After weeks of AP exams, I found myself with something unfamiliar: free time. Now that I wasn’t spending every afternoon studying or stressing over practice problems, I suddenly needed something to do — preferably without involving a screen.
That’s when TikTok got me. When scrolling one evening, I started seeing videos of people assembling intricate “book nooks,” tiny decorative houses designed to fit between books on a shelf. They were magical alleyways, cozy libraries and whimsical greenhouses lit with tiny LED lights. The process seemed calming and after watching enough videos to convince myself I could do it, I went to Michaels and picked up the Rolife Garden House DIY book nook shelf kit, which cost $39.99.
At first, I underestimated how much patience and time it would take to build it. The book nook came with sheets of wooden pieces that had to be carefully popped out and snapped together. It also had thin plastic panels for the greenhouse windows and several sheets of miniature stickers used for decorations.
The parts fit together by themselves and snapped into place, though smaller decorations required using the provided hot glue to keep everything secure.
The kit included a thick instruction booklet that was, for the most part, easy to follow, although there were times when I had to stare at a diagram for several minutes before being able to understand the instructions.
I started with the base, assembling the wooden flooring and snapping together the tiny staircase before slowly working my way upward. From there, I built individual pieces of furniture and decor, one section at a time. I assembled shelves, miniature flower stands and tiny storage drawers, carefully adding stickers to make them look realistic. My favorite parts were the tiny potted plants and mini bookshelf that was filled with hand-rolled newspapers.
For me, attaching the hanging flowers to the ceiling was one of the most tedious and challenging parts of the entire build. I had to carefully pop out each individual flower strand and it did not help that the pieces were extremely thin and flexible, so they bent easily. I had to be very careful about where I was placing every flower. But, in the end, it paid off because the hanging flowers ended up being one of my favorite parts of the finished greenhouse.
Now, in order for my build to actually look like a greenhouse, I had to attach all the walls, which were made of clear plastic panels. This part was fairly easy since I just had to pop the panels into the wooden frames and secure them in place. The trickiest part, though, was attaching the roof. I had to carefully push it in place and make sure to not use too much force and accidentally break everything.
The last step was making the greenhouse light up. This ended up being the most confusing part because the instructions were extremely unclear, especially when it came to connecting the wires. After spending a while rereading the diagrams, I finally managed to connect everything and turn the lights on. Seeing the greenhouse glow for the first time definitely made all the frustration worth it.
Overall, I really enjoyed building the Garden House book nook. While it was frustrating at times, it ended up being a relaxing and rewarding experience. In total, it took me around three to four hours to complete. The most challenging parts were figuring out the wiring for the lights and adding the delicate hanging flowers to the ceiling. Despite those difficulties, I was really happy with how the finished project turned out, and I will definitely purchase another book nook over the summer.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Falcons
