Bookcase Pinboard and Laptop Niches

I’ve always had a bookcase wall in my home office but now it functions in a new way.

With so much information online these days, I find need less space for books and magazines but more for display and utility. So when my friend Jewel, who helped me with my Kitchen Picture Wall, also suggested replacing the framed Indian rubbings in my bookcase niches with a pair of pin boards, it made perfect sense.  I could pin up all the desk clutter and — biggest plus of all — create super accessible spaces for my laptop and netbook PC. Some people work on a desktop with two or even three screens. That would give me ADD – but having my laptop handy for my scanning is perfect. While the netbook is used mainly for travel, the WiFi lets me turn it on anywhere in the house and it’s perfect as a guest room computer.

My office bookcase looked different in 2008 before we lived in the house full time.

The niches are relatively small – 30” x 28.” Pottery Barn Modular Linen Pinboards, which come in pairs, looked like a perfect fit. I don’t normally shop at PB due to ridiculous shipping charges based on a percentage of the order. But, I caught a 15% off sale with free shipping and went for it.

The pinboards are clever. They come with D-rings pre-installed in two directions so they can be assembled to hang horizontally or vertically.

A paper template with both options is included with each board along with the necessary  screws and braces.

Plus the backs are predrilled so the hardware goes on easily.

One pair joined vertically was a perfect fit in each niche.  It took minutes to tape up the templates side-by-side and hammer in small picture hooks. Catching the hooks on the D-rings was a bit of a challenge in the confined space so I taped down the unused rings.

Once in place, I had ample space for real-life pinning, plus room for my laptops on the shelves.

When using the laptop at night I found I needed some overhead light. I always have one or two extra stick-up LED pucks on hand for use inside closets – another easy solution. Now I can stand and scan photos easily, or send a quick email without disturbing my desktop screen. Plus, I still have a space to display family photos and the cast iron flower basket doorstops that keep color in my space all year long.