Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Turning An Empty Wall Niche Into A Bookshelf

This amazing niche makeover sent by Mike and McGee is proof that looking carefully at every nook and cranny in your house can result in added function and eye candy. Here’s their letter:

We wanted to share a recent renovation we did in our Austin, Texas home. We ripped out an ugly and awkwardly shaped art niche and recessed light fixture and replaced it with a custom built-in bookcase and new wall sconce. Total cost: about $50. The only downside to this project is that we realized once it was finished that we had more books than shelves. I had originally planned to artfully arrange some books on the shelves, adding a few interesting items here and there. However, once we started loading books onto the shelves, we realized that we needed all of that space just for books. With the addition of some Ikea expedit bookcases in our breakfast room (recently re-purposed as my office – I work from home), we finally have all the books off the floor. Yay! – Mike & McGee

art-niche-before

art-niche-demo

bookcase-under-construction

bookcase-after

Isn’t that a great transformation? I love the crisp white trim and the clean-lined sconce… and the fact that they did it with their own four hands! You can check out their blog for more details and information. Thanks so much for sending along your amazing transformation Mike & McGee! Sherry is seriously poking around the house for a place to add a bookcase at this very moment.

Comments

  6. Liz says

    Wow, the before and after shots for this one are so inspirational!! Who couldn’t use a little more useful storage space, and the sconce was such a great idea.

    Reply

  7. angie says

    Wow.. amazing! So clean and so very creative. I would never have thought of making that area into a book case.

    Reply

  9. Ashley says

    I love it!! I need to go find a place for one in our house now, too! Actually – I need to finish all the other things on our to-do list before I go adding more. Maybe I’ll file it for the future. Haha!

    Reply

  11. Mike and McGee says

    Thanks for sharing this. We feel so famous! LOL. :)

    Since we finished the bookcase, Mike has been walking around the house, knocking on walls, and eyes spots for more built ins. He told me the other day, “You know, we have this useless space here in the hall by the dining room. I bet I could bring these columns forward, knock out this part of the wall, build some shelves, and we could have two huge built-in bookcases here.”

    I said, “Um, that’s a major project. And it would involve ripping up the tile on the floor too.”

    His response, “Yeah. I know. I don’t like that tile anyway. Let’s do it!”

    ~sigh~

    McGee

    Reply

  16. Averill says

    Love it! I’m always wondering how to deal with those niches that seem to come standard in so many new homes…sometimes they’re frankly just bizarre!

    Reply

  17. Holly M. says

    Love it! I may just have to share some of my re-design pictures, including some curb appeal I’m working on right now… it’s amazing what a few bales of pine needles and flowers can do to transform your house!

    Reply

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