Building shelves for my dining area is something I’ve been wanting to accomplish for a while, so I’m very happy to check it off the list! I used a Shanty 2 Chic tutorial, they have some amazing plans posted on their site. As soon as I saw these shelves, I knew I wanted to build them.
(Affiliate links included below.
I kept the build nearly identical to the plans on the site. The shelves are huge, at 7 ft tall and 8 ft wide, but I had space for it so I kept them that size. I cut the wood to size with my miter saw and then put the pocket holes in with my Kreg K5 pocket hole jig.
I started by assembling the three brackets that hold up the shelves. I cut a piece to use to evenly space them apart, and then attached with pocket hole screws.
After that, I sprayed them with black chalkboard spray paint, and then assembled them all together. I’m not really interested in using them as a chalkboard, but they used similar spray paint in the Shanty 2 Chic tutorial and I really liked how that turned out.
Then it was time to assemble and stain the shelves. This was my first time working with 2×12 boards, and they are no joke. Those things were heavy! I used a combination of stains to get them to the color I wanted. I started with Minwax Jacobean, then Minwax Classic Gray. That still wasn’t quite what I was going for, so I did a final coat of Rustoleum Sunbleached. I think it gave them a nice, weathered look so that it doesn’t look like brand new wood.
After the shelves were ready, I put them in place.
I also attached some brackets on the end of the shelves in the matte black spray paint as well.
I spent around $150 for the entire project, including the lumber, hardware, paint and stain. Now I can’t wait to decorate the shelves!
Update: Here’s a look at the shelves in the completed dining room!
One Room Challenge Links
Here are the links to my other posts from the One Room Challenge:
One Room Challenge Week 1: Dining Room
One Room Challenge Week 3: Small Upgrades, Big Impact
One Room Challenge Weeks 4-5: Dining Table
One Room Challenge: My Dining Room is Done!
If you’d like, check out the other bloggers participating in the One Room Challenge! I’ll keep posting on my progress throughout the six weeks.
Had to stop in and look at this amazing shelving system you built. Wow! What a cool result. I think you nailed it on the stain for the shelves but I especially love the effect of the spray paint on the three black shelf brackets. They look like metal! Great job. Good luck to you – we’re in this together!
Thank you so much! I took a look over at your blog, I love your style! I can’t wait to see how your living room turns out. I really like the lighter floors you’ve put in your home, I’ve been indecisive on what flooring to choose for a while.
Wow! I love the look of these. I built a design similar last year for my living room shelves, but your’s turned out way way better! Beautiful stain finish on the wood.
Melissa
Thank you so much! 🙂 I took a look at your shelves and I think they look amazing!
Love these shelves so much! I can’t believe they’re just standard lumber! These are going on my to-do list ASAP. 🙂
Thank you! It was a fun project to work on. 🙂
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