Oh, What Beautiful Shelves You Have!

This is part 2 of the Laundry Shelving Unit Saga. To read part 1 (planning and building), go here.

On Monday I left you in suspense... I showed you how we were building a shelving unit to go over my laundry machines, and then I left you in the dark as to what they actually looked like. Hopefully you'll forgive me seeing as it was a short wait for once, right?

Let me tell you, it was quite a glorious moment when we installed my laundry shelves! I'd been waiting some time for them, and they were finally here! Check them out:



They are in the corner of my kitchen, so they are a little tricky to photograph as there is not much light coming into my kitchen.

Let me run you through the specifics I mentioned I wanted in the first post.

1. They needed to be free standing. Check! This was for a couple of reasons. One, we have no idea what these walls are made of but they are incredibly hard to screw anything into, they are made of plaster or something that crumbles really easily.

Two, this is a rental after all, so the less screws/holes in the walls, the better!

Here's a view from when you enter the kitchen.



Solid pieces of plywood support the 3 shelves of the unit, each 24" wide (which was 1/2 of the width of a sheet of plywood). At first my dad had planned to just have 4 narrow "legs", 2 on each side, with an empty space in between. I much rather like this idea (why he had to go buy one more plywood sheet that I mentioned in the last post).

I'll be able to decorate the sides of the unit (on the inside) with small frames and such for little notes, calendars, etc. But all in due time.

He did secure the unit to the wall with a few screws, just to prevent it from swaying. There's a few on the side, screwed in the wall next to the window, and a few on the back wall.



Just to be on the safe side, my dad screwed them in at an angle (as in not straight into the wall) so that IF it were to want to fall, it would be WAY harder to pull out the screws when they are like this.

2. We wanted the shelves to be made of wood and stained. Check!

These are made of pine plywood (which was the cheapest at 23$ a sheet, even cheaper than MDF) and have a really nice grain to it. We stained with Minwax English Chestnut. I really love contrast, and as you can see that wall of my kitchen is beige, so I knew I wanted a dark stain. Walnut was too dark, and this one was a little lighter and with tints of red.



3. (Because of 2.) We needed to built some sort of reinforcement to the plywood to give it more strength.

So we built a frame on the underside of each shelf. This shot shows pretty well the frames. And I already talked about the difficulty the shape of the bottom shelf gave us while constructing its frame in the last post.



4. The top shelf had to be longer than the others and have a rod to hang clothes to dry. Check! My favorite feature!



It's not necessarily the prettiest rod, it's just a normal closet rod, but it's very functional!

Here's a close-up of how my dad hung it. He just got L brackets (not entirely sure that's how they are called...), attached it to the closet rod where you would normally screw it into place with nuts and bolts, and screwed it to the underside of the top shelf.



I know it's a bit of an eye sore, but I'm ready to look past it (for the moment until I figure out how to hide it!) because I know it will be so darn useful!! If you've got any ideas what I could do, please don't hesitate to share!!

5. I needed to still be able to open the laundry machine lid, but didn't want a small 8" shelf.

BTW, the 2 lower shelves are 12", the top one is 28".

Of course I didn't just want a plain square cutout of the shelf, that would be too boring! So I got my dad to do the indent at an angle and round off the corners ;) I'm a girl that knows what she wants!! Thanks dad for indulging me :)



Bonus Point! 6. Provide LOTS of extra storage!

In my head, I did not have this much storage potential on top of the unit. I'm usually pretty good at picturing stuff in my head, but I don't think I realized just how tall and big it would be. Either that or how low the ceiling is compared to the height of the unit.



When I planned on building these shelves way back when we moved in, I started looking for baskets to use in this space.

One day I was at Michael's on a weekend trip to see my parents' (as I always do), it was shortly after Christmas and they were having a sale on baskets. I found this set of 3 baskets on super sale!!



