Custom Closet Shoe Shelves

One huge selling point in our house was the amazing space in our master bedroom, bathroom, and closet.  Before we got our comfy bed, I used to take naps in the master walk-in closet because it is just that spacious! Thankfully, Casey has a great mind for making use of space without just filling it up with things.  For example, in our closet, we have this little bumped out space seen below.

We haven't really had a great place to put our shoes in the closet.  We mostly just scatter them about on the floor near our clothes.  Casey, with an idea of how to use this space, came to me one day and said, "You know what would be great?  Some shoe shelves in the closet would be great."  Whenever she says something like this, I just take it as a challenge being issued.  What I heard was, "Sean, I want shoe shelves and I'm challenging you to figure out how to do them."  Well, game on!

I got started measuring, cutting, and figuring out just the right angle for the shelves to hang from the wall.  The first step was getting all the back wall supports in place and spaced out.  (Side bar:  Casey had just gotten me a nail gun for Father's Day and I was pumped to use it for the first time with this project!)  I just popped these guys in with a brad nail and then screwed in the center right into the stud.

I made sure to cut all the back supports and shelves 3/4 of an inch shorter than the length of the wall so that I could add a piece of plywood along the side of the shelves.  The ceiling is exactly 8ft in our closet, so a 4ft x 8ft sheet of plywood was easy to rip and fit into place.  As you can see below, I got the bottom shelf in place with the plywood alongside it.  I used brad nails along the side of the shelves (going through the plywood) and along the back going into the support beams.

The shelves are made of composite board because I had extra hanging around (I would usually use more sturdy plywood, but composite board will hold up well since they are only being used for shoes).  To attach the front molding, I simply cut 1x3 boards to size and used my handy dandy nail gun to secure them to the front of the shelves.  Once all the shelves were assembled, I nailed them in place starting at the bottom and working my way to the top.  I added a toenail to the front right corners to anchor the shelves into the existing wall as well (provided some more stability).  

 After a long time painting (took two coats), the shoe shelves were finished and ready for use!  What do you think?  This was the first thing I had built without any plans to guide me!  I was very pleased with the way it turned out.

Note that I get the top 3 shelves and Casey has the bottom 6!

 Because of the angle I took the picture, it doesn't really look like the shelves are spaced evenly.  I promise the are!  Too bad I don't have great photography skills!

Farmhouse Table

      With the summers off from school, Casey and I (Sean) find ourselves with much more time for hobbies.  One thing I love is building/doing things that Casey thinks would look good in/around the house.  I have almost no imagination.  Thankfully, Casey is great at coming up with the ideas and the vision...I just do my best to make that vision a reality. 

So, for the past year and a half we've had an empty dining room.  You can see the first thing we did to furnish it here.  Still lacking a table to dine at, Casey found a farmhouse style table that she really liked on this great site that includes 3D building plans, a shopping list and cut list for the wood.  All these provisions were extremely helpful for a novice builder like myself.  Not really knowing what I was doing, I just jumped right in and went for it.  I had to learn (by watching YouTube videos and just trying things out) how to do a lot of the building techniques as I went.  Trust me, if I could do it...you can, too!  Here's an overview of how it went:

After making the necessary cuts, I put together the two ends of the frame.  I just used some good ol' screws and a little wood glue on this part.

The next part was quick and easy.  All I did here was stand the sides up (if put together properly, they will stay standing without support) and insert the stretcher board into the slots I had notched out earlier.

Next, I secured the frame for the table top.  A critical part of this step is making sure the frame is square at the corners so that your table will be square.  The table top frame fits simply into the notches made in the end pieces.

I then added these 2x2 support beams to help hold the weight of the tabletop (the tabletop is pretty heavy since it's solid wood).  Herschel's tail is making a guest appearance in the background there...he always finds a way to be in the mix.

This next part was one of my favorites because I could really see it coming together.  I pre-stained the edges of the tabletop boards so the cracks would all be stained.  Using pocket hole screws with my Kreg Jig, I secured all of the boards together on a level surface.  The top is made up of four 2x10s placed side-by-side and a 2x8 bread board at each end.  All put together, it measures 37 inches wide and 96 inches long.

 After sanding it all smooth, I put on this stain that Casey picked out called Early American.  It really came together well, huh?

The plans from Ana White's site stop there.  I decided to personalize it a little more and add some character to the underside of the table.  So, I figured out how to cut and attach these two supports underneath the tabletop.  They added a surprising amount of stability to the table.  In this picture, you can see the table next to the blue buffet we previous refinished.

The table looks great in the space and it will last us a loooooooooong time because it is well-built and solid wood.  My friend liked it so much that he asked me to make one for him to go in his house!  Would you like a great looking, personalized, long-lasting farmhouse table for yourself?  You can let us know by emailing us at sweetlynested@gmail.com.