Contemporary and Industrial DIY Shelving Units

Wet & Forget
by Wet & Forget
Easy
Shelving units can be expensive to purchase and usually use the same boring designs. Why use store bought shelves when you can make them yourself? We came up with a list of our favorite DIY shelves to install in your home. In this list we included a DIY industrial or urban shelving unit made out of pipe that one of employees created. We included the full instructions on how to install these shelves in your home as well!
1. End Table Shelves


Infarrantly Creative’s stacked end table shelves are a creative way to make a new use out of old furniture! She cut her old end table in half and painted it a new color to match her home. Next, she installed brackets on the bottom of the table so they could be properly attached to the wall. She stacked these tables on top of each other to create a full shelving unit. These unique shelves are a great way to re-purpose old furniture and have a stylish new shelving unit!


2. Hanging Bathroom Shelf


This DIY hanging bathroom shelf makes a great addition to any room. This shelf is smaller in size so it can easily fit into any size room. Since it is a hanging shelf, you don’t even need to put multiple holes into your wall to complete this look. The few materials needed to create this shelf are: white wood or pine wood, wood screws, wood glue, rope, and a hook. These wooden shelves are perfect for storing bathroom toiletries or for simply adding interesting home décor to your bathroom. A quick coat of paint can drastically change the look of the shelves and the right color can be a nice compliment to the existing color scheme of your home!


3. Crate Shelving Unit


Tara Michelle’s DIY crate shelving unit recycles old wooden crates to create a bookshelf! These shelves make great storage units for your home! She includes a step by step tutorial to achieve the exact look that she has mastered. This rustic looking bookshelf can be adorned with home decorations (such as flowers, pictures, knick-knacks..etc.) or to store different collections. This DIY bookshelf would work nicely in a child’s bedroom as well. Add a little paint to match the theme and use it to store toys or books to help keep the room nice and tidy. Overall, this bookshelf unit can be used in so many ways that it’s a must have for storage in your home!


4. Industrial Pipe Shelving Unit


Adam is not much of a mechanic or DIYer, but wanted to find a shelving unit to consolidate his vintage camera collection. He did a little bit of research on Pinterest, and came up with a plan to create a pipe shelving unit to hold his camera collection. These shelves create an urban look for your home, and make a beautiful addition to any room. Check out his step by step process of making these DIY shelves below!


He divided up the materials in three groups so you can see what materials you need to make these shelves:


Wall Unit:


32 Risers


26 Shelf Pipes


8- 24″ Threaded Pipes


4 Nipple Fittings


24 Caps


28 Tees


4- 90 Degree Street Elbows


8 Flanges


4- 1″ Nipples


4 Unions


Center Section:


6- 18″ Threaded Pipes


2- 26″ Threaded Pipes


2 Unions


2- 90 Degree Street Elbows


2- 1″ Nipples


2 Flanges


2 Caps


Lights: (optional)


2- 12″ Pipes


2- 90 Degree Street Elbows


2- 1″ PVC Nipples


2- PVC Caps (Drilled)


2- Replacement Lamp Sockets


Shelving Boards:


12- 51″ by 8″ oak boards


1- 13 ft. by 8″ oak board


Stain: Rusto-leum® Varathane Weathered Grey


Polyurethane: Matte Finish
Adam first fully scrubbed out the pipes with acetone to remove the paint in order for them to be ready for a new coat of paint. This step of scrubbing out the pipes is no longer necessary, as Adam realized after creating the shelves; you can find the pipes for your shelves at an inexpensive price from your local hardware store such as: Lowe’s, Ace Hardware, or Menards.
Next, he sprayed the pipes with Rust-oleum® Universal® metallic black spray paint to achieve the metal black color that he wanted. This step is optional, but picking out a spray paint color of your choice can help personalize your shelving unit so it will fit in with the colors of your home.
Once the spray paint was dry, Adam started to twist the pipes together for the wall unit. Pictured you can see a flange twisted into a tee pipe which is attached to two piping pieces to create the bottom left corner of the shelving. He plans to add felt under the flange to prevent it from scratching the floor. Majority of this shelving unit just requires simply twisting the different pieces of piping together. You will also need to anchor the top flanges into the wall to hold the shelf in place.
Here’s the completed pipe shelving unit against the wall. Adam cut 12- 51″ by 8″ pieces of oak wood for the smaller shelves. Then, he cut 1- 13 feet by 8″ shelf to run across the entire unit. After organizing the wooden boards onto the shelves, Adam decided to stain the wood so the shelving unit would blend in with the rest of the room.
Pictured above you can see the stained boards placed across the shelving unit. He also added lights on the top of the shelving unit by threading the wires up into the pipe. He used these lights to give the area more character to fit in with the photography theme of this room. Currently the lights are non-functional, but make great decor next to his cameras.
Close up of vintage camera on DIY shelving unitIn the picture above, you can see a close up of Adam’s vintage cameras on the stained wooden shelf on the piping unit. The color of the shelves contrast well with the cameras where the color of the piping matches majority of the vintage cameras. This shelving unit completes an urban style look for any room, and is a beautiful way to show off any treasured collection.


Any of the shelving units we listed would make gorgeous and handy additions in your home. Whether you’re going for a rustic look or a modern look, we listed a variety of the most functional and stylish shelving units. Each shelving unit can be altered in painting or design to fit in with your home. That’s the beauty of DIY shelving units, you can always personalize your projects to your liking.


(Photo Courtesy of: Infarrantly Creative)
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