For the shelves themselves there are a number of options available.\u00a0 Solid boards are expensive and some of the mdf\/melamine boards can look cheap while costing a lot.\u00a0\u00a0 Luckily for this project I measured wrong on another project and had a bunch of birch plywood left over so that’s what we went with.<\/p>\n
When you are making your own shelves you now have to figure out how big they are going to be.\u00a0 First look and see if these shelves will be in the way of any door openings.\u00a0 You don’t want to get all done and realize you can only open the door enough for a small child to fit through.\u00a0 Next measure the depth of the stuff you want to put on it.\u00a0 I was looking to put notebooks and books up there\u00a0so\u00a0they would have to be at least 9 inches deep.\u00a0 Lastly, it important the shelves will stay on the wall.\u00a0 Find where your studs are and try to get the shelf to cover at least two of them.\u00a0 You can use wall anchors but I cannot get them to work ever.\u00a0 (Seriously, there are weird holes in all our walls where the anchors pulled out.)\u00a0 The great thing about making your own is you can fit them to the situation.\u00a0 Unlike most of the world who have\u00a0wall studs 16 inch on center, mine vary.\u00a0 This room has about 22 inch on center, so\u00a0don’t assume.<\/p>\n
To cut the plywood\u00a0down, measure twice just in case\u00a0and use\u00a0your cutting tool of choice – table saw, circular saw, hand saw (that will take forever).\u00a0 If you have none of these things or are terrified of large blades most home centers will cut the piece for you for about 25 cents.\u00a0 You can also ask a man who may have\u00a0these tools who would love to show off his woodworking skills.\u00a0Then take\u00a0sandpaper or a sanding block to\u00a0smooth the cut edges before you give yourself a large splinter.\u00a0\u00a0Since\u00a0the edges of plywoods are ugly they make this veneer on a roll\u00a0with glue\u00a0on it to cover. It’s usually near the little wood working things like dowels and table legs an aisle over from lumber at the home center. You just iron it on to\u00a0cover the layer edge using a piece of foil in between the iron and wood to protect your iron from the glue.\u00a0 It trims easily with a utility blade.<\/p>\n
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And here are the three boards with the edges covered.\u00a0 Since one will be on the wall, save some money and just cover 3 sides.<\/p>\n Since this is stain grade wood I could have gone that route but I was looking for a pop of white on my dark tan walls.\u00a0\u00a0 The color scheme in the room is dark tan walls, white trim and black accents.\u00a0 Here is the wall before.<\/p>\n To install use a level.\u00a0 Do not eye ball this unless you would\u00a0like everything you place on them to roll off the side.\u00a0 For the brackets, you put the screws into the wall stud and then hook the brackets over the screw.\u00a0\u00a0 Next you lay the shelves on the brackets (and check for level again).\u00a0 To make sure the shelves don’t slide off,\u00a0put a screw into the top of the shelf and through the bracket below.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To hide\u00a0the screw you can fill in\u00a0with a little wood putty and paint.<\/p>\n And here are the\u00a0shelves all\u00a0installed.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/100_0352-300x225.jpg\" "\\"100_0352\\"")
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