One of the biggest challenges of living in our small space is finding a place to hold the many personal items we’ve collected and didn’t want to let go of in the big downsize. My solution was to use a wall in an odd space and add DIY industrial shelving. They hold way more than I thought they would, added lots of character to our reading nook and cost less than traditional built ins or pre-made book shelves. They’re also just one of the many Creative DIY Shelving Ideas for Organizing and Styling your Home that I’ve shared on the blog. I also shared 21 other Open Shelving Kitchen Ideas I collected from some of my favorite bloggers.
Before we added our contemporary master bath addition, this wall faced outside and had a small window in the center of it. The new master bath is now on the other side of this wall and these doors lead into our bedroom.
Last fall our house looked like this while we lived with a temporary wood wall to block off the construction and dust. The blue painters tape was my attempt at sealing the edges to stop the dust from invading the rest of the house. It didn’t work very well. I stared at the blank wall for six months… you can do a lot of thinking in 6 months 🙂 and I came up with a plan to give us a reading nook and extra storage.
As soon as the wall came down, I was ready to get my DIY industrial shelves going! I talked DH into tackling one more itty bitty project.
What’s a little more dust when we’ve had dust for almost six months, right?
Off we went to the local saw mill to pick out my rough cut cypress slabs.
This mill practices sustainable forestry. They’ve milled from the same cypress forest for years, which I liked. This giant blue saw is what cut the trees into my rough cut wood shelves. ..Hhmmn, I may have angled the camera to get a scenic shot {wink}.
One thing I didn’t plan for was the weight of fresh cut wood. Fresh meant the shelves were still full of water and heavy. Heavy is an understatement, and it took two of us to carry each board into the house.
Like most 1950’s coastal homes, our walls are old cement board over cinderblock. That means no regular studs and a lot more work. I had two long wood slats installed to have a solid and strong surface to anchor the iron shelf brackets. We patched and dry walled over the new wood slats before installing the brackets and shelves.
Yes, it was more of a project than I’d anticipated!
When designing your own DIY Industrial shelving, lay out the position and number of shelves on the wall before purchasing your materials. I wanted to use the entire wall from floor to ceiling for maximum storage area. Placing the shelves evenly apart didn’t balance well. I tried a few different configurations using painters tape and the layout below was the winner. Something else to keep in mind is designing a layout to fit your stuff. I measured some of our books and other things to make sure I’d have plenty of space to fit what I wanted where I wanted it.
I custom ordered these brackets on Etsy. They are hand forged steel.
It’s a simple design and I love the gun metal black finish.
I’m still unpacking our stuff so this is my temporary layout:)
Nope, we still don’t have baseboards 🙂 So I stacked extra books down on the floor. I’m still tinkering around with what I’ll put on my DIY industrial shelves and where. I’m loving that we have a reading nook now. Our super comfy red leather chair is the perfect spot to curl up with a good book. It looks great with my awesome pendant light was from our knock off tour, it was my version of a $2500 lamp that I fell in love with and made for $25.
If you’re loving the look of rough cut DIY industrial shelving and don’t have a saw mill nearby, there’s an easy way to copy this look. Use rough cut cedar from your local Home Depot, Lowes or lumber store. The cut is rough with plenty of striations from the lumber mill, it’s much lighter than our fresh cypress and comes in a variety of lengths and widths. If you’re looking for a resource for the steel brackets, there were lots of stores on Etsy that carried different styles.
I’m writing this post on the high seas. We’re about to start on our second half of our 500 mile sailing journey…see the update below:)
Sailing update: DH & I are positively in love with Key West. We’ve played tourist all week and visited Ernest Hemingway’s home, mile zero, toured the old Fort Zachary Taylor and learned how to catch lobster at night in a digngy with a net. No, we didn’t catch any, this time, but when lobster season opens again, we’ll be ready! Of course we discovered a few tasty places to eat off the beaten path as well as belted out a few good ol’ songs with a cool beer in hand at Irish Kelly’s on Duval Street. We’ll set sail for home and new adventures on Saturday morning.
If you’re just joining in start reading Here where I share our 500 mile sailing plans, Crows nests & sea turtles, We ran hard aground, They dropped our part in the drink! (water) , 4 foot seas and a flashlight
Until next time my friends…wishing you fair winds and following seas!
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Alex says
Love the cypress. We recently added some industrial shelving in our house and may one day upgrade to a better wood. In love with how yours turned out, I will definitely consider upgrading the actual shelving in the future! Here’s what we have: mrsrogersfirstneighborhood.wordpress.com/2016/10/20/diy-industrial-shelving-for-the-home/
Wendi says
Hi Alex, Love your shelves! I wouldn’t change a thing! I pinned them as inspiration for a project I have coming up in the near future. Beautiful job!
