How To: Reclaimed Wood Wall Shelf

A while back, I posted about some projects I was planning on completing, as completion of three projects was one of my resolutions for the year. The shelf project was up first. This was my Christmas present to my wife, who wanted a place to put all her cameras. She's nice enough to take pictures for my blog, I was happy to oblige.

Step 1: Find a heavy waterlogged board in the woods behind your parents' house, think it's perfect for a project, drag it up a steep hill, and wipe out in front of the wife (not shown). Simple. Except for the whole find-a-random-board-in-the-woods thing. Instead, you could just buy some wood from the store (2x4s) and make things a lot easier on yourself because, shocker, wood you find in the woods will not be ideally suited to becoming a shelf.

Step 2: Find some wall brackets. I was really feeling the Ledge & Shelf Bracket from Restoration Hardware, but they were $45 bucks each. REALLY? How about I just pick up some of these Ikea Ekby Lerbergs for $2 each instead? My math's adequate at best but I estimate they are one million percent cheaper and they have the added bonus of being named something RIDICULOUS.

Step 3: Cut your wood down to size. First measure the wall you'll be hanging the shelves on. Also keep in mind that the brackets are not one-size-fits-all. Check the product dimensions. Then using a table saw, cut the board (at this point I found that mine was an engineered plywood counter top) in two, and then make another cut on both boards to make them 11" deep. This was challenging, I'm not gonna lie. The wood was warped and cutting a straight-line required an embarrassing amount of takes. Measure twice, then cut three or four times for good measure. That's what I've always heard.

Step 4: Sand and stain.These are the easiest steps by far, especially if you have a power sander. Sand down the wood, taking care to smooth the edges you've just cut with the saw. This will remove the layers of dirt and grime. Clean off the wood with a cloth to remove the saw dust, and stain the boards using an old paint brush or rag. Just coat the boards with the stain like it's paint, wait a few (5) minutes, and then wipe off the excess stain with a rag. If you want the stain to be darker, put another coat on using the same methods. For the record, I was using some leftover Minwax Jacobean Stain, which is a great color. Once this is done, let the stain dry overnight.

Step 5: Protect. Once the wood is dry to the touch, apply polyurethane to the wood. Polyurethane will protect the wood from damage that may occur while moving the board or placing heavy items on it later. I find it's easiest to use the spray can variety, as it dries faster. Pro tip: Be very conservative. You do not want to over apply polyurethane as it will bubble or pool and give whatever it is you are working on a yellow hue. Also, let the polyurethane dry thoroughly before moving the boards. It'll be tempting to move them at this point, since you're now finished with them.

Step 6: Paint the brackets. Spray painting is an art form, don't let anyone tell you differently. If you haven't had experience with spray paint, take a look at some tutorials you find online. They are worth your time to read. I bought and used spray primer (shown above) since I was painting metal and I was worried the paint would fleck off if I didn't. After that, I used spray paint. I chose metallic gold spray paint for the brackets because I liked the way this looked, and I painted the brackets from every angle I could.

Step 7: Fasten the brackets to the shelves. Pre-drill the holes in the shelves using a small drill bit and then use a power screw driver to drive a screw into the board, fastening the brackets to the shelves.

Step 8: Fasten the brackets, and the shelves, to the wall. I really don't have the energy to type the explicit details of this part out, but suffice to say, HANGING HEAVY STUFF IS THE WORST. It's really a two person job: one to hold the shelf against the wall, the other to mark the screw holes on the wall. One bit of advice: measure, measure, measure so you don't mess up by drilling an extra hole in the wall and end up hating yourself.

THE END. Once you have the shelves up there, sit back and admire your handiwork. The cost of this project was $30 for the brackets, about $3 for the primer, $5 for the spray paint. The wood was free, and the stain and polyurethane were leftover from some other projects of mine. Total, I estimate the project only set me back about $45. Not bad considering I was trying to knock off a set of $250 RH shelves.