Rain Gutter Shelving
Parents and teachers, check
this out! Here's our little guy lovin' his new bookshelves...
made out of RAIN GUTTERS!!! (*Instructions below!!)
Grocery stores know that the
more people see, the more they buy. That's why companies
shell out the big bucks to have their products forward
facing. You've never seen a magazine rack with the spines
facing out, have you? "Compare that successful marketing
approach with what we do with books and children. I often get
the feeling that if most children's librarians were brought
in as consultants for the grocery industry, the first thing
they'd suggest would be to turn all the boxes and bags
sideways to squeeze more of them onto the
shelf."1
(originally posted
here)
"Some (libraries) don't have
a single book shelved with the cover facing out. An amazing
number have them face out but beyond the reach of children
who could read them. The power of putting books face out
works even at the lowest levels of literacy. When researchers
observed a kindergarten classroom library for one week, 90%
of the books the children chose had been shelved with the
covers facing out."1
(originally posted
here)
You surely don't have to
position EVERY book face out. "Bookstores don't place every
book face out, but the ones they really want to move- the new
arrivals, the bestsellers- always go face out. Unlike most
educators and librarians, publishers know that the cover
sells the book, so not only do they work extra-hard designing
the right cover, many pay the book chains as much as $750 a
month per book to have the cover showing. That's
how important
the cover is."1 So every so often you can
rotate which books are outward-facing to change up which ones
are going to be read more often.
(originally posted
here)
Would
you like to do this
in your home or school room?
Supplies:
Vinyl
rain gutters*
Left & Right end caps for each shelf
Support bracket or two for each shelf
Drill
Studfinder
*Gutters
are purchased in 10 feet sections for $5-8 from Lowes, Home
Depot, or your local hardware store
Directions:
Cut the guttering down
to what ever size you want your shelf to be. Glue your
left and right end caps onto the ends of each shelf (we
used Elmer's glue). This is what it looks like:
Optionally, you could
spray paint your shelves to enhance the decor of your
room.
Add a support bracket
for each shelf. If it's a long shelf then you may want
two support brackets. They just snap right in to place.
This is what it looks like:
Drill two holes on each
end, going through both the gutter and the end cap.
Install by drilling
screws through the holes in each end cap. Then, slide
the support bracket so it's over a stud (use your handy
stud finder) and screw it to the wall.
Fill with books and
invite your youngster! Our little man was QUITE
thrilled. He said "WOW! Look at all my NEW books!!!!!"
(They his old books)
(*Like the
"Landon" wall decal? Tutorial
HERE!)
Remember, if you decide
to do this project yourself, please send me a photo of
it with your name and what state you're from! I've
recently decided to start featuring my readers' finished
results. I'd love to see how yours turned out!!!
Here are a
few more photos for inspiration...
I
LOVE how this looks above the bead board!
(originally posted
here)
And I just love to see it
around beds. Great for bedtime reading.
(originally posted
here)
Remember to keep it IN
REACH!
(originally posted
here)
And you could even put an
inspirational saying up above...
(originally posted
here)
Or a cozy reading spot
below...
(originally posted
here)
Oh, and guess what. They
work for more than books!
(originally posted
here and here)
Remember, if you
decided to do this project yourself, please send me a
photo of it with your name and what state you're from!
I've recently decided to start featuring my readers'
finished results. And, as this is probably one of my
favorite projects to date I would be just heartbroken
NOT to see how YOURS turned out!
Don't forget to check
out What's New on my site! And sign up
for email updates HERE!!
Want to leave comments?
Go HERE! :)
- Works Cited..