A unique homemade custom bookcase for next to the mantelpiece, by Erik

Customizing furniture yourself does not necessarily have to be very difficult. Especially if you choose to order your sawing work online. In this project Erik shows how he made a beautiful and unique custom bookcase from MDF and birch plywood.

Description of Erik

My first self-build project: a custom-made bookcase in a chimney niche. Consisting of blocks of 18mm MDF and blanks of 40mm birch plywood.

How I made this project

I was inspired by another project here on the website. As a first step I made the square blocks from 18 mm primed MDF. I used slats and pocket screws for the connections, so that there are no drill holes on the visible sides. The end edges were finished with edge sealer and 2 layers of primer. Then everything was painted with 2 layers of lacquer. I used 40 mm birch plywood for the planks. I cut the sides that border the chimney diagonally to size with a hand-held circular saw. That was quite difficult, because the width at the back and front were not the same (old house); My Hultafors talmeter comb comes in handy for this. I gave the front small roundings with the router. Then apply 2 layers of Osmo hardwax oil to everything. To attach the square blocks to the planks I used dowels and Titlebond wood glue, so that there are no screw holes in sight. I'm quite proud of the end result for my first project.

Dimensions of my DIY project

Approximately 235.0 cm high and 90.0 cm wide (top)