DIY Mid Century Inspired Shelves

How to build wall mounted shelves

Besides installing Ikea furniture, which definitely doesn’t count, this is my first DIY furniture project. I can’t take all the credit though, Chris did the dirty work. This included, spray painting the white metal runners glossy black and doing the drilling.

Our success would not have been possible without the blogger Almost Makes Perfect who wrote a wonderful post about how she built their wall mounted shelves.  You can check out her post here. We followed her directions, but modified them to fit our walls. What’s great about mounted shelves is that you can customize them to however you like.

We purchased all our materials from Home Depot, I’ll link them below!

Required Materials:

3 – 70″ Twin rack uprights  
14 – 11.5″ Brackets
3 –  Small shelves (the color we chose is called espresso)
1 – Medium shelf 
2 – Long shelves 
Drill
Stud Finder
Level
Measuring Tape
Screws

The home depot near us didn’t have black twin racks so we had to spray paint ours. Make sure its a paint and primer blend good for metal surfaces. This is the one we used –>  Rust-Oleum Universal

The crucial first step is finding studs. You want to make sure you’re drilling into studs because the shelves need support for all the crap you plan to pile on top of them. We’re renters, so the dry wall needs to stay pristine, but if your studs are in compromising locations you can always use dry wall screws.

We dotted and measured where each rack would go depending on where our studs are – so your measurements may vary. Our main objective was that the shelves were straight and a consistent distance apart, leaving one rack farther away to fit the medium sized shelf.

We used a level to test the straightness of each one and a measuring tape to measure the distance between.

Once the racks were lined up and secure, we began putting the shelves in! The brackets are super easy to secure and we just placed our shelves on top! We debated securing them with screws, we might in the future, but we feel okay with them sitting on top for now.

Don’t forget to take the stickers off, especially the brackets!

Now the best part, decorating it! I’ve been collecting little antiques and pieces for years that fit our style.  There’s a lot you can do with this design: desk, bar, entertainment system to name a few ideas. We’re using it as a way to organize our books, magazines, but also just for decoration.

Here’s a peek at how I decorated it, which will most likely evolve as I collect more antiques. There’s meaning behind every item and image.

I hope this solves any of your DIY woes, or gives you some inspiration! As always, thanks for reading. XX EM