5 Steps to Easy Picture Shelves

I really wanted to fill this awkwardly BLANK space on my wall. And since our ceilings are somewhat high, everything I tried here looked miniature size. We decided that three 6ft picture shelves would help our space feel less empty!

Turns out, buying pre-made 6ft shelves from any store is ridiculously expensive. Eeek! So we decided to build them ourselves. While we are by no means experts, here's a quick step by step guide for how we built ours and what we stained them with.

The cost of the material for the wood shelves was about $15-18 a shelf. (Depending on if you already have some of the supplies).

Step One:
​Get your supplies

We used:

• 6 1x4x6 pieces
• 3 1x2x6
  

**Sometimes hardware store wood pieces are a TAD too long in certain areas. Make sure yours are the right length when buying or you may have to get a table saw of sorts to shorten them.

• Wood Glue
• Drill
• 1-1/4 Screws for shelves

* Other tutorials said to use finishing nails, but honestly this did not hold it as well as I hoped and since I have a baby and was        terrified it would fall on her head, I decided screws were better even though they were more visible. (honestly they're barely            noticeable).

• 2 1/4 Screws for hanging into wall
• ​Stain & rags
• Level for hanging

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Step Two:
​Glue edge of one 1x4x6 and place it hard up against the other 1x4x6.

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Step Three:
​Screw the boards together to doubly ensure

The glue helped these boards bond together better without gaps, but I liked the extra measure of the screws. We had to use a drill bit to bore a hole into the wood so it wouldn't split, and then we screwed the screws in. We placed three along the back edges of the 1x4x6.

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Step Four:
Now repeat this process for the 1x2x6. 

Place a small amount of glue on backside and place it firmly against the edge of the exposed side of the 1x4x6. This should form a small lip so your frames can't slide off.

You'll see how we did it in the photo below. Then we *tried* to finish this piece with finishing nails. I felt they weren't secure enough, so we ended up just screwing in three of our screws for peace of mind. (1 on each end and 1 in the middle). My stain was dark enough that you didn't notice much.

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Step Five:
​Evenly spread your stain over the entire shelf. 

Though, I'll be honest, I didn't stain the back because I got a little tired. ;)
They take about a couple hours to dry. 

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​Hanging Your Shelves

Hanging is ALWAYS easier with two people, a ladder, and a LEVEL. We used painter's tape to place the shape and length of the shelves on the wall FIRST. Then we made marks and just screwed the back of our 1x4x6 right into the wall. We used three 2 1/4 screws (2 on each end and one in the middle).