Building a Plant Shelf

This is how I built a plant shelf cheaply. My wife mentioned to me one day last fall that she needed a plant shelf in the kitchen for a few plants we had on the back porch before winter arrived. She gave me a basic idea of where she wanted to put the shelf.

A couple of weeks later, we were in a local craft store. I spotted a bin of some interesting looking shelves that would be perfect for the plants that were only $3.99.

None are them were finished, but they had the possibility of satisfying the need my wife was looking for. The wood alone would have cost me more than the $3.99 asking price. So we took our potential plant shelf home.

I then proceeded to rip it apart. I cut the main shelf to fit the 42 inch space we had allocated. I then sanded all the pieces using 80 grit sandpaper and then 120 grit sandpaper. I reassembled the pieces using Sumo glue and a pneumatic nail gun (hey if you have the tools use them). After assembly, I sanded the shelf again using 220 grit sandpaper. The glue is the primary method to keep everything together. The nails hold it together until the glue dries.

I finished the shelf with Natural Polyurethane I had leftover from another project. After the Polyurethane was dry, I sanded it one final time lightly with the 220 grit and put on a second coat of Polyurethane. The final finish is smooth and durable.

After the shelf was dry, I took it inside and got out my stud finder to locate the wooden studs.

I attached the shelf using wood screws that were 2 ½ inches long (¾” for the thickness of the wood. Drywall should be ½”, but could be ¾”). I put the remaining part of the screw into the wall stud.

Below are pictures of our finished shelf with and without the plants.

It also has a groove in the top to stand plates upright. So once the whether is warm enough outside to put the plants outside, my wife will put her plate collection on it.

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