It was the only set discounted at that price (even among identical ones...). They were 80% off!! Yeah, crazy right?! So instead of 45$, I paid 9$ for the biggest basket. I was super stoked to have found them. The middle one was 6$ (the bottom is convexed so it wobbles quite a lot, wish I had checked that out in the store first...)and the small 5$.

So I walked out of Michael's with a big smile on my face, 100$ worth of basket in my arms but with a 20$ hole in my wallet :)

When we were building the shelves, I took a moment to measure my baskets to make sure we were building the shelves far enough apart to account for the baskets. Now, here's the headdesk moment. For some reason, I didn't measure the handles in the height of the basket...

So this happened when I tried to put the biggest one on the shelves:



I felt real smart there... haha! Doesn't help that there's also the support frame that removes 2" to the in between space. At least the 2 other ones fit.



My only saving grace is that I don't think the 3 baskets would look very good all on the bottom shelf anyway. Nor would there be space for the 2 biggest ones side by side on the left of the indent, and only the smallest is small enough to fit where the indent is. I could saw off the handles, too, if I really wanted to put the big basket there.

So the big one goes on the very top of the unit. Just picture it up there... Forgot to take a picture of that.



I didn't really start moving stuff into the unit until 2 weeks after it was installed. See, it took us much longer to build and finish than we thought, and we finished sealing everything about an hour before leaving (my parents' house) to go install it at my apartment, so I still had to sand the rough surface left by the sealer. And I didn't have time until 2 weeks later...

Part 3 is now up: click over to see how I've organized my shelves!
And if you'd like to see it in action, check out this post. I can easily fit 30 hangers on there, if there's more which has happened then it takes longer to dry is all.
Thanks for reading, until next time!



Psst: If you enjoyed this project, be sure to visit my Projects page for more! Or check out the popular posts (in the right sidebar----->).




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More Shelves Please!

There is very little storage in my 1 bedroom apartment and I'm constantly rearranging the closets we do have for better optimization. You can see the one big(gest) closet we have in this post, but I have yet to make a post all about my closets and their organization (which I do plan on doing).

So I asked my dad if he'd help me build a shelving unit to go above my laundry machines in the kitchen. I thought there was a lot of dead space there and shelves would really help.


Planning

So here is the space we are working with. My laundry machines are in a corner of my kitchen right next to the fridge and stove.



We thought it would be best if we had the unit as free standing as possible, because we are not sure what the walls of these buildings are made of (seriously, you try to screw something in there and can pull it out because the plaster or whatever just crumbles).

I also wanted to incorporate a rod to hang my clothes for drying. I never put wet clothes in the dryer (they shrink), and we do have a drying rack, but it's flimsy, even with the chopstick reinforcement!

So that meant 3 shelves, with the top one extending a bit more so that the clothes hung off it would not touch the shorter shelves below nor the machines. And it had to be no more than 6' tall for me to be able to hang stuff without needing a bench.

So with that, we drew up some plans. Ok, my dad made some plans, let's not kid ourselves, he is the master mind, I just give orders and directions ;)


I know this is not the best looking plan, but it's what my dad drew up, according to my measurements (which I was afraid I didn't take correctly, but it fit perfectly in the end!!).

They were gonna be built out of plywood, because it is cheap and pretty enough to just be stained. We love us some natural wood :) But because of that, we needed to think well about reinforcement as plywood is not very strong by itself, especially on a 61" stretch. So we incorporated a support frame that would go underneath the shelves (that's the 2" written on the plan).

He also drew up a cut sheet, to best maximize the plywood we would get.



With that we were off to Home Depot to get our loot. We came back with 2 sheets of pine plywood (23$ a sheet), but my dad had to go get more (because of a design flaw). We picked up some stain as well, and a few other things for an other project ;)

And that was as far as we got that weekend, ha!

Building the Unit

Couple of weekends later I was back home again, and we managed to get a days work done. And then again 2 weekends after that we spent 1 day and 1/2. We did 3 projects all at once, one of which was the Kitchen Mug Shelf I shared last month, and the other is for an other day. Here is how it went down.

