Ikea Shelf Hack

Gabe
by Gabe
1 Material
Moving to a smaller home certainly has its challenges. my wife was in need of some additional space for her paperwork, files etc. love the simplicity of the shelves that Ikea offers So I decided to make the shelf for her and fit the brackets to it. I chose to go with a 2X12X10 ft piece of contractor grade heavy pine. $10.00 and some change from Home Depot, the brackets came from Ikea : http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10136135/ cost about 10 dollars and they come in different sizes. I settled on making the shelf the same length as her desk all in all the dimensions are 1.75X11X6 I had to plane the board down to fit in the bracket. Well the shelf came out really nice and wifey loves it. Check out the slide show of the build hope you enjoy.






Project started with a 2X12X10 ft piece of contract grade Pine from big box store, and two brackets from Ikea, Link is in the write up


Measure twice cut once, I wanted to make sure I had a square board and I cut it to length 6'


I have a jointer to even up the sides but you can use a hand plane or sander and a straight edge. truthfully this isn't necessary but I am after all a perfectionist


I also have a planer to plane down the board to the desired size, "not necessary!!!" but it is a custom piece so "yeah I did it!"


I use epoxy to cover the imperfections, knots etc in the board this seals the cracks and when its sanded and stained looks great


sand, sand and more sand, 60, 80, 120, 220, and 000 steel wool in between coats of stain


4 coats of "your choice of stain" make sure you allow the stain to dry in between coats, I also use a wood conditioner before staining, it helps the stain to go on evenly without any splotching or dark spots, you can go as dark or light as you please. "go nuts its your shelf!" enjoy it!!


I apply minwax furniture wax with a polishing machine, "you can do this by hand as well, use an old t-shirt, and apply the wax let dry for a couple of moments, and wipe to a nice luster, this not only looks amazing, but it gives the wood another layer of protection especially if you spill something on. enjoy!!!
Suggested materials:
  • 2X12X10 pine, Shelf Brackets, Stain, Furniture Wax, and elbow grease   (Big Box Hardware stores, Ikea)
Gabe
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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