Knowing how to make a shelf with your own hands is a useful and necessary skill, because a shelf is the simplest item among all furniture. To create it, you do not need to have any special skills. The most important thing is to do everything moderately and carefully.
There are a large number of different models of shelves, depending on their size, method or installation location. For example, they can be suspended, floor or wall mounted. If the floor shelves are distinguished by their high height, which exceeds one meter, then the design can be called a rack. Suspended structures often play a decorative role. For example, they can be hung on a pipe or on a specially placed bracket. This type is distinguished by its popularity in places where heating pipes are located under the ceiling. Thus, they themselves seem to be asking for something to be attached to them. Various shelves in the bathroom or kitchen are often hung on pipes, this is extremely convenient.
What are there?
Before you learn how to make a shelf with your own hands,it is necessary to understand their great diversity. They are created from wood, plywood, laminated chipboard, plexiglass and other things. Racks can use the same materials, but can be made from plastic, metal, or other unpredictable things like bottles or pipes.
How to make a DIY wall shelf for a living room? You can choose different material as the main one. The most important thing is to think over the appearance of the product so that it fits into the overall interior of the room and complements it. Even the functionality of a shelf is not always paramount if it does not fit in its appearance. Such a shelf should add a special color and sense of taste to the interior of the room.
If you want to make shelves with your own hands for a technical room, such as a bathroom or kitchen, then another condition regarding practical use is also added to the aesthetic component. Even if it is a decorative shelf in the kitchen, it should be simple and easy to clean.
Shelves in the bathroom have even more serious requirements: there is often high humidity, so you need to use materials that will easily withstand such exposure. It is worth noting that there are not many like it.
Alternatively, you can use plastic or stainless steel. A bathroom shelf is also made of MDF, but it is fully used only with high-quality ventilation in the room. Even if you don’t know how to make shelves in the closet with your own hands, thanks to a simple instruction, you will quickly have everything.will work, regardless of the material chosen.
What are they made of?
It is worth saying that a variety of materials are used to make the product, of course, within reason. Using such bulky and heavy materials as brick would not really be appropriate. After all, this additionally takes up free space inside the room. However, any of the relatively appropriate materials for the task at hand can be used:
- Tree. This is the standard option, because most often people use it. It is extremely easy to work with such material, since it weighs very little and is small in size. Products also have a long service life, however, this applies if the room has predominantly normal humidity levels and good ventilation.
- Glass. Such shelves are distinguished by their modern and attractive look and in fact will never go out of style. How to make a book shelf with your own hands from such material? For manufacturing, you must have special tools for cutting glass.
- Plastic. It is a relatively affordable material, very easy to handle, and does not suffer from the effects of mold, unlike wood. This is especially important if the shelves are made for installation on loggias or balconies.
- Metal. To work with such material, you must have a welding machine if you want to make a shelf entirely of metal. If youmake shelves with your own hands of a combined type, then you need to use a classic set for fasteners. It is best that such areas are not visible from the outside.
- chipboard (or alternatively chipboard). The second option is distinguished by its resistance to wear, as well as against increased moisture. It is not affected by significant temperature changes, which often happens in the bathroom, as well as mechanical damage, such as erasure.
- Drywall. Such material is used in cases where the shelf will be part of the interior of the room. It means that a niche inside the wall is formed from this material. How to make a drywall shelf with your own hands? Let's find out.
The final choice of material is determined not only by your budget, but also by the skills in construction that you possess. If you approach work without proper skill or experience, you can simply spoil the material and not get the desired quality. The resulting product will be sloppy, unattractive, and unlikely to be used safely. Moreover, hang it in a conspicuous open place.
Shelf on the wall
How to make a wooden shelf with your own hands? You also need to decide on a suitable location. Every room has an area that just begs to be hung on. Most often, modern furniture occupies only the lower part: these are sofas, armchairs, couches or tables. The upper one is always empty, which may cause a mismatch: the loaded lower part of the roomand an almost empty top. It is these voids that need to be filled with beautiful shelves.