Some widths were cut with the miter saw with the plywood balanced on a big box that was in the garage (new BBQ if you're curious). A long level was used to keep a straight line.



Once the narrow pieces (frame reinforcement pieces) were cut on the table saw (no pictures were taken because it was a 2 man job) the radial saw was used to cut them to the right length.



My dad got an action shot of me... Got my work clothes on!



A little tip for this part, if you are cutting pieces that are all the same length, secure a piece of wood in place so that you only need to put it against that piece and not measure every single piece (picture explains it better than me). Good time saver.



Yay. All pieces are cut!



I don't like square edges, so I got my dad to make a rounder edge on all the sides that would show. Well, the bit we used was more oval than round, because the thickness of the plywood wouldn't allow us to use the round router bit.



It was really hard to photograph the round edge, I hope you can see it!!



Then we gave a good sanding to all the pieces before pre-assembly. Fun fact, this was my first time using a palm sander. It's not as easy or as fun as it looks. My hands are small so I can't get a really good grip on the handle, and it vibrates so much that after 5 minutes of sanding my hand had swollen so much that I couldn't take off my ring anymore!



The pre-assembly consisted on making the underside frame of all the shelves. Basically 4 sides all around the edges to provide extra support. So we screwed all 4 sides together to make the frame, and then screwed it to the shelf itself.



We also filled the screw holes with wood filler and sanded.



The bottom shelf I wanted right above the laundry machines (with a 1 inch grace), which meant we needed to cut out a small part where the washing machine lid opens. This also caused a LOT of trouble while making the frame.

As you can see, we had to cut smaller pieces to go around the opening all zig-zag like... And then because the edges were rounded, it could only be assembled one way so the frame indent would be in line with the shelf indent (following me?).



Naturally, we screwed up and made the frame on the wrong side... Double and triple check people! Even the 2 of us made the mistake. In the end we had the shelf all framed up...



Anyway, the other 2 shelves were a breeze to frame after that one!! And that's as far as we assembled it at my parents'.

The last steps were to stain and seal the wood. I chose Minwax English Chestnut (13$) because it was a dark stain but more red than walnut.



We hadn't planned on sealing, but after manipulating the stained wood and staining our hands, it became very evident that it needed to be sealed. I have no idea what kind of sealer we used, my dad just took it from his stash; it was in a non labelled plain can....



We did do a practice assembly in the garage before we headed to my apartment (2 hours away). I thought I had taken pictures while we assembled in the garage, but I guess I didn't transfer them from my mom's camera or didn't actually take them.

Anyway, next time I will show you what they look like installed in my apartment!! I will have to make a 3rd post about how I organized the shelves, too. Stay tuned...Check out part 2 here!





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Kitchen Mug Shelf

I'm so happy to FINALLY be showing you guys the first of 3 projects my dad and I built last month.

This particular project has been 9 months in the making. Well, ok, I knew I wanted to make it for 9 months, but conditions were never right. I actually mentioned it once in a post a long time ago. I KNEW what I wanted, and nothing else would do. But we had some trouble acquiring the material.

Anyway, all that to say that my kitchen mug shelf is completed!



Here is this Mug Shelf's life story.

When I moved into our apartment last September, I knew I wanted a sort of shelf to go over the sink. With my low counters and high cupboards (as you can see here in the first apartment tour), there was a lot of dead space there.

I don't know how, but I also got the idea to hang mugs from this shelf. I also wanted cast iron shelf brackets to support it. All in all, I had a very clear image of what I wanted here.

For months my dad and I looked for small cast iron brackets, but to no avail. We found some nice ones, but they were always too big, or for hanging flowers. The shelf had to be less than 6 inches or else it would be too cumbersome over the sink.

The second weekend I went over to work on the laundry shelving unit we were building (that is coming soon, too!), my dad surprised me with some cast iron brackets that he made himself. I told you I get my creativeness from my dad!



