Tuesday Tips – DIY plywood shelf

I’ve had fun building a plywood shelf, so I thought I would share this DIY with you today. 

My shelf measures; back panel 61cm x 183cm and five shelves of 10cm x 61cm. 

First you decide the size of the gaps between the shelves. I decided I wanted to have one larger shelf in the middle. Here are the measurements I used. These are the gaps between the shelves; 34cm, 30cm, 42cm, 34cm and 30cm.

Once you have decided where you want your shelves, you draw a line with a pencil. It’s important that the lines are straight obviously, so I would suggest using a set square to keep things completely straight. 

You then follow the line and make a straight (ish) line with your wood glue. I would recommend a really strong wood glue, especially if you’re going to use the shelf as a display unit more than a bookshelf. (TIP! If there’s any excess glue you can remove it with .. wait for it.. make up removal wipes. The wipes even take away fingerprints and pencil marks if there are any, they are so handy for DIY projects) I applied glue on both the back panel and the shelf. 

When you have glued all the shelves you have to leave it all to dry. After about an hour my husband and I added the screws. They offer extra support, so I think it’s important to add screws as well as glue. We put in 3 screws on each shelf. They are of course on the back and you wouldn’t even know they were there. 

Your shelf is now ready to be used. You can of course paint it if you want to. I’m leaving it natural just now as plywood is of course very trendy. Just like large knit cushions (this one is from B&Q).

Hope you like my DIY shelf and that you’ll build one! 

You can read all my Tuesday Tips here.

hx

The materials used in this tuturial were sponsored by B&Q.