Making Shelves

I have been pretty open about my experience with buying furniture during this pandemic. It has been basically non- existent, but I am not upset about it. This whole situation has allowed me to be able to really lean into the love that I have to make and build furniture and also build up my collection of tools! Currently have a power sander and a saw. Hopeful to get a jigsaw soon as well. With all of this in mind, getting furniture for a new home has been quite difficult, so I decided to build it myself. I started with some shelves, the original plan was to have two shelves, but the wood I used was a little thin so I needed to layer the shelves to make it be the thickness that I actually needed. 

WOOD SIZE 

I will be very open and honest about my mess ups through this process and teach you the right ways! I originally thought that having a ½in thick piece of wood would be perfect for these shelves. I thought that the weight I would be putting on them would be completely fine and everything would work itself out. I was completely wrong. For a shelf, you totally need 1in or more thickness of wood for it to be weight bearing. 

I honestly think what happened was that I was in the lumber department of Home Depot surrounded by men who knew what they were doing and I did not want to look like I did not know what I was doing. I know that is silly, but that was the experience. So I bought a HUGE piece of wood and had the man make multiple cuts to it. Little did I know that I was completely wrong and could have easily just asked “hey, would this be good for shelves” and have been guided in the right direction. At least we know this for next time, but take my advice for when you are in the lumber department. 1. Do not be scared to ask questions and 2. By a 1in or more thickness of wood. 

MAKING THE SHELVES 

Once you have your wood all cut and wonderful, you will need to sand it. You can use a piece of sandpaper if you are feeling very ambitious and like you want to get an arm workout, or you can purchase a power sander. I got mine for only $45.00 and it was worth every penny. You will want to sand in a place that is not a main living space, but also has some ventilation. A garage or outside works great! Also make sure that you wear a mask and glasses/ goggles and move the sander in the direction of the wood. You will want to sand both sides and all 4 edges of the wood to make sure that everything is smooth. 

Then you will do my favorite part which is staining! I just love this process. I love that it soaks up the color of the wood and it just makes everything look so amazing. I used Varathane Wood Stain in the color Ipswich Pine. I did many coats of it, so it came out a bit darker than pictured. I did multiple coats, about 3 or 4 on each side. I really wanted them to be a medium tone because I had some black brackets that I was going to be using to hold the shelves up. It took me about 3 days to stain them because you need to wait some time in between each staining and they need to be completely dry before flipping them over. 

After I stained them, I used Polyurethane to lacquer the shelves and look like a professionally made piece of wood. This part also became one of my favorites because it made things look more shiny and just so great. I did about 2-3 coats on each side which took about 2 days because they need a lot more time to dry and you do not want to mess up the lacquer because that is the part of the shelf everyone will see. You need to let them dry entirely overnight and then you are ready to hang it up. 

HANGING THE SHELF 

When we went to go hang them, that is when we decided that this was not going to be shelves, it was going to be a “shelf.” To be honest, we were not upset with it because the entertainment system was below the TV that was taller than expected. Which means, the top shelf would have to be so incredibly high and it would look a little interesting to say the least. We also really want to add some art around the TV to make it look like the Samsung Frame and to continue to show our love for gallery walls so having one shelf is not that bad after all. 

We started by taking our brackets that I ordered from Amazon and marked where they would go into the wall. We got it wrong a few times, so make sure to have some Spackle handy if this is your first time hanging shelves. Due to the wood being thin, we had to use three brackets instead of the two that we were originally planning to use. Personally, I really like the three brackets and how it looks more industrial. Once the brackets are screwed into the wall, you have to screw the shelf into the bracket. This is a little hard, but just try to stand directly under it that way you can screw the shelf straight. 

Once you have that all done, your shelves should be screwed into the wall. We ended up layering the shelves on top of each other to make it a 1in thick shelf after all and you really cannot tell that it is two shelves. Now you have the freedom to decorate them however you please and to make your space have a bit more of a “you” flair. Remember, no matter how you may have messed up, you still made SHELVES and that is damn cool! 

If you make this please tag #StayingHomebody and #HomebodyMakes