We desparately needed more space for the many many books we own, so we built two bookshelves out of laminated particle board. The particle board was very economical at about $7 per 11x97 inch board (we used 4 1/2 boards per shelf). However, particle board is not the easiest to work with because it chips easily, can't be refinished and you sometimes can't use conventional wood joinery methods. We chose a simple design and screwed the top and bottom pieces together and covered the screw heads with wood plugs. As luck would have it the wood plugs were a perfect match for the light oak finish of the laminate. The shelves rest on metal brackets attached to rails that are nailed into the sides of the shelves. An alternative was to drill holes the entire length and then use plastic (or metal) shelf supports but we didn't look forward to trying to maneuver an 80 inch piece of heavy laminated particle board past the drill press so we opted for the easier approach. We think they make a very nice and useful addition to the family room.

Aaron (right) and friend Dainer, installing the locks on the new front doors. Note the old door in the bottom right of the picture. The scanned picture doesn't show how ugly it is. The old door had burnt orange colored bottle glass in it. The door was also so weak that it could easily have been kicked in.