🖼️
The project:
I've always been an avid reader, and for years I'd dreamed of a cosy nook by a window, somewhere to curl up with a book and the afternoon light coming in. The trouble was space: I had one spare room that needed to be a home office, a guest room, and somewhere to house my ever-growing book collection. So I built all three into one. A library nook with floor-to-ceiling shelves either side, a day bed in the middle that pulls out to a king for guests, and drawers below for storage. I pulled up the old carpet, laid new floors, and closed it all in so it reads as built-in. Now it's my favourite corner of the house.
- Materials:
Framing & closing in the built-ins
- Framing timber (structural pine) for the frames that bulk out and box in the units
- Premium pine for the back shelf
- Plywood to close in the exposed sides
- 90 degree angle brackets
Trim & finishing
- Bunnings MDF 66mm colonial skirting boards
- Porta trim
- Trim / moulding for the front edges and joins
- Cornice, fixed with Gyprock cornice cement
- Timbermate wood filler for nail holes and joins
- Selleys No More Gaps gap filler for caulking edges and seams before paint
- 80 grit and 240 grit sand paper
Paint & finish
- Zinsser B-I-N primer/sealer
- Cabot's interior spray matt top coat
- Interior paint, tinted to a soft mushroom/taupe for the units
- Tools:
- Tape measure and pencil
- Set square / combination square
- Spirit level
- Utility (Stanley) knife – for cutting up the old carpet
- Pry bar / wonder bar – lifting carpet, underlay and old skirting
- Mitre saw or mitre box + hand saw – cutting cornice, trim and skirting to length and angle
- Circular saw or jigsaw – cutting plywood to size
- Cordless drill / driver
- Brad nailer or hammer and nails – fixing trim, cornice and ply
- Caulking gun – for the gap filler
- Putty knife / scraper – applying wood filler
- Orbital sander or sanding block
- Paint brushes, roller and tray
- Dust mask, safety glasses and knee pads
- Step 1:
Step 1 — The problem
I had one spare bedroom and a wishlist that didn't fit: a home office, a bed for guests, and somewhere for my growing pile of books and odds and ends. Rather than pick one, I decided to build a library nook around a day bed — shelving up both sides, storage underneath, and a bed that pulls out to a king when someone stays. I started by clearing the room right back to an empty shell and measuring up the wall under the window.
- Step 2:
Step 2 — Up with the old floor
The room had tired old carpet, so I pulled up the carpet and underlay, ripped out the tack strips, and cleaned the subfloor back so it was smooth and level, ready for new flooring.
- Step 3:
Step 3 — New floors down
I laid new hybrid floorboards across the whole room. The click-together system made it manageable as a DIY job, and starting with a fresh continuous floor meant the built-ins would sit on something that looked intentional, not patched around.
- Step 4:
Step 4 — Setting the base units
I positioned the two tall bookcase units either side of the window and the day bed frame in the centre. These were flat-pack units I adapted to suit the space, I based the layout on a nook idea I'd seen online and adjusted the dimensions to fit my wall exactly.
- Step 5:
Step 5 — Framing it out
To turn three separate pieces of furniture into one built-in, I built up framing timber around and between the units. This bulked them out to the right depth and gave me something solid to fix the plywood and trim to.
- Step 6:
Step 6 — Closing in the sides
I cut plywood to size and closed in all the exposed sides and gaps, so from every angle it looks like solid built-in joinery rather than furniture pushed against a wall. This was the step that really changed the whole feel of it.
- Step 7:
Step 7 — Cornice and trim
I ran cornice along the top of the units to connect them to the ceiling line, then added trim to the front edges and joins. This is the detail that sells the "built-in" look, it stops the eye seeing where one piece ends and the next begins.
- Step 8:
Step 8 — New skirting
I replaced the skirting boards around the room, scribing them in against the new floor and the base of the units so everything tied together neatly at floor level.
- Step 9:
Step 9 — Filling, caulking and sanding
I filled every nail hole and gap with wood filler, ran caulk along all the seams and edges, then sanded everything back smooth. It's tedious, but it's the difference between a DIY job and something that looks professionally finished.
- Step 10:
Step 10 — Paint and styling
I painted the built-ins in a soft purple in a low-sheen Dulux wash-and-wear finish (two coats, taking my time on the shelf edges), and kept the walls a warm neutral. Then came the fun part: making up the bed, adding the wall sconces, hanging sheer curtains, and styling the shelves with books and trailing plants. Now the one room genuinely works three ways, office by day, guest room when I need it, and my own little library the rest of the time.