He didn't make them from scratch. He got some small plant hangers and added a strip of metal for the shelf to rest on. He made some holes to be able to attach the shelf and to secure to the wall, and then just welded the piece on top of the bracket.

That kickstarted for real this project!

Then we just took some scrap pieces of plywood leftover from the laundry shelving unit. And I had my cup shelf!! Ok, I had all the material to build it, so we did! It was really quite quick.

We cut 2 pieces of plywood (from pine) both for added strength, since plywood isn't so strong, and for esthetic. As you can see, the top shelf is 1/2 inch wider all around, and it gives a sort of mantel-like look to the shelf, I find. Both the table saw and radial saw were used to cut length-wise and width-wise, respectively.


(please don't mind the table saw as background...)

I wish we would've went a little wider because my bamboo canisters overhang just a little. It's not bad, but if I would've known and measured them I could've accommodated.

The edges were rounded with a router and an oval bit for a more polished looked- I just really don't like square edges... Both the top and bottom edges of the top shelf were rounded but only the bottom edge of the bottom shelf was, since the other one is against the top shelf.

Then we (1) predrilled the bottom piece, (2) applied glue and glued them together, and (3) screwed them together.



The holes were filled with wood filler (1, top) (prestained but we also stained over it), sanded (2, top), and finally the shelf was stained with MinWax English Chestnut(bottom) (applied with a rag). I chose that stain because I wanted a dark stain and this one was a little redder than the Walnut stain. But it was a little darker than I had anticipated...





We finished assembling it at my apartment. My dad and grandma held the shelf in place while I decided how far in from the shelf the brackets needed to be, and how high the shelf had to be.



Last step was screwing in the cup hooks. I wanted something a little nicer than the rubber coated cup hooks, but we couldn't find any for a decent price, or that were big enough. So I just used the cheap dollar store ones.

I was a little sad when I figured we wouldn't be able to put more than 5 mugs under the shelf, I wanted to hang all my mugs! (which would be 11, so far) I suppose there still is space on the outside, but I haven't added any, yet. Not completely sold that it would look good... Might try it one of these days (in which case I will update you!)

Cost breakdown (all prices are CAN): ~ shelf brackets, Lowes, 3$ each, so 6$ ~ plywood, Home Depot, leftover (1 sheet was 23$, the cheapest there was) let's say 2$ worth ~ stain, Home Depot, leftover (can was 13$) let's say I used 1$ worth ~ cup hooks, Dollarama, 6 for 1$ TOTAL: about 10$

Tools we used: ~ table saw ~ radial saw ~ router ~ Wood filler ~ Drill and 6 screws ~ Rag (for staining)

And THIS, this is why I love being a DIYer!! Custom built Mug Shelf, built to my own specifications, with the color I wanted, the bracket type I wanted. And I got to spend some good father-daughter time :) One day, though, I hope to be able to build stuff like this myself from A to Z. But that will take practice.

The setup I have right now on my shelf is pretty much the things I had lying on the counter before. I was also able to display some bottles we use for cooking, like cooking wine, apple cider vinegar, etc.



In the bamboo canisters, I have white and brown sugar. The smaller clear container (from Dollarama) holds granola.



This little iPod dock helps me relax while I do the dishes by playing some music :) I think it's super cute, even if it's not compatible with my iPod and doesn't charge it.



I love looking at the shelf and the mugs and choosing which one to use!! It's the simple things in life, people!



Like I said, I could possible hang a couple more mugs at the ends of the shelf outside the brackets, what do you think?!



Doesn't the shelf fill in the dead space nicely? I love it, it turned out just like I wanted!

I can see those lovely shelf brackets every time I enter the kitchen, and I'm so grateful for my dad who made them for me!



Thanks for reading, until next time!

Psst: If you enjoyed this project, be sure to visit my Projects page for more! Or check out the popular posts (in the right sidebar----->).




I party at these parties.
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