Giraffe Bookcase

Originally posted on April 3, 2021 (LumberJocks). It's now in my grandson's room, filled with books and stuffed animals (many of which my wife made), and he's 14 months old now.

Our daughter has always liked giraffes. About three years ago, either I or my wife (neither of us can remember) discovered a commercially available (but apparently now-discontinued) giraffe-shaped bookcase, and I saved some photos of it, thinking that a replica would be a good gift for our daughter when she became a mom. When she called us earlier this year to tell us she was pregnant, I sent her those photos and asked if she and our son-in-law liked the bookcase and had space for it in the room they'll use for the baby's nursery. As I had hoped, they loved the idea, and I was committed to my first official act as a grandfather (to be).

After a few days of SketchUp modeling, a lot of planning, and a month's worth of afternoons, here's the result. It's roughly 66" tall (not counting the horns, which add another 4+"), 38" wide (not counting the projecting head, which adds another 8" or so), and 11-5/8" deep. It's made of poplar and painted with Benjamin Moore Advance water-based alkyd paint (satin Bold Yellow).

The head is removable (for transport), and so are the ears and horns (for reparability). The horns are jumbo Shaker pegs from Lee Valley.

We plan to deliver the bookcase later this summer. Between now and the time the baby becomes a toddler, I'll have to find anti-tip hardware that will secure the giraffe to a wall.

The main aspects of this project were dowel joinery (four 3/8" dowels for each joint), bevels, tapers, and pattern routing. Cutting the case parts was not difficult, but clamping was a bit of an adventure, and so was cutting the inside tapers on the legs. I've included a few random construction images below. For many more details, see my blog series or the SketchUp models on 3D Warehouse:

Thanks for looking!

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