amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

lassie · 05-31-2008, 05:04 PM

We have a lot of books and Whitley always has stacks of them that she reads in her top bunk. I've been wanting to try gutter shelves for a long time so we finally did!

Whit's bunk:

Mel's bunk:

And in Noelle's room above the extra bed. She sleeps in a crib so these are just for display to go along with her "old-fashioned toy" theme:

We still need the right end caps on those b/c J. bought 6 lefts and 2 rights instead of 4 and 4.

I want more! I just have to figure out where to put them. We have tons of books.

branwyn · 05-31-2008, 05:06 PM

what a great idea!

Kateg1 · 05-31-2008, 05:17 PM

cool, my dh was going to make wooden ones but those are neat,we may do that instead

brayg · 05-31-2008, 05:24 PM

Awesome idea!!

phunkymama · 05-31-2008, 05:28 PM

They hold up well too. We did them in DS's room 3 years ago. His book collection has grown, and most of the area is "doubled up" but the gutters still look great!

I'm sure your girls will love them, they look wonderful!

juliebelle · 05-31-2008, 05:29 PM

are these metal?

tisme · 05-31-2008, 05:33 PM

They look great! What a good idea.

Soggy Granola · 05-31-2008, 05:45 PM

O.M.G.

I think I could kiss you. :smooooooocccchhhhhh:

We have such limited space, and weird walls/spaces since we have a 1/2 story. I have been absolutely frustrated with finding an option for light storage for the kids' rooms. WHY didn't I think of that???

So, share the secret. Are they metal? What did you use to paint them? About how much did those cost? I need to know everything, lol.

phunkymama · 05-31-2008, 05:50 PM

The ones I got from Home Depot were vinyl. I've seen similar ones at Lowe's.

lassie · 05-31-2008, 05:51 PM

Gwen -

Okay, we got them at Lowe's. They are vinyl, don't need to be painted, and cheap.

10' White Repla-K Style Vinyl Gutter

I can't take credit for the idea as I've seen it many times online but kept forgetting about it. I just read a book by Jim Trelease about reading and kids and he suggests them in there as there is evidence kids read more when they see the covers of books. I know it's true for my kids, though they were little bibiliophiles already.

Rain Gutter Book Shelves

golden · 05-31-2008, 05:56 PM

Those look awesome! How do they attach to the walls? These would be perfect along one silly wall, under two windows and above the radiator.

lassie · 05-31-2008, 05:57 PM

BTW, my hubby is so not handy and we installed these very quickly.

I also saw this idea for holding sewing ribbon while I was searching online (borrowed pic). It's a copper gutter. Cute!

lavender300 · 05-31-2008, 05:58 PM

great idea!

lassie · 05-31-2008, 06:04 PM

Golden - it's hard to explain how to install them but it's simple to do. There is a bracket that goes inside and clips inside the top of the gutters. It does stopp you from putting books right there. I just strategically placed stuffed animals where the brackets were.

You could also just screw them straight to the wall but I wanted to make sure they were really sturdy. We screwed the brackets to studs. They then can slide back and forth a bit depending on where you put the brackets. We might end up putting a screw in to hold them in one place but I'm not sure yet. Other pics I've seen online have outside brackets instead of inside.

Jen - I want to see yours!

I'd love to put them somewhere else too. If I could find some, I'd like a few short copper ones over my night stand b/c I always keep STACKS of books there. Drives J. nuts.

shana1 · 05-31-2008, 06:05 PM

wow great idea