Three Shelf Unit built for our Laundry Room
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| shelf unit beside a mirror for which I made the frame a season or two ago. The glass making tool box is on the counter too. |
We have lived in this house for 4 1/2 years and there are still jobs to be done. ( though I am grinding away at them) We have completed and tiled the kitchen and the powder room. The only thing remaining in the down stairs bathroom is the glass panels for the door, the tile work was done last summer.
This weekend I designed and built this shelf unit in our main-floor laundry room. There are several clear plastic bins to be filled with "stuff" and added to the shelves before the job is technically complete, but my part is done. Eva is going to do the painting and the final stocking of the shelves.
The design of the unit makes use of 'French Cleats' to hold it up. There is a cleat on the top and bottom shelves, and because I am a "belt and suspenders" sort of engineer the middle shelf sits on two large "L" brackets.
The brackets are not so much to aid in holding the shelf unit up as they are to keep the unit pulled against the wall and prevent any chance of the shelf unit being mistakenly lifted off the cleats. This way the shelf unit's weight is carried by the cleats and it is made stable by the bracket. It also means that I have less than half dozen screws to remove to lift the unit right off the wall, for painting for example.
Making a shelf like this from shop available materials means that there was an extra amount of joining, gluing and planning. All those tools are available to me and I love to make use of them.
Once the project is completed installation becomes the next challenge. A few years ago I bought a stud finder.
This weekend I designed and built this shelf unit in our main-floor laundry room. There are several clear plastic bins to be filled with "stuff" and added to the shelves before the job is technically complete, but my part is done. Eva is going to do the painting and the final stocking of the shelves.
The design of the unit makes use of 'French Cleats' to hold it up. There is a cleat on the top and bottom shelves, and because I am a "belt and suspenders" sort of engineer the middle shelf sits on two large "L" brackets.
The brackets are not so much to aid in holding the shelf unit up as they are to keep the unit pulled against the wall and prevent any chance of the shelf unit being mistakenly lifted off the cleats. This way the shelf unit's weight is carried by the cleats and it is made stable by the bracket. It also means that I have less than half dozen screws to remove to lift the unit right off the wall, for painting for example.
Making a shelf like this from shop available materials means that there was an extra amount of joining, gluing and planning. All those tools are available to me and I love to make use of them.
Once the project is completed installation becomes the next challenge. A few years ago I bought a stud finder.
A home handy guy needs a stud finder as badly as he needs a level. I used the stud finder to locate four studs into which I drove 2 1/2 inch screws to hold the top cleat. I screwed in one end first and then used the level to true the cleat and then screwed the rest of the cleat to the wall. I made the cleat 50 inches long so that I could attach it solidly and easily to four studs, the shelf is 48 inches long. Once the cleat was up the shelf just hung there while I located and fit the bottom cleat and the "L" brackets. Baring catastrophe the shelf is there to stay.
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| details of the construction. The shelves are spruce, the cleats are pine and the up rights are left over oak trim. The whole thing will need to be painted to keep from looking like a Franken-project. |
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