Easy to Make Wooden Shelves

If you need more storage space in your closet, garage or any other room in the house, you can easily make wooden shelves that can be installed onto the wall. If you want a set of simple, permanent shelves and don't necessarily care about appearances, create a set of shelves on the wall using wooden boards and L-shaped brackets. You can also simply install full-length shelves that extend across an entire wall, and you can even make them temporary shelves that you can remove later.

Simple Shelves

Get at least 2-foot-by-8-foot boards or wider for the shelves, depending on what you will be storing on them.

Get brackets long enough to fully support the shelves; look for brackets at least 3 inches long at each end.

When screwing the brackets in place, you'll need shorter screws for the board than for the wall; this offers the shelf more support on the wall while preventing the screws from poking out the top of the shelves.

Screw in at least four brackets along one of the board's long sides, screwing in two of them about an inch away from each of the board's edges and the other two between the first two brackets and the middle.

Finally, use a ruler to make sure the shelf is level when you screw it to the wall, and measure the needed distance between it and any other shelves you are installing.

Full-Length Shelves

If you are installing shelves that will extend from one wall to the other, you can also use brackets to support them. Attach the brackets to the shelves' edges rather than the side.

You can also install wooden planks called "cleats" to place the shelves on. Cut two-by-fours into two pieces the length of the shelf's width. When nailing the cleats into the wall, try to nail them into the wall studs for more support. It also helps to drive the nails at a downward angle. Once the cleats are in place, the shelf can be placed on top of the cleats.

These shelves can be removed easily if you are only looking for temporary storage space. You can also nail the shelves into the cleats if you want them to be permanent. Just make sure you drive these nails in spots where the other nails aren't in place.

References

• Essortment
• DoItYourself