BOOKCASE DOOR THAT REPLACES YOUR DOOR.

90 PERCENT OF THESE BOOKS WERE WATER DAMAGED!!!!!!!
I DONT CONDONE DESTROYING BOOKS!!!!!!!!!!


IV WANTED TO BUILD THIS DOOR FOR YEARS BUT DIDNT WANT TO RUIN A BUNCH OF BOOKS. SO I FINALY FOUND SOME WATER DAMAGED BOOKS THAT NO ONE WOULD WANT TO READ. THATS THE HARDEST PART OF THIS PROJECT. I CUT ALL THE BOOKS THEN SUN BATHED THEM FOR A FOR DAYS TO DRY THEM AND TAKE ANY SMELL OUT. YOU COULD JUST GO TO A LIBRARY BOOK SALE AND GET BAGS OF BOOKS FOR ABOUT $2 A BAG, BUT PEOPLE FROWN UPON DESTROING BOOKS SO TRY TO FIND DAMAGED ONES IF YOU CAN.

YOU CAN REUSE YOUR DOOR OR BUILD A NEW ONE LIKE I DID. IF YOU REUSE YOUR DOOR ITS A MATER OF ADDING MORE WOOD AND BOOKS TO IT.

Step 1 Cutting your wood.

cut 1 1/2" x 3/4 pieces to make a frame around your door. [make sure you leave enough space on the latch side, that the door will shut and not hit on the jam.] measure the books you get to determin where you put the next piece of wood.  

Comments

[mrscoloradogal]

I love this idea! I can just imagine this door in an entire wall covered in built-ins stuffed with books. When the door is closed it would be almost completely hidden...

Great job!

[dolabil66]

Nice Job !!!!! Cool Idea............

[Magenta8]

Goose-I am sorry you get so many comments about damaging "the poor defenseless books". boo hoo to them.
PEOPLE! They are her books, her property. What she does with them is her gosh darn business! Learn to read the freakin comments she put on here !FOR YOUR BENEFIT!-What part of "They were damaged, she doesn't condone using perfectly good books." did you not understand?
Even if they weren't damaged, what business is it of your what she does with them? You all sound like a bunch of finger wagging grannies.
Sorry, if this ends as a thread hijack, but I am really tired of the self-important "oh, you must recycle absolutely everything" crowd making comments that remind me of old religious leader who used to try shame people for having sex. Goose, they are your books, and you have done a remarkable, and intelligent thing with them!

[Bindweeds]

LOL SO True though I am a "oh, you must recycle absolutely everything" person however these were unusable things that she used to be useful. that would be recycling! Way to go Goose!

[tinker234]

i agree they just end up being destroyed so might as well use them

[dog and pony show]

Thank you... I agree. Better to see their beauty than have them go to a land fill!

[solice21]

Love everything about this, one possible addition would be to have the whole door go into the wall a little and make it look like a bookshelf when the door is open too.

[slysimon]

Great idea and a great instructable. I've just moved into a new place and we have a cupboard under the stairs where I intend to put all my AV boxes, consoles and home server. The door leads into the living room and my wife wanted to disguise the door somehow. This seems like the perfect way.

Thanks for putting the instructable together.

Now I just have to get a load of old cheap books.

[afuller3]

why can't you just make it a real book shelf and not hack up books. You know, for people dying from the sight of hacked books. I understand though : )

[anderlance]

The handle in the wall idea alone is fantastic!

[8ntfrogn]

I always wanted a secret passage way. I think this is a fantastic idea. Must start collecting books. Thank you for sharing thins fantstic idea.

[zanne101]

This is a terrific idea.

To cut down on weight and not have to cut through all those pages, I was thinking that maybe just take everything out of the books - just leave the complete cover? I would put a little cardboard/foam strip inside the spine to keep the "book" in it's original angular shape, and glue them all together in a line instead of glueing each one. I really just want the spine and a little of the front and back covers.
Maybe I'm way off here, just thinking/typing out loud. :-}
If you do pull out all the pages, they make great kindling in the fireplace! Gives new meaning to "book burning".

But I definitely want to do this. Great job.

ps: your books - nobody's business what you do with them!