Corner shelves are the perfect solution! Structurally, most of these shelves consist of jumpers and small areas. However, these components are combined into such a large number of different options that it is difficult to count. Making such a shelf with your own hands will be easier than ever. The main thing is to believe in yourself, even if you do not know how to make a shelf on the wall with your own hands.
With what and what do you need to attach?
To make a shelf in the pantry with your own hands, it is very important to choose the right fasteners. The reliability of such a design largely depends on the type of fastening. Not only does it need to be strong, reliable and stable, it must also fit into the overall design of the product.
Classic Loops
How to make a shelf in the garage with your own hands? The classic method is to mount on hinges. It can be used for wood, and for fiberboard, and for many other materials that are of sufficient thickness. You can screw them with self-tapping screws on the side. Between the centers of the holes of the loops, it is necessary to measure the distance, put it on the wall, while carefully watching the horizontal. At the marked points, you need to make holes for the dowels, place them there, and then screw them with a nail with a small cap that will go into the loop or bracket (this is such a pin bent up). After that, you can hang a shelf on it.
However, not every material can be drilled freely. For example, a glass shelf. She's definitely notsubject to no twisting. For glass shelves, special fasteners are selected, which consist of two components, between which glass is placed. Most often, an elastic gasket is placed between such holders. There is a small screw on the bottom of the mount to push it against the shelf for a secure fit.
Glass shelf fasteners
The most popular type of glass shelf mount is the "pelican". It got its name due to its peculiar shape. It looks very good, especially since there are several variations of its color. The thickness of the glass that it can hold without problems varies from 8 to 34 mm. It is used not only for glass, but also for any other material that has the required thickness, however, it looks most attractive with glass.
How to make a shelf with your own hands? It is very easy to create a product from glass. You need to buy a suitable mount, order glass of the required size and shape in a special workshop. Parts of the material must certainly be with finished edges, so as not to damage yourself by accident. Then you just need to put everything together:
- Attach the Pelican to the wall with two dowels. Composite body. The decorative trim must be removed, there are two holes inside the mounting plate: one is located in the case above, the other is slightly lower. Securely fasten and replace the decorative trim.
- Place glass.
- Tighten the screws. And that's it - your shelf is ready.
There are other typesfasteners for glass shelves. However, this one is the most popular due to its simplicity and beauty.
Decorative bracket
Another type of attachment is the bracket. It is distinguished by its reliability, and some even look very attractive. And so much so that they can be an independent decoration.
Hidden fixing or shelves without support
This is one of the most amazing mounting tools. How to make a do-it-yourself book shelf in this way? Hidden fastening allows you to completely eliminate the visibility of fasteners. A seat for the pin is cut out inside the end, and the holder body with the shelf is simply put on top of it. From the side, it will seem as if a wooden shelf or a piece of glass is floating in the air, holding onto the wall for no reason. This is the easiest mounting option using flush mounting. If you have imagination and ideas, by all means use them.
How to make corner shelves with your own hands? You can use the presented scheme, it will certainly work successfully!
Various shelf designs
There are a lot of options for how to make a shelf with your own hands. You just need to decide what exactly you need from her.
Handmade honeycomb shelf
An attractive shelf made in the form of honeycombs will be an excellent addition to the non-standard design of the room. Such a fashionable and stylish design can be assembled fromhex module. Thus, you will get an original geometric composition. Each person can lay out the blocks in such a variant and form that they come up with for themselves.
Despite their non-standard appearance, these blocks are very convenient and differ in their functionality. Moreover, they are very strong and durable. To make such a shelf with your own hands, you need to have a standard set of tools that are in almost every home, as well as simple blanks from rectangular boards.
A similar design is assembled from ready-made and assembled honeycombs in different ways:
- attached to the wall each separately;
- first all the modules are assembled together, and only then the whole system is attached to the wall.
The second method is certainly much more practical, because dust and dirt will not accumulate between the individual elements. In order for you to get the correct hexagon, the boards for the future shelf must be cut strictly at an angle of 30 °. Check several times that they are the same size, and only then start assembling your pieces. Do it on the floor, it will be easier.
