Making space in the house is sometimes difficult especially when we live in cramp spaces. The following are ten ideas for quick and easy shelving projects that could you utilize for different rooms; making your space a little more comfortable for you.
1. Chain-hung shelving: For medium to lightweight loads, shelving fastened to chains is quick, easy to make and inexpensive. Four hooks screwed one and one half inch into ceiling joists hold four lengths of chain; shelves are fastened intermediately along the chains using hanger bolts, washers and nuts. The shelves can be adjusted up or down along the chain links. Because the unit has very little lateral stability, you should locate it where it won’t be bumped by passersby. Anchor the bottom ends of chains by fastening them to the floor or wall or place heavy items on the bottom shelf.
2. Suspended shelves: One efficient way to add storage shelves where ceiling joists are exposed – in attics, basements or garages. Although most ceiling joists easily can hold the added weight, fasten shelving that will bear heavy loads to several joists, near the walls or posts that hold the joists.
3. Blocks and boards: During the last few years, one of the most popular quick and easy shelving designs (especially for the mobile student population) has been blocks and boards. Making this kind of shelving is easy and requires no tools. You buy shelving boards and precast concrete or cinder blocks at the lumberyard and stack them alternately. Either leave the pieces natural or paint them. One note about their mobility: if you plan to move often, keep in mind the fact that concrete blocks are not the lightest of shelving supports.
A wide range of both decorative and non-decorative concrete and cinder blocks are available; if you can’t decide which to choose, mix them but check to be sure all pairs are the same size. Or, instead of concrete blocks, try using bricks, large wooden blocks or rectangular tile drain pipes.
4. Shelves and nylon webbing: This quick and easy shelving is not made entirely from wood; this unit has shelves that get their primary support from straps of woven nylon. You can buy the nylon webbing in rolls, packaged for reweaving lawn furniture, at practically any hardware store. The supports could also be made from canvas or leather. (Canvas may tend to stretch and must be seamed along its edges so it won’t fray; leather is a better substitute.)
Assemble the unit before hanging it on the wall. Screw hanger bolts in the back edges of the shelves; then drill and countersink holes for them in the uprights. Cut ten lengths of the webbing about twenty inches long. Beginning with the top shelf, fasten the first two webbing straps in place under the blocks and push the shelf’s hanger bolts through the second pair of straps and into the upright’s holes. Tighten nuts on the hanger bolts. Pull the top straps tightly around the front edge of the top shelf and, holding the shelf at ninety degrees to the supports, lag screw each strap to the shelf’s underside. Trim off the excess webbing. Repeat these assembly procedures for the remaining shelves.
5. Wooden wall standards and brackets: You don’t have to buy metal wall standards and brackets to hang adjustable shelves on a wall; consider making your own from wood. The wall standards are one by twos with holes drilled through the edges every two inch. Attach the standards to wall studs using three or four two and one half inch lag bolts for each (be sure holes in the two standards will be matching levels so shelves won’t tilt). The shelves have permanent wooden sides (one fourth inch hardboard works well) that work as both supporting brackets and bookends. The sides have holes drilled four inches apart that match the holes through the standards, just push bolts or dowels through to support shelves at the proper height.
6. Aluminum molding and wooden wall standards: Aluminum molding screwed to shelf ends and cabinet corners can support shelving and cabinets and enhance their appearance. This method works especially well where you want to make fine cabinets and shelves from high-grade, hardwood veneered plywood but don’t want the plywood edges to show (cover the front edges using solid wood or veneer tape). To make your quick and easy shelving, cut the three one fourth inch by three fourths inch angle molding, drill a one fourth inch hole in the protruding flange, screw the molding in place, add a piece of solid wood with glue and then round the wood’s corner, sanding wood and aluminum together.
7. Stepladders and boards: What easier way is there to make quick and easy bookshelves than to set up a couple of stepladders and run boards across the rungs? That’s all there is to making this shelving unit. Just buy a pair of stepladders (new or used), finish them to the appearance you like, place them back to back and lay boards across the rungs. When buying the ladders, be sure to buy two that have steps at matching heights.
8. Permanent wall shelving: Here is a shelving method that is excellent for lots of storage in a basement or garage; a more decorative version could work well in any room. To make it quick and easy, first run one by two cleat horizontally along the wall at the proper heights for shelves. Screw them to studs with three inch lag screws. The cleats should be the same length as the shelves. Slightly round the front corners of shelves and nail their back edges to the cleats. Nail one by threes or one by fours vertically, extending from floor to ceiling, to the front edge of each shelf for support. The more vertical supports you use, the stronger the shelves will be.
9. Double-sided shelf: If you have the tools needed for notching the ends of shelves (a saber saw or coping saw works well), you can easily make a double-sided bookshelf one. Two floor-to-ceiling four by fours support the shelves, one from each end (the shelves sit on one inch dowels pushed through holes drilled at matching heights through both four by fours). Fasten the four by fours to the ceiling, using L-brackets. Cut the dowels either the same width as the shelves or slightly shorter. Notch the ends of shelves (three and one half inches by three and one half inches for milled four by fours) and sand all edges lightly; then finish as desired.
10. Divider shelving: This two-faced, zigzag shelving makes an excellent room divider. Although it takes up considerably more floor space than other shelving units, its low height keeps it visually unimposing. The back support for each shelf holds the side of the neighboring shelf, helping to minimize the amount of materials required. As a matter of fact, you can make the complete unit quick and easy from two sheets of three fourths inch plywood and seventy-five screws. To make it, just cut out the pieces, slightly round corners and edges and assemble them.
There you have it, ten ideas for quick and easy shelving that you make with inexpensive materials and in no time.
Sources:
Ernest Joyce (1970). Encyclopedia of Furniture Making. Revised and expanded by Alan Peters (1987). Sterling Publishing. ISBN 0-8069-6440-5 (Original edition), ISBN 0-8069-7142-8 (Paperback)
