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supports, also
shelf brackets. The beauty of
that they allow you to move
shelves up or down without
redrilling holes into the wall.
Some people also find their vertical design to be visually appealing.
called
standards is
Standards must be attached to the wall by drilling screws through their occasionally
placed screw holes and into wall studs. Because the standards will hold heavy shelves,
they will eventually start pulling away from the wall if the screws holding up the
standards aren't anchored into studs. You may be able to use molly bolts or drywall
anchors to attach shelving standards to an area of a wall that does not have a stud,
but I recommend drilling the shelving standards directly into a stud if possible.
Planning how much lumber to purchase:
I wanted to save some money by purchasing narrower shelves for smaller books on the
upper shelves, but I knew I wanted wider shelves on the bottom in case I wanted to
use them for bigger items. Then I needed to decide how long I wanted the shelves to
be. The shorter shelves needed to be at least long enough to reach two studs on the
wall, so if you're not sure about stud placement, you should use a stud finder to mark
out where the studs are in your wall and determine which two studs will hold the
standards and supports for your shelves. Make sure you plan for your shelves to be at
least two inches past where the outside shelf standards will be, or three inches past
that outside stud.
On
ce you have determined how long you want your shelves to be, mark down the lengths
on a piece of paper. I wanted the shorter shelves (on the left wall as shown) to be 32",
and the longer shelves to be 48". Then, for the length of shelves on the shorter wall,
subtract the width of the shelf to account for where it will butt up against the edge of
the shelf on the other end of the corner. For instance, I subtracted 7" from the 32"
length of the shorter shelves to account for the width of narrower shelves, and then I
subtracted 12" from the 32" length of the shorter shelves to account for the width of
the wider shelves. Check out the above sketch to get an idea of how I planned out the
wood lengths. (The sketch is rough and not to scale.) You can also see what the
lumber looked like after it was cut, stained, and sealed in the image below to the
right. When buying the lumber you need, make sure that you have enough length in
each board for the lengths your wrote down for each shelf.
Bring a piece of paper to the lumber yard that lists the individual lengths and widths
of wood you need for each shelf. They should be able to cut down the planks for you
and help you decide what lengths of wood you need. For instance, if you need five 4'
pieces of wood totalling 20', don't buy two 10' planks, because that will only give you
four 4' pieces and then scrap wood that is useless for this project. Instead, buy three
8' pieces of wood, which will give you 4' more than you need, but that's just how it
goes! They should help you with that at the lumber yard, and they should even be
able to cut down the planks to size so you don't have to do that yourself.
Planning the standards and brackets to buy:
of shelves, then inserted short 1/8" dowels into the holes to connect them.
Decor
setup.
For the holidays, I added string lights for a festive, cozy feel, and during the rest of
the year, a lamp lends light to this little corner of our living room. These shelves are a
fun, personality-filled part of our house that makes it feel more like a home.
-Mandi
Credits // Author and Photography: Mandi Johnson