We’ve all had them, those cheap particle board bookshelves that look nice but if you even think about lifting it with any number of books on it, it will crumble.

I had two left over from my college years that I didn’t manage to telepathically destroy. One was black and one was dark brown, so they looked a little silly in the guest room next to each other. Instead of throwing them out, I decided to cut them down and update them to function better as bedside tables. I was inspired by this post from Simply Beautiful by Angela. 

The starting measurements of each were: 40.5” h x 24.5” w x 12″ d.

Here’s what I needed (this is to finish one bookshelf (I bought double the amount listed below):

• 4 1x2x96”
• 1 1x4x96”
• 1 bookshelf
• Liquid nails
• plywood-for the backing (at least 41” x by 25”)

I starting by cutting the bookshelves to 21.5″ high. 

From here on out, I will describe my steps for one bookshelf, I obviously did all of this for both shelves at the same time.  

Then I cut the “legs” I was putting on the front and sides (1×2’s cut to 24” you need 8 of these 2 for the front, 4 for the sides and 2 for the back)

*** If you set out to update your own bookshelf, and it happens to be the same size as mine, please, please still confirm your own measurements as I did have some small adjustment cuts that you may or may not have to do, depending on any variations in the wood or squareness of your shelf. ***

I glued the sides on first and let those cure overnight with clamps on. Then I glued the fronts on and clamped them to cure. While I was waiting for those to cure, I made more cuts.

I cut the bottom cross bars (front and back). These were 1×2 cut at approximately 23 ⅛”.  I also cut the side cross bars (4 of these 2 for each side). These were, again, 1×2 wood cut at approximately 8 ½”.

BEFORE SECURING THE BACK LEGS: measure cut and secure your backing, then secure the back ‘legs’.

Once the all of ‘legs’ were dry and cured, I began gluing and securing the crossbars.