The office/work room project continues. I think my biggest problem this far has been storage in that room. It just collects. If you know what I mean. So this time my plan was to incorporate some major shelving. I wanted it to look custom but knew the hubs would never go for anything with a “custom” price tag. So I went to Pinterest and found this inspirations..
So I followed the link and found an amazing tutorial of how to make these shelves using..wait for it…Ikea pantry shelves! It’s an Ikea hack! You can find her amazing tutorial here. I followed the basic principles and then tweaked it to fit my space. So these shelving units you can find in Ikea for $14.99/piece. They are originally stainless steel.
I just sprayed mine with flat black spray paint…and don’t worry, you don’t have to cover everything, just the outsides and what will show. So I had $45 invested into the actual shelving units themselves.
That’s what you an see in this photo here. I was also debating doing the ever so popular industrial pipe shelving, but it would have ended up being about 4 times the cost for the pipes, and it’s a lot more work since you have to have someone cut and re-thread some of the pieces. This I could do all on my own.
Once I had the shelving units sprayed, I stained my boards. I used 1×6″ boards, and ended up having to cut the second one down by about 1/4″ for each shelf. I the Pinterest tutorial, she used boards to length. And I orginally did that. But holy moly do you know how hard it is to manuever 9 foot boards and fit them in a tight space without busting or sweating or getting super angry? Just saying. So, I had a back up plan. I ended up cutting the boards into two pieces. I did it so they would stagger on each shelf, so that the unit would still be strong.I’ll show you that in a minute, but before that, you also need to cut little notches out of the wood where the metal cuts in…like this..
I just did mine with a chop saw, I did a few blade widths to make sure there was plenty of room. You can tell it’s not perfect, I really didn’t care. You won’t even barely see it once its on. You can also use a jigsaw to do this step.
Now you can see what I’m talking about. That that I have a nice fit, I can show you how I cut the boards into two pieces..
I cut the boards so the two splices were over a foot apart. And always on the middle unit. You can tell though, when you buy standards boards at menards you don’t always get the straightest boards. I had this problem on two shelves. We ended up glueing and clamping them together..
We let them sit overnight and by morning, they stuck wonderfully.
So, for about $50 in lumber, and $45 in shelves, and two cans of spray paint, I managed to create this…
The idea with this shelving unit was that I wanted it to look nice, but also be super functional. I have my printer and sewing machine stored on it, super convenient.
I also have my files in the white file box and all my stencils in the baskets. There are so many other things stored strategically and every inch was used. It may be a little over crowded, but it had a job to do. Project, keep things off the floor!
I also love that it can keep some of my decor and dishes that I’m not using at the moment in a handy spot, so I don’t have to run out to the shed to find a green plant or a dish:)
and of course I had to add the whimsy touch with the flash cards;)
and my favorite part is that it is custom to the space, using every inch…
and the boards fit so snug that it really strengthened the shelves up nicely and I didn’t even need to tack them to the wall.
Another project checked off the list. I have a couple more things to do and then I’ll do the final work room reveal:)