[jvpernis]

It would be cool if you have to pull out that book a bit and then pull the lever. Very nice one!!

[Antipassifist22]

I wonder if I could do this without drilling into the door behind it... like if i could fit it to the door and then hang it...

[zomfibame]

I like the door; and also I very much like the notch made for the door knob.

[fiducianullus]

 Couldn't you have made it an actual bookshelf? Better than killing books i think.

[fiducianullus]

 Still not seeing it. Oh well - good idea either way. well done.

[THE GOOSE]

90 PERCENT OF THESE BOOKS WERE WATER DAMAGED!!!!!!!
I DONT CONDONE DESTOYING BOOKS!!!!!!!!!!

[fiducianullus]

 Calm down buddy. I posted that for good measure. Try decaf dude.

[THE GOOSE]

i am calm, i copied that from my posting. i had to write it like that cause of all the comments i got about destroying books. i didnt mean to sound mad, im happy theres people out there that do like my door.
SORRY: GOOSE

[fiducianullus]

 Oh... lol ok then. I thought you were freaking out. I wish my wife would let me do this.... I did the 60 minute book shelf. Turned out really nice.

[THE GOOSE]

NO. If you read the intro, you will know why.

[milesduggan]

 Words cannot describe how BATMAN that is!!! I mean wow! I am soooooo going to do this!! Simply incredible! 

[Love_Not_Found]

wow i have to give you props for this one  when i get my house im so doing this

one thing i dont get  how did the handle on the outside work?

[THE GOOSE]

its just a lever handle with a book cover slid over it and a set screw holds it on. and when you push it up or down it opens.

[Love_Not_Found]

oooo ok nice ^^ well like i said  i give you props for the best door ive ever seen

[drbill]

I've got a double wide arched 2nd entry to my living room. I'm going to do this with recessed tracks in the floor to support the weight of real books!

[drbill]

I will make 2 book cases with curved tops that split in the middle to open into the living room. When the doors open they will lie flush with the walls on either side. There will be a recess in the wall to accommodate the doors. Arrrrr me hearty.

[ender2wiggin]

dude, if you do that, please put it on here as an instructable.. that'd be freaking sweet to do.. I like the original idea of the bookcase door, but would prefer not to kill the books, you know?

[tufflee]

This is the most unique idea i've ever seen, absolutely genius! I can't even put into words how wonderful, tasteful, respectful and  just plain awesome this is.  You've put alot of hard work into this job, and it truly shows.

Great job. Im at a lost of words. I'm gonna try like hell to see if my boyfriend will make one in our house... someday.

[drbill]

What you got here is one of the best ideas I've seen in a long time.

[omonion320]

like how you put deception for the door handle

[luvit]

that's weird... scooby and shaggy were just here! where could they have gone?

[jaymeb]

What a great idea! And if you don't have damaged books, you could just use really bad books. You'd be doing the world a favour by getting rid of some of them. I'm going to make a door out of Twilight books! :p

[XxBlackAngelxX]

hah! Agreed. Twilight is just toooo highly rated by crazy fans. The rates they (the crazy fans) give are not reasonable at all.

[THE GOOSE]

I just wanted to thank everybody for there interests and comments on my door project. im amazed that iv had over 15,000 views in 8 days and that it became featured and popular. i just wish i new it would be a hit i would have saved it for one of the contests.
oh-well THANKS AGAIN!
and thanks instructables for having this great site.

THE GOOSE

[Fieldownage]

 Thanks for this instructable! It would be awesome to make a wall of bookshleves dividing the room into two separate parts and use this to move into your secret lair. :D

[Sshebba]

What a unique idea and very well presented. Your bookcase door looks fabulous and I love the problem solving niche for the door handle. I am going to email the URL of your project to my sister cause I'm sure she would love to give this project a try with me!

Kudos from,
Girls with Power Tools!

[witchiwotti]

I would have gotten away with it , if it weren't for you pesky kids!

[Kryptonite]

Very nice! I might ask if I can do this for my bedroom door. Because it's at the end of the hallway, when closed it feels as though it just ends there and then, giving a hostile look.