Furniture

Slatted Storage Shelves

These Shelves are built to offer strong storage.

Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 2–3.8 hours
Cost: $$

About this build

These Shelves are built to offer strong storage. They’re built a lot like the “Garage Storage Shelves” that I also posted. These have slats instead of plywood shelves, though, which makes them perfect for storing gardening supplies, potting soil, etc.

Tools

Essential

Brad Nailer
Drill / Driver
Miter Saw
Pocket Hole Jig

Optional / nice to have

Bar / Pipe Clamps
Combination Square
Tape Measure

Materials

Item	Qty
Board, 2x3 96"	9 board
Board, 1x2 96"	15 board
2 1/2" coarse thread pocket screws	64 each
1 1/4" 18-gauge brads	120 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

Part	Qty	T × W × L
Legs	4	1" × 2" × 72"
Short Rails	8	1" × 2" × 18"
Long Rails	8	1" × 2" × 46"
Shelf Slats	60	3/4" × 1" × 23"

What to buy

Buy 24 boards at 8 ft.

1" × 2"

9 boards

72"18"
72"18"
72"18"
72"18"
46"46"
46"46"
46"46"
46"46"
18"18"18"18"

3/4" × 1"

15 boards

23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"
23"23"23"23"

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

1Cut the Parts
- Cut 4 legs, 8 long rails, and 8 short rails from 2x3s, like the cut diagram shows.
- Then you can drill the pocket holes in all the rails. Make sure you're set up for 1 1/2" thick boards when you drill.
- Then you can cut all of the slats. You'll want a miter saw, and a stop block is really handy. That way, you can just get one slat right, set up the stop, and then butt your boards against that and cut the rest of the slats without measuring.
2Assemble the Ends
Now you can put together the ends by screwing the short rails to the legs. Use 2 1/2" pocket screws for this, and make sure that the rails are aligned on each end--I put one together with it laying on the floor, then put the parts for the other end right on top of it so I could easily line everything up.
3Add the Long Rails
Attach the long rails next, using the 2 1/2" screws again. Make sure that the long rails are positioned 3/4" below the top edge of the short rails. That way, when you attach the slats next, the short rails will be aligned.
4Add the Slats
Now it's time to attach the slats. I jut dabbed a little glue on each one, set it in place, and then attached them all using a brad nailer. You could use a hammer and nails, but that's a lot of hammering. Just use this as your excuse to go buy a nail gun and a compressor. They don't cost much these days.