DIY Farmhouse Shelves

DIY Farmhouse Shelves

It might seem like I’m writing about interior design a lot lately but that is because we just hit the four year mark of moving into this house.

I know I am repeating myself when I say that when we moved in, I was just two weeks from my due date with Valentina. And then once she came along, I was pregnant with Anthony by the time she was seven months. There wasn’t a lot of time to decorate the house. It was more like move in the necessities and then make room for all the baby stuff. When we moved in there were three of us and our dog and that quickly grew to 5 and a dog. Interior design fell to the wayside.

Now that my kids are beyond the infant stage – I can start to really take a good look around this place and see what we need, what we can move around, what we can update with paint or get rid of altogether. All that giant baby gear is gone like jumparoo’s and swings and oversized brightly colored plastic toys.

I’ve updated our dining room table, updated the dining room chairs, painted and updated the kitchen lighting, chalk painted the dining room sideboard (post coming soon), moved the living room furniture around, moved 90% of the toys to the playroom, new curtains and shades throughout, painted the playroom, kids rooms are totally set, and now I’m updating the walls with shelves and decor which brings me to this post.

Our main floor bathroom and biggest bathroom is where our guests and kids go to do their business. It is updated, pretty modern but lacks storage. When we moved in we purchased and installed a modern floor to ceiling cabinet to store towels and extra toilet paper. We have a huge linen closet in the hall, but wanted a place for guests to access quickly. There is a massive pedestal sink that I love, but with that comes no under sink storage. There is a medicine cabinet, for small items like toothbrushes, meds, and small toiletries. And that is it for storage. Plus, the room is large, but not so large that I want to start jamming up the floor space. There is a towel bar on one wall and then over the toilet was a blank wall. The walls are painted grey and the rest of the bathroom has white marble, a white sink, and a grey tile floor.

I had grabbed a print from T.J. Max some time ago just to have something decorative in the bathroom. Never loved it just needed something. Always thinking how it would be nice to have a couple of shelves.

When I saw shelves in the store it never was something that would match. I didn’t want white and I didn’t want black. Now nearly four years later and several DIY projects under my belt I felt confident enough that I could make my own! Farmhouse shelves coming right up!

I went to Home Depot and grabbed a 2″x8″ and had them cut it to size for me. I took measurements at home for both bathrooms because if I’m gonna do it for one bathroom I might as well do it for both. They cut the board to size for me (2) 20″ boards and (2) 22″ boards and I went home and grabbed my stain. Total cost so far was less than $10 and I have wood to spare for another project.

Remember when I made that sign for my entryway? I wanted the boards to look roughed up just like that so I slammed them around with a hammer and even tossed them in the driveway a few times. I sanded the edges down too because I didn’t want a clean finish from them being cut.

I took a tack cloth and got all the dust off the boards before I stained. Important! Then I put one coat of stain, wiped it with a rag, and let it dry overnight in the garage (weather). I didn’t want to polyurethane the wood, but you can if you want a protective coat. I wanted to keep them rustic and I’m not using these for eating or drinking on.

I ordered these Iron Shelf Brackets from Amazon and they were in my hand in just a couple days. After chatting with my Dad (a builder for over 30+ years) he recommended me putting a clear coat on the brackets to prevent rust. They are going into the bathroom and the steam could eventually rust the steel. Easy fix!

Time to hang these suckers! I hand screwed the brackets to the shelves by hand. Carefully measured and marked where I needed to screw. I have my brackets measured in at 5″ from each end. Get yourself a ratcheting screwdriver. You can skip the drill! The shelves are rugged and a bit heavy so it was important to mount them with anchors. Remember I do have small kids and I don’t want one little tug to rip it off the wall. I used toggle bolts (size 3/16″) for the top holes on the brackets and then regular plastic anchors for the bottom two holes. These things are not gonna budge! Don’t forget to use a level!

Rust-Oleum Varathane Stain (American Walnut) // Tack Cloth // Iron Shelf Brackets // Rust-Oleum Clear Coat // Ratcheting Screwdriver // Toggle Bolts 

I love how these farmhouse shelves look and how we have a bit more storage for those items we access quickly. What do you think? I grabbed those glass jars with the copper tops at my T.J. Max for $1.99/each! Clock is from IKEA.

Post contains affiliate links.