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Hi Frugal friends! We have another project to tackle at our sons house today. We are making open farmhouse shelves for the bathroom.

At the end of the bathroom counter there is a little nook. It goes from the countertop to the ceiling. It’s the perfect spot to add open shelves.

First, I measure the width and height of the space. I want to evenly space the shelves in the height of the space. So I divide the height by the number of shelve I want which is four. The space is just over 12 inches deep. We decided to use a 1×12 for the shelves.

The first thing I did was to mark the shelf locations on the wall. Then I measured for the width of each shelf at the location I marked. Make sure to do this step, because walls are not always straight all the way up. So if you use the same measurement for each shelf instead of measuring each individually they may not fit.

Once you have your measurements cut the shelf supports to the same width as the 1×12.

Since it is actually only 11 ¼ inches wide cut them that width. 

I’m going to make them the same shade of stain as the countertop, Varathane oil based stain in Ebony. 

Stain the supports first and let them dry. Once they are dry, use a level and a nail gun to nail them into place.

Next cut the shelves to the size you measured. Sand the edges well to remove this shaggy edges left by the saw. Lightly sand the top and bottom as well. I numbered the end of each board so I would know which position each board goes. Dry fit the shelves into place to make sure they fit well.

I like to wipe the bare wood with a pretty wet rag. Wring it out a bit so it’s not dripping but still wet enough to make the wood completely wet.

I only wet one shelf at a time then I dip a rag in the stain and wipe it on.

Wipe the stain over the entire surface of one side of the board. 

If there are imperfections in the wood I like to really work the stain in those areas to bring them out a bit.

I love the contrast the imperfections give the board.

I do this process for each board on one side then let them dry for an hour or so. Once they are dry I flip them over and repeat the process. Don’t forget to do the front edge as you do one side or the other.

Next I sealed them with Varathane Ultimate Polyurethane.

Yes, I realize that I put water based poly over oil based stain.  I know you really aren’t supposed to do that. but somehow that was the combination we ended up with. We live in a rural area and it was either use what we had or not do the shelves. So, I decided to just go with what we had. It worked just fine for me, but do whatever you want to do. I am not recommending that you use water based over oil based at all.

Always remember to gently stir and not shake up your polyurethane so you don’t add bubbles.  Bubbles will make it harder to get a smooth finish.

Brush the polyurethane on one side of the shelves and let the boards dry for a couple hours and repeat on the other side.The polyurethane goes on a little milky looking, but dries completely clear so don’t worry if it looks like that.

Let the shelves dry a couple of hours and then I nailed them into place. I nailed them from the top down into the supports with a nail gun.

I love the way they look.  They added a lot of storage to this little nook.

They look good from the top down, but no one will see them from this view. So keep that in mind when you choose which side of the boards you turn up as the top. Make sure to put the best side down except for the bottom shelf, because this is what people will see.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you enjoyed this little project. Ya’ll come back soon.

Missy

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