How To Build a Vertical Wall Shelf if You’re Lazy
Have you ever come across a DIY project you love that feels extremely do-able, gathered all the materials, then let it collect dust in the corner for months? That was me with this little project, which turned out to be embarrassingly easy once I actually got around to it.
And a lovely bonus: You don’t need any screws or drills to build it! You’ll likely need some kind of hardware to hang it unless you feel like living dangerously, but all you need to assemble it is strong wood glue.
Behold, the completed shelf on the night I first hung it up and the next morning after I filled it with books:
Honestly the hardest part was figuring out where I wanted to put it and the best way to securely mount it.
Here’s what I used:
Materials
- Plywood, 3/4" thick
- Sandpaper, if you’re fancy
- Wood stain, if you’re fancier
- Wood glue (I used Gorilla Wood Glue)
- Mounting tools (I used 3M picture mounting drywall claws, screws, wire)
Once you have your materials, there are really only four or five steps.
Steps
Step 1: Cut the wood
I went to my friendly neighborhood mom & pop hardware store to buy the plywood and make them cut it for me.
Originally I was inspired to make this DIY tiered sunglasses display, only I wanted to fix the shelves with wood glue instead of screws because lazy. My overall concept changed though because even though I showed the hardware store worker cut the pieces in different dimensions than what was on the blog post I showed him. The base was narrower, the shelves were deeper, and there was one random shelf that was over twice as long as the other four. See:
Did he ignore me out of some macho defiance, or did he know something I didn’t? Later I realized the post I showed him had wonky measurements. It said their shelf base was 4" x 22.5" when it was clearly 8.5" x 22.5" in the picture. Since my plywood was also 1/4" thicker and I’d requested a longer (30") base, he probably made mine narrower to compensate. Jury’s out on what was going on with the extra-deep shelves.
ANYWAY, here are the plywood segments I was working with:
- One 5.5" x 30" base
- Four 5.5" x 8" shelves
- One random 5.5" x 20" bonus piece I didn’t ask for (which in hindsight might have just been the worker giving me, an indecisive person, a smaller base so I had options)
I bought some rough-grit sandpaper and a fine-grit sanding sponge along with the wood and home I went.
As for the sunglasses display, my heart is fickle and she flirts. These new proportions reminded me of this spinal book tower that I already own, so now I wanted a floating bookshelf. Something like a DIY dupe of this fancy wall-mounted bookshelf, only mine wouldn’t be “invisible” since you‘d still be able to see all the wood dividers and that one extra long shelf.
Step 2: Sand the wood
Apparently sanding raw, untreated wood before painting or staining is optional, but I opted in.
I actually sanded everything right away with rough grit paper when I first bought it, but then I set it in the corner of my spare room. Which was bad. That’s where creative projects and “things to organize, one day” go to die.
Several months passed. I didn’t actually pick the project back up again until I went on an organizing spree.
I probably didn’t need to sand everything it again, but I gave it a pass with a fine sanding sponge before wiping down and staining. I wasn’t super thorough, but I got it reasonably smooth and softened the sharp edges.
Step 3: Stain the wood (optional)
You could leave the wood naked if you like and skip to Step 4. Or you could stain it, treat it with beeswax butter, even paint it.
I’d seen these Minwax Wood Finishing Cloths on Amazon and bought them long before I had a project to use them on. I have vague memories of staining being easy, though I can’t for the life of me recall what I would have been staining in the first place or why. Anyway, these cloths looked extra easy and they were. Friends, these are genius.
Note that these are easy but not fail-proof. Pro tip: work quickly and wipe down excess with a clean rag right away. The consistency is something between a paint and a stain and it starts drying fast. If you wait until after you’ve stained the entire board to wipe it down like I did, you’ll end up with tacky spots and uneven streaks. Luckily after the second coat it was hard to tell streaks from natural variations in the wood, so this stuff is forgiving.
The stain dries in an hour, if that, so pretty soon I was measuring how all the pieces would fit together.
Step 4: Glue the shelves
I spaced the shelves 5" apart with the longest shelf on the bottom. For reasons I probably had at the time, I left 3" of wood sticking out from the top of the highest shelf and 1.5" sticking out from underneath the bottom shelf.
Next I improvised a system to mark where everything needed to go before gluing it all together. I fixed sticky flags on the underside of each shelf, placing them exactly on the midline and pointing them toward the side that would be glued to the base.
To mark the base, I placed one set of arrows flush with the top right of each shelf. Then I aligned another set of arrows along the midline and pointing directly to the arrows already on the bottom of each shelf.
I used Gorilla Wood Glue to attach the shelves, wiping up excess with Q-tips. This stuff is STRONG––not as strong as screws but more than strong enough for my project.
Once everything was put together, I left it alone to dry and contemplate if the longest shelf was cuter on the bottom or the top.
Ultimately this debate would not matter. Gentle friends, I stepped on it.
It is surprisingly easy to step on a shelf when you’re moving furniture around at 1 o’clock in the morning and don’t see that your precious DIY project has slid down from its perch and onto the floor, ready to be crushed underfoot.
Anyway, I mourned the loss of the long shelf for a moment, but there was just enough undamaged wood to cut the broken shelf to the same proportions as all the other shelves. Lucky break.
Once my new bottom shelf was cut, sanded, and stained, I glued it to the base and set it to dry while I figured out where I was going to put this thing.
Step 5: Mount the shelf
I settled on hanging my shelf in my entryway, now a gallery-wall-in-progress.
Originally I wanted to use Gorilla Mounting Tape like this floating bedside shelf. I even mounted the bare shelf pictured below with the tape.
But I felt I needed something stronger for books and peace of mind. I needed hardware.
I wound up drilling two screws in the back of the base, stringing wire around the screws, and hanging the whole thing onto 25 lbs. capacity 3M drywall claws I’d secured to the wall. And here she is!
I did it! Finally!
One small step (or five) toward actually finishing the things I start. I’m quite pleased with myself.
