Introduction: How to Build a Montessori Bookshelf With Just 2 Plywood Sheets

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My wife wanted a Montessori bookshelf for quite a while. Their child-centric design stimulates children's curiosity resulting in more engagement and more reading time. Moreover, it is a beautiful piece of furniture. Unfortunately, Montessori bookshelves are hard to find, made to order, and quite expensive.

Inspired by existing projects on the internet, I decided to design and build my own Montessori bookshelf. I hope you will enjoy this instructable and will find the shared design resources useful.

For more information on Montessori bookshelves, you can visit themontessorifamily.com.

Supplies

Material

Tools

Step 1: Plan and Design

I designed the bookshelf in fusion 360 inspired by existing designs I found on the internet. I tried to keep things simple and, except for the two sides, all the panels can be obtained with a few straight cuts from a single plywood panel (cut plans are from www.cutlistoptimizer.com). A second panel is enough to make the two sides.

In total, you will need the following panels:

  • For the shelves
  • 5 panels 900 x 210 mm
  • 7 panels 900 x 60 mm
  • For the sides
  • 2 panels cut according to the design files

Step 2: Cut the Panels

I made the cuts using a track saw but a table saw should be as good, if not better.

After cutting everything, I sanded all panels. Remember to be gentle with the sanding as you do not want to go through the thin veneer layer. I used an anti-slip gripper roll to keep the panels in place while sanding.

I then added some pocket holes to later attach the bookshelf shelves to the two sides

Finally, I smoothed the exposed edges of the panels using a hand router

Step 3: Assembly the Shelves

I proceeded by assembling each individual shelf. I used dominos and glue for the joints, but any other method should be fine. To ensure each shelf was squared, I used some aluminum squared jigs and lots of clamps

Step 4: Paint the Shelves

I decided to paint the shelves at this point of the build as all the surfaces were still easy to reach.

I clamped the shelves on the table and then brushed a small amount of wax oil.

After ten minutes I removed the excess oil using a clean cloth.

Step 5: Cut the Side Panels

I am a lucky member of a maker space so I decided to cut the two side panels using a CNC machine. That was a learning experience for me rather than an easy way of cutting the panels. I end up making some mistakes and the resulting quality of the panels was significantly worse than if I used my beloved track saw. Still, I managed to learn quite a few things about CNC. Moreover, I do not mind minor defects in my projects. I added a few images to show how I fixed the mistakes using some wood filler.

Finally, I sanded and trimmed the edges of the side panels using first an orbital sander and later a router with a round over bit. This is mostly for safety as the side edges are to be the most exposed of the bookshelf. Moreover, the exposed wood filler got reduced.

Step 6: Paint the Side Panels

Similar to was has been done with the shelves, I painted the two sides using wax oil. Having two large and flat surfaces rendered the experience quite pleasant.

Step 7: Assemble the Bookshelf

Using a few positioning squares I assembled the bookshelf one shelf at a time, securing each shelf on one of the sides using pocket holes. Keeping everything squared was quite tricky and, if I could go back in time, I would have added some dominos on the two sides to help the alignment of the shelves.

Once all the shelves were secured to one of the sides, securing the other side was much easier.

Step 8: Enjoy the Bookshelf

Once the bookshelf was done, I positioned it in my children's room and filled it up with books. As you can see, it can hold a significant amount of books. Additionally, the shelf is very stable and robust and does seem hard to tip over.

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