I recently shared our fall decor and received several questions about our farmhouse shelves. These shelves were the first project I completed in our new house and I’m so in love! It was a very simple project that cost less than $100 and only took about 2 hours.
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These farmhouse shelves are the focal point in the kitchen, offering extra storage and a space to decorate each season. We store our most used plates and bowls on the shelves and other serving dishes and decor items on the shelves. I love that we now have useful and beautiful storage on an otherwise unused wall in our kitchen.
Making these farmhouse shelves was simple. It only took a few hours. Anyone can do it!
Placing your Farmhouse Shelves
One of my favorite tricks when planning to hang photos or shelves is to use painter’s tape to test out the location, height, and width. We first thought we would put up three shelves but once we put up some painter’s tape to test it out, we decided two shelves were just right. That top shelf would have been too high to be functional.
Supplies to make your farmhouse shelves
- Shelf Brackets. I used 3 brackets for each of my 64″ wide shelves.
- Wood for your shelves. I picked an inexpensive common pine from Home Depot. You can ask for “White Wood” at Lowe’s too.
- A hand sander is super helpful for this project
- A pack of sanding paper
- Rags or a staining pad
- A hammer, screws, chain, wire brush or other tools for distressing your wood – I only used a hammer to soften the corners a little.
- Stain – I used Provincial stain from Varathane
- Polyurethane – I like satin finish so I used a Satin Poly from General Finishers
These Shelf Brackets had the simple look I wanted. When you choose your brackets, be sure to measure the depth so you know how deep your shelves need to be. Our brackets wrapped up around the edge of the shelf so I had to be sure the shelves fit just right.
Next, I went off to Home Depot to get my lumber. I had my measurements in hand and chose an inexpensive pine wood. I made sure the wood was the right depth for my brackets (mine were 11 5/8″) and I also chose a 2″ thick piece of wood.
You can use a thinner piece but I liked how the 2″ wood looked. With my measurements in hand, I had the employees cut my wood to the perfect length.
Don’t hesitate to ask for help, everyone working in the lumber department is more than happy to help. I went home with 3 pieces of wood cut to the perfect length for my project.
Staining your shelves
I’m not going lie, staining wood always sounded much harder than it actually is. Don’t be intimidated, it’s really easy.
- After distressing my shelves with a few smacks of a hammer, I sanded down the rough edges then wiped down the wood with a rag so there was no dust left behind.
- Dip a clean rag or staining pad in your stain; be sure to squeeze out any extra stain.
- Wipe the stain on the wood. I put on a few coats until I liked the color.
- I let my stain dry overnight before brushing on two coats of polyurethane.
- Once your shelves are completely dry you can install them.
Hang up your farmhouse shelves
To hang up your shelves you’ll need to locate studs using a stud finder, we like this one because it will warn you about electrical wires behind the wall too. I decided to use 3 studs for my shelf because they were so long.
Once you find your studs you’ll want to mark where you want your holes and use a level to make sure they are straight (you don’t want crooked shelves!). When you are ready, drill pilot holes and then hang your brackets with long (We used 3″) screws.
This project was so easy and satisfying. Going from a blank wall to a functional wall with extra storage was a big improvement. I’m looking forward to adding similar shelves in other areas in our house. I would love to hear if you decide to try this project and how it goes!
Tag me on Instagram @HeyDonna if you make your own farmhouse inspired shelves.
Rebekah
They look awesome, and I am so impressed you made them yourself!
Emily
Donna, this is so great! Love the look and info. Thanks!
Ginny
Love these! I have extra old boards from a table we are making and these shelves will be perfect for the boards! Thank you for the link for the brackets-they look perfect! 🙂