Three Different Types of Open Shelving Made Out of Scrap Wood!

Jennifer
by Jennifer
4 Materials
1 Day
Medium

This is the last of the things I made from a gift a friend gave me, a pile of scrap wood!icon

I posted all the projects here on Hometalk!

Alright this is what I made!

Pile of scrap wood a friend gave me!

The first type of shelving I made was a 3 tiered hanging shelf with rope. I used 3 pieces of wood in different lengths ( 9 1/2, 10 1/2 and 11 1/2 in.) but of the same thickness. The pieces I'm using are already cut so I don't see why I should cut them anymore. I can work with that and if I need to cut something I will but this works well for what I want anyway! All I need to do is drill some holes in the corners of the wood.

Here's a trick when doing something like this, I only marked one piece of wood where I was going to drill my holes, the shortest piece was marked 3/4 in. from the corner edge and I used a bit big enough for the rope to be pushed/pulled through the hole.

Stack the pieces of wood together and make sure all pieces are even on one end. Follow the markers on that end and drill straight down then do the other corner on that end of the wood. Next turn to the other end and even up the pieces again. Follow your marks and drill straight down on each corner on that end. My drill has a built in level so I know I'm drilling straight. I made 12 holes but only drilled 4 by stacking the wood together.

I added the rope next. I started with one very long piece of rope and tied knots under the wood to hold it in place while I had it hanging up against the wall so I could level it on the wall. I didn't have a specific length for this shelf so I just made sure each piece of wood was even by sight at first. Then I strung the front holes the same way and tied them off. Once it was strung with the rope I used a level to make sure it was level! I guess my sight was pretty good because I only needed to level out the bottom piece of wood by pushing up on the knot a little bit. Now I can cut off the ends of the rope! Finished!

I haven't hung it up in the bathroom yet but that is where it will go!

This is the next type open shelving I made with 2x4's and 3 wood planks. This one will go on the counter in the bathroom to display some shells and such. The first thing I did was cut the 2x4's to be even in length (22 in.), then I cut 2 planks at 14 in. each and the last one I cut by measuring the 2x4's thickness and adding 14 in. a total of 17 1/4 in., 2x4's are not truly 2 inch by 4 inch and that goes for all the wood in the store, 4x4's are really 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 in, most wood is smaller when you actually measure them. I measured out where I wanted the shelves on one of 2x4's then squared the first shelf on the 2x4, I then did the next shelf's markings. When I went to drill holes in the 2x4's I stacked them together like the hanging shelf. Drilled my 4 holes but made 8 holes.

I drilled the bottom shelf first by following my square marks then did the same to the next shelf. The top shelf was drilled straight into the top of the 2x4's (legs /sides). Almost finished!

I painted it blue, my fav color!

This is some of the things I will put on it when the bathroom walls are painted but until then it will sit in the floor waiting.

This is the third type of open shelving I made from that scrap wood. I had so many different sized wood planks I decided to make a compartment style shelf. I took some of the pieces of wood and put them together like a puzzle and this is what formed. I only had to cut one piece of wood down 1/4 in. to make all the pieces fit! Squaring this up perfectly was not going to happen because I had a few slightly warped pieces but you now what I can get it close enough! Yep I'm that good! I don't have work tables where you can clamp and hold things down to be drilled, cut, glued and so on, I used to but now I deal with a floor or a front porch for making most any wood project so I try to keep things simple!

first coat of paint! I used two colors just for a different look.

Well I ended up put it in the kitchen for extra shelving . I don't like the colors so I'm going to repaint it with a dark gray and maybe some white edges. Until then it's finished for now! This will be the last post on that pile of wood. It's all gone!! I made all 3 of these in one day , not bad , not too much work involved!Let's see I made 2 solar light towers, some candle holders, some big wood initials and other letters, a bench and 4 different types of open shelving ( 3 above plus another posted with the bench) all from that pile of wood! WOW that's a bunch of new things I have around my house! Thanks for looking at my projects, hope it helps and inspires y'all to create! Any comments or questions are always welcomed!

Suggested materials:
  • Wood   (a friend)
  • Rope and paints   (on hand)
  • Wood screws   (on hand)
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 5 comments
  • Wendy Wendy on Oct 21, 2017

    I just love all of them, but I must say the rope one is my favorite!

    • See 1 previous
    • Wendy Wendy on Oct 22, 2017
      Love the sound of that!
  • Celine Celine on May 01, 2020

    Sounds good . Going to try it when I get some wood

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