Basement, Bathroom, Décor, DIY, Ongoing Projects, Paint, Rustoleum, spray, Storage, Thrifty

DIY Rustic Bathroom Shelves

July 31, 2016 2 Comments

DIY Rustic Industrial Shelves

I have to confess. This is my favorite part of the entire bathroom. (If you missed any of the bathroom remodel that we did this past winter, you can recap right over here.) I knew I wanted some really chunky wood shelves for the little nook above the toilet, but Joe surprised me with something better than I could have imagined.

Making Shelves, Lumberjack Style

I caught a peek of him working on something with his chainsaw out front, just channeling his inner Minnesotan lumberjack. Disclaimer: No trees were harmed in the making of these shelves.

I came back to find these beaut’s sitting out for me! I love how they look, raw and unfinished. It reminds me so much of our old mantle. Joe left the bark exposed on the edges of the shelves, cutting thick slabs out of some firewood. Luckily we had some nice sized lumber around from helping his friend Tim clear brush after a huge storm. These logs live to see another day.

Since we’d done the mantle project already, I knew what to do and got myself right down to business.

I set up a spot off the ground for them and I found an old paint brush.

We had this satin polyurethane sitting around so I reused that, covering all its surfaces. This seals the wood to ensure it won’t rot or collect moisture from the steam in the bathroom.

After letting the shelves dry for a few hours, we were ready to hang them up. We just needed to find a way to secure them… They are super heavy!

Shelf Brackets

We played around with some different ideas.

I thought about doing more ornate brackets like these ones. I found a ton at Big White House downtown Anoka. Lots of different hooks and brackets there.

I also thought about doing floating shelves, but it would have been tricky with these heavy guys. We probably could have hollowed them out from the back and anchored them somehow.

But there was another option we liked.

Ultimately we decided on these simple L-brackets from the hardware store for a clean, modern and industrial look.

I had some hammered bronze spray paint to match them to the rest of the bathroom’s hardware finishes.

Joe told me to sand the metal before spray painting to be sure it adhered.

I gave it a few passes with the sanding block then spray painted them evenly.

Chunky Bathroom Shelf Inspiration

Here are a few of my favorite finds on Pinterest that I looked to for ideas. I love the not-trying-too-hard look of all these meaty shelves. We didn’t want them to look overly done.

Installing our Wood Shelves

Here’s the little nook we had to work with. This was here in the previous life of the bathroom with no shelves or anything. It seemed like wasted space to me. So much potential!

Joe working of some ideas. Hellooo bedhead.

Joe and Michael leveled the shelf and marked where to attach the brackets.

Oh, now’s probably a good time to remind you to measure out your area before you actually cut your shelves to begin with. 😉 And consider anything that might get in the way like an outlet. If you plan to put something tall on your shelf, like a vase, be sure you’ll have enough space height-wise.

Ok, now that we’ve leveled our first shelf and made sure it’s in the right place, it’s safe to screw the brackets into it.

Sturdy!

We repeated the same process for shelf #2.

Two screws went into the sidewalls first, and then three into the bottom of the shelves. We just followed the holes in the brackets.

And there you have it! Custom wood shelves. I love the detail on them. They’re really unique and turned out even better than I could have asked. Super easy, and better yet, cost less than $5!

Ideas for Decorating Shelves

Here are a few ideas we were playing with as far as styling the shelves. I actually ended up using one shelf for towels, one with a basket filled with toiletries for guests and one for decorations. We try not to clutter it up, but it’s fun to play around with ideas.

DIY rustic shelf styled shells — A couple things

I’m sure it will change over time. I’ll have to update you guys after we’ve lived in it a bit longer to see how we use the space on a day-to-day basis. I might put some flowers up there.