How to Build a Children's Bookrack

If the dowels will be different colors from the bookcase, finish the bookcase before you install the dowels. Start by rounding the edges of the bookcase with 80-grit sandpaper using a sanding block or a palm sander. Prime and paint the bookcase.

Prepaint the dowels. Let the paint dry thoroughly, then insert the dowels into the holes in one side and through to the hole on the other side. Glue the 3/4-inch-diameter plugs into the holes. Paint the plugs and touch up any paint scuffs on the dowels.

Mark both sides of each cleat at 1-1/2 inches from the sides. Place the bookrack on top of the room's baseboard and predrill a 1/8-inch hole through the cleat and back and into the wall. Counterbore the holes for 1/2-inch screw-hole plugs.

If you hit a stud, attach the bookcase with 1-1/2-inch drywall screws. For hollow walls, put a toggle bolt through an enlarged hole in the cleat, thread on a toggle, and insert it into an enlarged hole in the wall. Plug the cleat holes and paint.

Painting the dowels after you install them would be difficult. Instead, make this dowel holder. In each of two pieces of 2x4, drill nine 3/4-inch-diameter, 1/4-inch-deep holes. Insert the dowels between the 2x4s and screw scrap pieces across both sides of the ends to keep the 2x4s in place. Now you can easily paint around the dowels.