DIY Wood Shelving (Laundry Storage)

I was able to finish up a project this weekend I’ve been wanting to build these floating shelves for quite some time. The materials have been in the garage for weeks so I went for it.

I’ve shared this tutorial before but it’s such a good one it’s worth sharing again. Building your own wood shelves is really such an easy DIY project – and they are great for storage for sure. I wanted to add some to our laundry room above the washer and dryer:

It took me awhile to decide exactly what I wanted up there – as with everything in our house I have to live with it for awhile before I make a move. At first I was going to add a pole to hang clothes out of the dryer, but then realized that wouldn’t work because it would be too awkward to reach over the machines.

Then I decided on shelving but my idea for two full shelves changed because of the lamp I added behind the washer and dryer a few months back. (You can see how I made that simple shelf here!) I love having some low light in there and didn’t want to have to say goodbye to my cute lamp, so I made some adjustments to the design.

Here’s the very basic tutorial! I used basic (cheap!) pine for the bases – this was all 1x2’s:


My cabinets are 12 inches deep so you have to do some figuring – the 1x2’s aren’t really one by two inches at all – the width is 3/4 of an inch. So knowing I would have one on the front and the back I made my cuts accordingly for the supports. I drill a pilot hole and then use two inch screws to attach the supports.

Do not attach the front piece just yet – leave it off so you can easily put the brace on the wall. You’ll want to mark your studs and screw into them:


I only hit one stud but that was fine because I was attaching them to the cabinets as well. For the end I used an anchor – drilling a hole where it would go and then moving the brace a bit to put the anchor in:


Seriously my friends – this is such a simple project! If you are familiar with tools at least a little bit I know you can do this.

Here’s the start to the shelves:





You can see I decided to stagger them so I had room for my lamp. ;)

The next step is to attach the front piece:


I had thin underlayment cut down to 11 1/4 inches wide at the hardware store and I cut the length at home. I made it that size (instead of the 12 inches to match the cabinet) because of the trim I add to the front in the end…that will make more sense in a minute. :)

Just lay the underlayment down and attach with a nail gun (glue would probably work as well if you weight it down while it dries:


You’ll want to one to the bottom as well so you can hide the not-so-pretty parts.
The final step is why I didn’t have the underlayment cut to exactly 12 inches – I finish it off with a 1x3 on the sides and the front.

When it was all done I taped it off to stain. (I didn’t know if I was going to stain it or paint up till the end.) Stain is SO fast and easy. I’ve been using the Rustoleum Kona color for everything in the basement so I stuck with that:


This project is another in a series of many in this room – I love how it’s coming together! I’ve been trying to decide on a cabinet color and now that I’ve figured it out that will happen next. Then some crown will go up at the top of the cabinets and around the room as well:

I don’t make this room a priority as far as finishing up little projects just because we’re the only ones who see it.

Uh…and thousands of you. Ha! But you know what I mean.

But I do want it to be a pretty place to be – and functional! These shelves are so nice for extra storage! The basket at the top holds random laundry stuff (that I don’t need as much) and the one on the bottom shelf holds odd socks:


I couldn't decide on an accent color in here and then the aqua just kind of happened when I found this cutie laundry symbol art: 
The only thing I did wrong during this install was place the bottom shelf a little too low. I lined up the bracket with the bottom of the cabinet, forgetting that the front piece of trim was thicker. So it hangs a little below the cabinet:


But I’ll just add some trim to the bottom of the cabinets to even it all out. It’s on the to do list. :)

Another project is knocked off the list! I love it! It looks cute and offers so much more storage!:


I added even more storage in this room a year or so ago and I can’t wait to show you that too – it’s been sitting in between all that time so I hope to finish that up soon.

Have you attempted these DIY shelves? I added them in our basement family room and the bathroom down there too. I’m crazy about the stained wood with the gray walls – love it.

Something to think about if you make your own -- when these shelves don’t attach to something on both ends they aren’t quite as sturdy. I mean, I could put pretty much anything on them (and they hold cats jumping on them), but I wouldn’t try pull ups or anything. Good thing I don’t ever attempt pull ups. :)

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