Install your own custom shelving

Here's a quick multiple-choice quiz for people who live in buildings of any kind:

Which single item would set off the biggest Cherry Bomb of delight for you?

1. Cosmetic surgery
2. A weekend in Majorca
3. A $10,000 spending spree at the mall
4. Regular bowels
5. Extra shelving

If you're like most people, you went with #5. In terms of basic human drives, "having enough shelves" falls between food and sex. Shelves, however, usually provide the most satisfaction.

Hence, knowing how to install your own shelves is the key to well-being. Here's proof. When I was in my 20's I shared living quarters with two other people. We had a tiny kitchen that possessed only two cupboards, into which we crammed glasses and dishes. But that left us with nowhere to put food or cooking equipment, so we stacked it on the weeny kitchen counter. But that meant we had no surface area for cutting up vegetables, so we were forced to live on popcorn. So finally one of my housemates - let's call him Don Kugler - measured a closet, drove to the hardware store, bought planks, came home, banged around a bit and suddenly we had six glorious shelves to hold all of our cans, cereal boxes, cookware, snack foods and beer. That day was the highlight of my 20's. It was the day I realized that shelf-knowledge is power.

Now I want to share that power with you. So here's Don Kugler's number... WAIT! What am I saying? One must discover shelf-knowledge for oneself.

Here's the easiest way I know to achieve shelf-realization in your own closet. And you don't have to fuss with kits or awkward, bulky brackets. This design is simple, elegant, easy and, if you use cedar, repels bugs and imparts a great fragrance to linens.

Materials

• 1x6 cedar boards
• LePage Power Grab adhesive
• 3" screws (for attaching ledgers to studs)
• 1 5/8" screws (for attaching shelves to ledgers)

Tools

• Measuring tape
• Electronic studfinder
• Saw
• Drill
• Level
• Sander

Steps

1. Mark stud locations on the closet walls using an electronic stud finder (pocket model available for about $15 - a must-have for every human over 12) If any of the closet walls are riddled with electrical, heating or phone outlets, don't bother marking the studs. You won't be screwing into that wall because you could hit something important. Instead, use LePage Power Grab glue; half the trouble, twice the fun.
2. Decide on the appropriate height for the bottom shelf - allow enough room for specific boxes or bins on the floor underneath that first shelf.
3. Once you've marked the height, use a level to draw a continuous horizontal line around the sides and back of the closet; you'll use this reference line to locate the ledger for your bottom shelf.
4. Measure up from the first ledger line to the level of your second ledger, and make a second continuous horizontal line.
5. Continue measuring up and drawing horizontal ledger lines until you have reached the top of your closet.
6. Rip ledgers out of the same wood you're using for the shelves. The easiest way to rip the 1-1/2 inch ledger boards is to use a table saw, but not everyone has a big fancy table saw. I used a cutting guide attached to my circular saw to make a nice even cut. Using a handsaw would be raw torture, so avoid the heartbreak.
7. Attach the ledgers to stud locations with 3" screws, or glue them to the wall using LePage Power Grab adhesive, which is packaged in a really cool dispenser that gives you fantastic control over the amount of glue you use. Power Grab holds like a badger. You really don't even need to screw, but I always do anyway. Just a personal preference.
8. Next, cut the boards that will function as the actual shelves. I used four boards to make each single deep (22") shelf.
9. CUTTING TIP: Measure the width of your closet at the front and back - the shelf boards will probably need to be cut in graduating sizes because most closets are not square! For example, if your closet is slightly wider at the back than at the front, but you cut all the boards the same length as the back board, you'll discover that the front boards bind horribly and make you pinched and irritable.
10. DESIGN TIP: If you can operate a router, put a decorative edge on the front board of each shelf. Fun? Wow.
11. DROOPY TIP: If your shelves are quite wide and they sag in the middle, add a triangular shelf support in the centre of the span, screwing it to the wall and to the underside of the shelf.
12. Dry-fit the shelf boards, and then pre-drill and screw them to the ledgers.
13. Load up shelves.
14. Gloat.
15. Freely fulfill other drives, now that the shelving thing is handled.