DIY Raw Edge Shelf

Well, it’s partially DIY, my Dad helped 😉

I had planned on, at some point putting up some type of shelving in my home “office” but I was thinking more along the lines of an Slot Online. But about a year and a half ago while I was visiting my brother, I noticed in his barn, this nice piece of milled (I think that’s the correct term?) wood on the floor. When I questioned him on what he was doing with it, he said I could have it. Yayyy, score!! He told me to let it dry out for a bit longer, laying flat.

I knew exactly what I was going to do with it as soon as I seen it, but forgot to Judi Slot Online Gampang Menang it flat right away, so it has bowed a bit, but not so bad that it can’t be used ( you can kind of tell in the bottom picture with the slab on the right).

It did have bark on the edges but as it dried out the bark peeled off easily. This piece is cut quite thin, but I’m sure you could get it cut in different thickness’.

Now, this piece is something my brother had already had Slot Gacor Gampang Menang, he has a sawmill of sorts. But I feel like it you wanted to be thrifty, and not spend hundreds of dollars on a raw edge piece from a store, I’m sure you could visit any sawmill (maybe call first ) 😉 and pick out a piece of wood and have it cut to size and thickness for you. This is a soft wood, (I think it’s a type of fir tree) cut rather thin so it’s not heavy at all.

You can tell in the above photo that both sides of each slab have a “raw” edge to them. I was mounting them on a wall, so one of the edges on each slab has to be straight in order to sit flush against the wall. Since the shelves were not very deep, I also didn’t want to lose a lot of surface space from each shelf. This is where my Dad comes in. But if you don’t have a Dad who is a cabinet maker haha, maybe you yourself or someone you know, may be knacky with a table saw or some type of scroll saw ( I am neither of those things). So I got my Dad to (he used a big fancy sander of some kind) make one edge straight, taking off as little of the depth of each shelf as possible. I picked what looked like the straightest edge to begin with, choosing that to be the wall side, and what was going to be the front, still has a raw look. Does this make sense? Haha. I forgot to take pictures during this part.

After they were cut to the length I needed them to be and the wall side was flat, I used a hand held sander with a fine grit paper and sanded down all the surfaces. It took a little while but worth it in the end.

I knew that I wanted them to look like an old piece of driftwood (I saved a piece after cutting them to size so I could test stain colors) and happened to find this at the hardware store. It ended up being a bit too grey but I found a brownish stain as well and mixed the two together to get a color I liked. It took very little stain, so ask a friend or family member, they may even have some left over stain they aren’t using and that’ll save even more money 😉

I then brushed it onto all the surfaces of the wood and let it sit for a few seconds before wiping off the excess with a rag. I only used one coat but this was the look I wanted. You could do multiple coats to your preference. Just be sure to ask the sales associates at the hardware store, and read the can.

After letting the stain dry for an appropriate amount of time, (in my case it was until I felt like going back out to the barn haha), I then used the flattest finish of varnish that was available because I didn’t want a sheen. I used 2 coats of varnish, letting each coat dry in between.

Because each shelf has a different depth, I had to search for a bit to find brackets that were available in different depths and that also had the look I wanted. Which was kind of a seamless, modern look. So happy when I found these on amazon and my Dad came to the rescue again and hung them for me. 🙂 Brackets are linked at the end.

The brackets on the top shelf are 6 inches deep and the bottom shelf brackets are 8 inches.

You can see the nice raw edge detail that was exactly what I wanted and to add a bit of décor and personality into a room I sit in quite often. haha. I also wanted a place to display some antique cameras I have.

The bottom shelf still needs a bit of styling to get it “just right”, I just haven’t been shopping to find the perfect item to put in the center. It may be a/some photographs of friends/family, I just need to find a nice frame 😉 I also need to get a few accessories for the top of the desk.

And that’s it! Took a bit of time, but not hard at all. You never know what you are capable of until you try! 😉

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Thanks for reading.

If you try a DIY shelf at home, be sure to tag my in it on Facebook or Instagram @oursimplegracioushome. I don’t have a business Facebook page yet but you can tag me @janiemarieshea for Facebook.