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Gifts & Small Projects

Shallow Wall Shelf

Give all those things piled on your floor a home with this beginner-friendly, functional DIY shelf.

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Difficulty
Easy
Time
2–3.8 hours
Cost
$$$

About this build

Give all those things piled on your floor a home with this beginner-friendly, functional DIY shelf. Customize it to make it work for you by adding hooks, racks, or more shelves.

Tools

Essential

  • Impact Driver
  • Miter Saw
  • Pocket Hole Jig

Materials

ItemQty
Primed MDF boards, 1 x 42 board
Pine or MDF boards, 1 x 102 board
Box of 1" Wood Screws (See tools list)1 each
Box of 1.5" Wood Screws (See tools list)1 each
Box of Kreg Paint Grade Wooden Plugs (See tools list)1 each
Paint of Choice1 each
Small Paint Roller1 each
Utility Hooks1 each

Overall cost: $$$. Lumber prices vary by region, species, and season, so we give a band rather than a figure we would only be pretending to know.

Cut list

PartQtyT × W × L
Back pieces21" × 10" × 30"
Shelves21" × 4" × 20"

What to buy

Buy 2 boards at 8 ft.

1" × 10"

1 board

1" × 4"

1 board

Assumes 8 ft stock, a 1/8" saw kerf, and buying each part at its own width. Change the board size or kerf on the full board plan →

Start building →

Instructions

  1. 1Prep all of the cuts

    To begin, I measured the size I wanted for the back of the shelf. For this project, I chose to make it 30” long and attach two 1x10 pieces together to make it 20” wide. The smaller shelves were then also cut to size (20”) to be attached to that backing board.

    Shallow Wall Shelf — step photo 3
  2. 2Drill pocket holes

    Three pocket holes are needed on one of the 1x10 pieces and on the bottom of both 1x4 pieces. Depending on the length of your wood, drill more holes if necessary.

    Shallow Wall Shelf — step photo 4
  3. 3Attach back pieces

    Using 1.5” Kreg wood screws, attach the two 1x10 pieces together.

    Shallow Wall Shelf — step photo 5
  4. 4Add shelves

    Using 1” Kreg wood screws, attach 1x4 pieces to the larger back piece. I allowed 11” on the bottom and middle, leaving a smaller piece on top.

    Shallow Wall Shelf — step photo 6
  5. 5Add hooks

    Finally, add in any hooks you want for hanging bike shoes, towels, resistance bands, etc.

    Shallow Wall Shelf — step photo 7
  6. 6Organize your things!

    Now’s the time to hang up those shoes, roll up the towels, and even add in a small plant for good measure. It’s great to have something that looks great and also functions so well for this space. The shelf being so shallow means we don’t have to worry about bumping into it, and it’s been so nice keeping these things off of the floor!

    Shallow Wall Shelf — step photo 8

Tags

  • Father's Day Gifts
  • Beginner

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