DIY built-in shelves for custom closet organization on a budget!
This closet serves as a crucial part of our home office / guest room. If you’ve been following along on my One Room Challenge journey, then you know this room serves as the home to my husband’s racing simulator, as well as our home office and guest room. As a multipurpose room, it made sense to leverage every inch of the space available to us.
Enter the Closet Office (a.k.a. the “Cloffice”)
My vision for our closet office includes shelving along each side of the closet and a connecting shelf in line with the bottom shelves on either side to serve as the desk. This allows the desk area to remain open and not feel too closed in while also leaving plenty of room to add a closet rod back in if needed in the future. I was hoping the closet would be complete when I wrote this post, but I’m running behind schedule, so we’ll have to save that for later!
After removing the old closet organizer, we repaired the walls and gave them a fresh coat of paint. Then we were ready to begin building our custom DIY shelves!
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Sources: Storage Baskets | Alternative Storage Baskets | Plant (Similar) | Cedar Lining
Closet Office Part 1: DIY Built-in Shelves
Possibly the most impressive part of these DIY built-in shelves is the price! Our total cost for supplies was $55. If you’ve ever looked into custom closet shelving systems, then you know they can cost much, much more. So, I think this is a pretty awesome deal!
Supplies Needed to Build DIY Closet Shelves:
- 1×2 wood boards
- 1/2-inch or 3/4-inch plywood – we used 3/4-inch to make them extra sturdy
- 1/4-inch plywood (optional)
- 1-inch construction screws
- Drywall Anchors
- Wood glue (optional)
Tools Used:
- Circular saw (or table saw if you have one)
- Drill
- Stud Finder
- Tape Measure
- Level
1) Measure where your built-in shelves would go
I used masking tape to measure out where each shelf should go and make sure it visually looked right. I started with the bottom shelf and measured it to 31 inches above the floor since this will serve as part of our desk. Then, I evenly spaced the 4 shelves above. I left a few extra inches of space between the bottom shelf and the next one up since that will serve as part of the desk area. It will also house our printer, so I wanted to make sure we had enough room for it to have full functionality. The desk shelf has 20 inches between it and the next shelf, and the other shelves have 13 inches of space and a little extra above the top shelf to the ceiling.
Attach the 1×2 boards to the wall to create a ledge for the shelf to sit on.
2) Cut the plywood shelves to size
To determine the shelf width, I measured the space between the back cedar wall and the front wall to give me the width. As I found out the hard way, walls are not even and our closet narrowed toward the back, which meant my shelves didn’t fit and I had to trim them all down. Next time, I’ll make sure to measure not only the front of the wall, but the back corners as well! For the length, we made the bottom shelves larger at 20 inches deep to fit our printer and serve as useable desk space. We cut the remaining shelves to 16 inches deep. Cut the 3/4-inch plywood for the top and the 1/4 inch plywood for the bottom (optional).
Since we do not have a table saw, we lined up a spare piece of wood to use as a guide for our circular saw to slide along so we could cut a straight line. You could also have your plywood cut to size at Lowe’s or Home Depot.
3) Cut the 1×2 boards to support the DIY closet shelves
For the supports, use the same measurements as the plywood. We cut the sides 1 inch shorter than the shelves (so 19 inches for the bottom shelves and 15 inches for each side of the upper shelves), and the back the same length as the shelf. If you’re not planning to use a thin plywood to finish the bottom of the shelves, then I’ve seen it done where you cut the front portion of the supports at a 45-degree angle. This makes it appear a little more seamless once installed and painted.
Add the 1/2 or 3/4-inch plywood on top and attach to the support boards. Attach a 1×2 board for the front of the shelf.
4) Install the 1×2 support boards and attach the plywood top
We used our stud finder to locate the studs in the walls and installed drywall anchors in any locations where we couldn’t screw straight into the studs. Install the back support first, with the 1-inch side of the board against the wall. We lined the top of the support up with where we wanted the bottom of the plywood to keep the spacing equal. Use a level when installing the supports to make sure they are straight. Install the side supports in the same way, in line with the back support.
Slide the plywood in on top of the supports. This is where it gets exciting as you see your DIY built-in shelves begin to come together! We attached the plywood by screwing it into the support from the top. This was less than ideal as it left more holes to fill, so I would probably just glue it next time.
Add the 1/4-inch plywood to the bottom of the shelf to hide the bracket and make it look like one solid shelf.
5) Cut and install the shelf front and bottom finishing board (Optional)
Cut the 1×2 board to the same size as the front face of the shelf. Line it up with the top of the plywood and attach. Again, I would opt to glue and nail this to the plywood or screw it in from the back. We screwed the face board in from the front which meant we had nice big holes to fill and smooth out. You could also leave this off, but I like the look of a thicker shelf.
If you are wanting it to look like one thick shelf like ours, then you’ll want to add the 1/4-inch plywood board to the bottom of each shelf. This hid all of the supports extra screws, and mess underneath to make it look so much cleaner! To attach this board, we screwed it into the supports from the bottom (again, glue and nails is probably a much better method!). Since we used a 3/4-inch plywood board for the top of the shelves, the bottom board attached below the front 1×2 board as you can see in the photo above.
6) Paint or stain your new DIY built-in shelves
This part will differ if you’re planning to stain vs. paint the shelves, however, the same principals apply. Fill all holes and sand them smooth. Caulk the seams if painting and finish your shelves! I sanded and primed the plywood before installing since it’s easier and less messy to do this outside. I also smoothed out the wood grain using drywall putty (because I didn’t have any wood filler). I’m certain wood filler is a better option, but sometimes you just use what you have on hand!
A few notes to help your project go a bit more smoothly than ours:
- Be as precise as possible with your measurements and cuts. The more precise your cuts, the less filling in gaps and holes before painting.
- Pick the straightest boards for the fronts of the shelves. This helps them sit flush with the top of the plywood for a much cleaner finish. It also leads to much less filling and sanding!
- Be careful if using latex paint. I painted our shelves the same color as the closet walls to make them look built-in. However, it’s latex paint that’s really intended for walls. Something you probably won’t learn unless you paint a flat surface with latex paint: it remains tacky for a really long time! I painted our shelves a couple of weeks ago. They’re dry to the touch. However, if I leave something sitting on them for a few minutes, it sticks just slightly. Thankfully it doesn’t seem too bad (I took the printer off and it didn’t peel up paint or anything like that). I’m planning to let the shelves continue drying and then I may try adding a finishing coat, like a wax or ploy to help seal them.
Sources: Door Handles | Mirror 1 | Mirror 2 | Throw Blanket
We also finally finished the closet doors! We added a fresh coat of paint to match the trip and new hardware. A small update with a big impact (and much better than the yellow that was here before)!
We have a ton left to do in this room before our final reveal! Our remaining projects include finishing our closet office, hanging our 14ft DIY floating shelf, installing a gallery wall, possibly making the room divider, and adding all of the finishing touches. They’ve extended the deadline to July 5th, and I will need every bit of that extra time to complete this project. We’re so close though!
There are tons of awesome projects that are way more on track than mine on the One Room Challenge blog. Make sure to check them out for extra inspo!
