Good Questions: Can a Cinder Block Bookcase Ever Be Attractive?

Dear AT,

My fiance and I, both writers, have recently moved to Chicagoland, where we have (for the first time!) a designated office.

We picked up some industrial-looking white and steel workstations from McMaster-Carr part number 6459T81, (though the drawing does not do them justice), and are now looking for a bookcase solution for our growing library (my guess is, we have about a thousand books of boxes waiting to be unpacked).

We thought we'd run with the industrial look for the room, since we've already committed to the desks. We are looking for a cut-rate bookcase, preferably something DIY with easily available materials. Can a cinder block bookcase ever be attractive? Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Jennifer

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Dear Jennifer,

We are personally not opposed to cinder block bookcases (or desks), especially if you paint the blocks a great color and have solid, clean pieces for the shelving. With such an industrial looking desk, a personalized, colorful (though still somewhat industrial looking) homemade set will definitely help you ease in to your new office space, without feeling like you're in someone else's sterile, standard office.

Other thoughts out there?? This is a great question, as we continue to struggle with our own home office...

Comments (1)

I realize this is way late but in case anyone benefits from our experience . . .

We needed massive amounts of shelving between my partner and I for the number of books we had when we first got together. So using 10'x10"x1" wood planks and cinder blocks seemed to be the most economical option. We bought pine boards and stained them once with a mahogany wood stain followed by a red stain to get a rich reddish brown hue. Then we found square-shaped cinder blocks approx 8"x8"x4" with one of the sides displaying a chiseled inset when viewed from the side. We stacked these cinder blocks on top of cinder block bricks to get an additional 3" (most of our books are not taller than 11" or so) with the chiseled edge facing out.

So we stacked each plank on three sets of this cinder block combo, one for both sides of the plank and one to support the middle and repeated this about six times. We made shorter shelves beneath to hold shoes.

The look of this shelf to me is reminiscently Asian with reddish brown wood contrasting with what appears to be grey stone. The etching in the cinder blocks also makes it seem reminiscent of Asian sculpture. This was just one idea I had to make it not look so cold with pale wood stacked on grey cinder block. I think it was successful and I would definitely say it was possible!

We ended up bolting several shelves as protection from tipping -- and we have had no problems. Though I don't think this would be child-safe . . .