The elements of the block must be perfectly matched to each other, only after that the boards are glued together. To do this, you can take standard wood glue. Attachment points can be strengthened using L-shaped holders or screws for greater reliability. Staples can be very easily hidden by painting them the same shade as the shelf itself.
Do all the other honeycombs in the same way. Received moduleneeds to be sanded very carefully. Then treat it with a stain and go through with a special varnish. Or you can color it. The shelf will look very unusual and interesting if each hexagon is painted differently. That's all, next fold the finished block, drill a few holes where the connections will be, and fasten them together. Now you know how to make shelves with your own hands in the pantry or hall so that they are both attractive and useful.
How to make a round shelf?
Round shape for a shelf is a very unusual and original solution for those people who are not particularly interested in how they can place as many things as possible. If you do not want to save space, but strive to decorate your interior beautifully and in an original way, this option is just for you. Making book shelves with your own hands will be very simple. Success is guaranteed to you if you choose the right material from which the shelf will be created, and also accurately and scrupulously make all the calculations for your parts.
The most affordable material used to make a shelf is fiberboard. The sheets of material are very strong and bend easily, which is an advantage. Two strips of a given length are cut from it. In parallel, you need to prepare another board of the required length, which will be placed in the center. As you understand, all parts must have the same width.
What should I say about the length of the strips? If you look at the shelf from a geometric point of view, then the central shelf will be the diameter of the outer contour of the futurecircle. The stripes, as you can understand, will be half the length of the contour, so they are dependent on each other and are combined by geometric formulas. If you do not know how to correctly calculate all sizes, it is best to turn to professionals. They will help you with drawings, calculations and material processing.
Let's move on to assembling our shelves. On a sheet of fiberboard, you need to step back from the end side of a small overlap and place the necessary markings on the strips. Then proceed to form a circle. The edges of the strips must be directed towards each other in strict accordance with the markings and fixed using a clamp. Be careful that your material does not burst or crack. The strips need to be bent very slowly, the free edges overlap each other. Before you finally fix all the components with screws, you need to make sure they fit correctly:
- Check how your center shelf fits correctly. It should be noted that if you made the correct calculations, then there will not even be any problems with this.
- Fit vertically, if necessary for your design, partitions, providing for this the required bevel angle. An excellent solution would be to periodically check them for perpendicularity during work. To do this, you can use a regular square.
Our shelf is almost ready. It is only necessary to decorate it: cover it with paint, varnish or other compositions for decoration. You can fasten the shelf using furniture eyelets using screws that have been screwed into the wall.
Hanging shelf for home
How to make DIY bookshelves so that they do not take up extra space, but are roomy enough? One option that will help you in this situation is a suspended structure.
For this we need:
- Make a simple project on paper that will take into account the number and size of shelves, as well as the distance between them.
- Decide exactly where you will hang your shelf, and at what height the mounts will be placed.
The work takes place in two stages: the assembly of the shelf and the installation of the mount.
First, the shelves are prepared, which were sawn off to the specified dimensions. Along their edges, you must first make holes. In order for them to be the same, many experts advise using a special template for this from a bar made of hardwood, on which the necessary holes with the correct diameter will already be made. Just press this template to the edge of the board. You can use a clamp to fix it. Make two necessary holes, but do not punch them completely, but approximately to the middle in thickness. After that, cuts are made on the boards from the center of the hole at a right angle, which go to the long side. Shelves must be sanded and finished. For example, you can paint them in a color suitable for the interior or already varnish them.
Now the product is almost completely finished. You just need to hang. Reliability in such cases is equally importantindicator than aesthetic appearance. After all, if you have a small room and you want to put a lot of things or a few books on the shelf, then the best option for fastening is to use a cable. It must be cut into several parts and, using clamping clips, make a loop at one of its ends. The cables are suspended, and the barrels are fixed along the entire length with a given step.
Hooks with screws should be fixed exactly perpendicular to the wall, on which the cables will be hung, and then hanging shelves will cling to them.
From examples of handmade photo shelves, you can draw your inspiration for successful work.
