Particularly Practically Pretty: DIY Shelving

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

DIY Shelving

To all of you 3P readers out there, meet my friend Katie! She was so kind to share some awesome shelving she made for some of her linens, and I am honored to have her write the very first guest post for my blog! Keep reading to find out how Katie made some cool DIY shelves to keep her linens neat and orderly.

I am a huge fan of this blog! I am simultaneously inspired to take on my own projects and jealous at the organization level found here. I just moved into my first house a few months ago and have found myself referring often to the various organization methods. One challenge that I continue to face, however, is the matter of my placements, napkins and tablecloths.

But first, a confession: I hate ironing. I avoid it all costs. I will literally wait by the dryer to pull out clothes so I don’t have to iron them.

Since I refuse to bring out the ironing board and boot up that silly iron, keeping my placemats and napkins smooth and wrinkle free is a big deal to me. Also, just stacking them on top of each other is annoying – what if I need the set that’s on the very bottom!?

I have looked for MONTHS to find a suitable shelving unit that could hold my table items without my needing to fold them. I found shelves where I would need to fold my tablecloths, I found draws that would only hold napkins, I found a shelving unit that only had two shelves of the size I needed… I even found the PERFECT item that holds placemats and napkins – but it wasn’t for sale. Thanks for nothing, Crate and Barrel:

(My brother suggested I put a price tag from another item in the store on this and attempt for pay for it.)

With many hours of searching behind me, I finally realized I would need to build my own. It was fun and took about 90 minutes, so feel free to make your own!

1. For about $30 each I purchased three large pieces of acrylic board from Home Depot. I measured my largest placemat and added two inches on each side, and drew lines for these measurements onto the acrylic (22” x 16” in my case). Using a Dremmel tool (thanks Dad!), I cut 12 boards.

2. I enlisted my brother to sand the cut edges a bit to smooth things up.

3. I took corks I had saved from my many nights of wine consumption and glued three together for stability. To add a bit more height and stability, I cut several corks in half and glued the halves on top.

4. I then placed these sets of three around the corners and sides of the bottom board. I glued these down and then glued a second board on top.

5. I continued this way until I ran out of corks. I hope to make two sets of 5 shelves each (6 acrylic boards for each, which means I need to keep drinking wine). Note: you’ll want to put corks or something else of the same height at the front opening while everything dries and sets up.