Here's another awesome Ikea hack to add to the archive. Ohdeedoh reader – and book lover – Emily wanted to create an easy-to-access book display for her daughter Eleanor. One trip to Ikea, twelve dollars, and one hour later, she fashioned these nifty book rails.

Says Emily:

The books rest on $.99 kitchen towel hangers and are held in place by Bygel rails from the kitchen department. The whole project cost about $12 and took an hour, most of which was spent figuring out where I could and couldn't drill to mount the rails.

Eleanor loves the display and always likes to see what I've put there for her to choose from. It was a great way to take advantage of some space that otherwise wasn't being used and it keeps her books tidy. (The book rail is located under the bar between the kitchen and dining/living room in our open-floor plan condo.) We rotate books - there are usually about a dozen on display, with the rest upstairs in a bookcase.

Thanks so much for sharing, Emily!

Edited to add: After reading your questions about the wooden towel racks used in this project, Emily wrote us to clarify:

I found the kitchen towel holders in a bin in the kitchen department. They were $.99 each. I looked, but did not see them on the Ikea website. I used six of them - three for each rail. They're only about an inch, maybe an inch and a half, deep. It seems quite shallow but is sufficient to hold two layers of pictures books. The rail is mounted about 5" above the shelf.

Emily also sent us a close-up photo of the rack, above, to help you identify them when looking at Ikea.

(Image: Emily Steed)