A simple cinder block shelf tutorial

Welcome to the tiny room that is shared between our two oldest!


Those two. They just love each other so much. They have been horrible room-sharers. All they want to do is play together. It's sweet but it's exhausting. I've ended up keeping ALMOST all toys out of there. Books however, if they are downstairs, they end up destroyed because they never get put away and they get stepped on and pulled apart, built with and whatever else they can think of, so I leave them in their room for quiet times and reading before bed. There's a few downstairs but not many.

Anyway. When we moved in and I was figuring everything out I wanted something for their room that would sit under the window well and house books. There's not a lot out there that short (and the floor is wicked crooked so anything you put there looks like it's tipping over...) and then I remembered a humongous pile of blocks in our shed (thank you previous renters!!!!).

So I headed out and grabbed a couple. One at a time. I ended up bringing in 5, 2 for this project, 3 for our bedroom night stands...good leg workout that day... :)

the Accidental Nomad Life blog simple cinder block shelf

All I did was find a couple of 2x6's that were the right length and put one in the bottom hole, set one on the top and voila! The perfect little book shelf. It's indestructible. Even if they take it apart, they can't hurt it at all. They don't take it apart, they just stack things on it and line up little Legos across it. It's wonderful. I was so excited. The look of it tied their room together really well.

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What do you think? What clever ways have you created furniture for your home?

the Accidental Nomad Life blog simple cinder block shelf tall title

8 comments

  1. Love that this is so simple and indestructible. If there is a way to destroy something, it will be found in my house ;-)

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  2. I love this idea! I could see this useful in an office at work, where cubicles don't have adequate shelves. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Haha! Thanks Lara! That's how I was feeling too but the kids have been really good about leaving this piece alone, besides the books being a hot mess... :) I think they believe it's too heavy for them. They also love having a low surface to play Legos on. :)

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  4. Oh my goodness, that would be so fun and bring in so much character in a cubicle! :)

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  5. This is a great idea! How cute would it be to paint the cinder blocks in one of theme colors of the room! Thanks for the post!

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  6. Oh MAN! I never thought of that!!! I LOOOOOOVE that idea. I might have a new project now with some orange spray paint...haha! :)

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  7. Looks great, I don't think that shelf would fall anytime soon! :)

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  8. Thanks Anna! RIGHT?! My whole goal there! Something the kiddos can't move. :)

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