toddler bed? That still leaves me one whole 10 foot gutter I will need to figure out what I will do with?

The end caps come in pairs (one for a left and one for a right side). They were about $6.oo a pair! So depending on how many pieces you cut your gutter into, you will need to figure out how many pairs you will need.

***I put a 2 1/2 foot gutter shelf in the dining room to house our prayer and scripture books...so they are not on the table where many spills happen....daily it seems! hee hee!*****

The brackets were $1.70 each. I used 3 to hold the 5 foot gutters and 2 to hold the 2 1/2 foot ones. The brackets slide into the gutter....all the supplies were in the roofing section of Home Depot!

Be sure to nail the gutter brackets into a stud so they don't pull out and can support the weight of the books!

We still need to put some gutter shelves in the kiddos room....the supplies are awaiting in the garage! There is always work to be done!

Well I'm off now to school the kiddos! We will be at the State Fair tomorrow...I'm so excited! I will see you all next week!

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Georgiann