Vanessa says
Gorgeous and the brackets make the shelves looks amazing.
Wendi says
Hi Vanessa…You’ve seen a lot of change in this house over the past few years of my projects:) I’m thrilled everything has come together in a cohesive way. I’d still love to get together with you…maybe this fall when the weather cools down a bit??
Valerie@Occasionally Crafty says
Wow- this turned out so great! It really makes a statement in that room. Thanks for linking up to The Handmade Hangout! I’ll be featuring you on my blog today when the new linky goes live at 6pm ET. I hope you’ll stop by to see your feature and link up again!
Wendi says
Thank you so very much! I love your link party and am thrilled you selected my shelves to feature:) Have a wonderfu day!
vidya sudarsan says
Wow! these shelves are just perfect for this room. You have styled it well too. Visiting you from Common ground 🙂
Wendi says
Thak you much Vidya. I loved the style for the longest and knew I had to make it work here. That was an unused wall and a big bonus on the extra space they created 🙂
Becky says
Wow, these are awesome. It really gets my brain churning on where I could use them to make an odd space more productive (and stylish). Really love them. Found you on a link party and can’t wait to see more of your blog. I’m following your social stuff and hope we can connect on those places. Thanks for sharing!
Wendi says
Thanks Becky! Do say hi when you see me out in social media world so I can be sure to connect back with you! ..and thank you for the super note on my industrial shelves too:) We love them and love the space they opened up for storage and displaying books, etc. was needed!
Lauree says
I love your idea of using painter’s tape to determine where to put the shelves. That is pure genius! Could you please share a link to the etsy shop where you purchased the brackets?
Enjoy the high seas!
Wendi says
Hi Lauree, I don’t have the store name or link it’s been a while, but you could do a search for “iron shelf brackets” in handmade and find several Etsy shops that make these. Thanks so much for your visit!
Kristy Lingebach says
I LOVE how these turned out – The fill the space so beautifully without overwhelming it. LOVE LOVE LOVE.
Thanks for sharing!
Kristy @ 3Peppers-Recipes.com
Wendi says
Thnk you so much Kristy! They do fit perfectly against the wall and make use of a space that wasn’t used for anything else:) Plus, they gave me so much more decorating and storage space! Thanks so much for your visit & comment today.
Megin says
Love, love, love the industrial look! So amazing and you were able to use the whole wall. I am crushing hard on those brackets…
Thank you for sharing this week at Brag About It link party on VMG206 (Mondays at Midnight). I plan to feature you next week!
~ Megin of VMG206
Wendi says
Megin…. Thank YOU so much! Yes, we love the shelves too. I took my time in figuring out exctly how I wanted them to look and picking out the perfect brackets. Thank you again for featuring my industrial shelves!
Carol@The Red Painted Cottage says
Thank you for sharing this. We were going to do something similar, but using the industrial looking pipes (which would have cost an absolute fortune). We nixed that idea and bought something else. I love how yours turned out and wish I had seen this beforehand.
Wendi says
Thank you Carol. I love the indistrial pipe look too, and think I priced it out once for a project. Yikes! It would have been a budget buster! These shelves gave me a lot of storage space and they are heavy duty. They were a good solution in our little awkward space. Thank you for your visit:)
Kati says
Love the shelves, love the space! And love those brackets! Thanks for the inspiration. I think I need to work on getting my shelves up above my coffee station console now.
Wendi says
Hi Kati… Shelves like this would be absolutely awesome above a pretty coffee station. I’m glad I heled inspire you to finish your project. we love how our shelves turned out too:)
Megan @ C'mon Get Crafty says
I’ve been trying to figure out how to get some rustic wood shelves in our dining room – I was hoping for floating, but I think these brackets would work well! Thanks for the great tips!
Wendi says
Megan… So glad to spark a new idea for you! I sifted through ideas for months before settling on this one. They work well and the brackets are rustic and industrial without standing out too much. Thanks for your sweet comment!
Marie@The Interior Frugalista says
Love love love your industrial shelving Wendi. Your six month staring contest paid off – it’s perfect for that space! Oh and thanks for the eye candy at the lumber mill – noticed that before the cypress. LOL
You two sound just like me and Mr. Frugalista (or is it Mr. Frugalista and I)…whatever! Always look for an Irish Pub to enjoy a cool one wherever we travel. As well as off the beaten path restaurants which more often than not end up being gems. Happy sailing tomorrow!
Wendi says
Thanks Marie! I KNEW I could come up with the perfect use for that space if I just kept brainstorming:) – Yes, the eye candy at the saw mill was nice:) & I love the space my new industrial shelves created!