DIY Rustic Wood Shelf

Today, I’m excited to share another element of our Foster Care bedroom. If you’ve followed along you’ve seen the plank wall, unique curtain hooks, the “LOVE” and “Whole World Inside Me” wall art, and the pallet frame. Right now, I want to walk you through this Rustic Wood Shelf. I gathered some odds and ends wood and a few planks from a collapsed barn to make this piece. If you gathered your own wood and followed the principles in this post, you could make your own rustic shelf too!

I love the detail and even the moss in this warped wood. Although it looks rustic and rotten it is solid and heavy. I let it dry out for a couple of months, before using it to create this shelf.

I cut my scrap wood pieces to create four equal squares. I then spray painted them, let them dry, and sanded them briefly to create a more rustic look to blend with the wood.

We then used the Kreg Jig that I received at Haven to drill at an angle and attach my barn wood to the painted squares. This Jig allowed us to create a clean pocket hole that was minimal in size and could easily be covered by a plugable pocket hole to create a finished look.

For extra reinforcement, I drilled screws from the top of my barn wood down into the square blocks. This made sure that the barn wood was tight and secure.

I then used some of my Purebond wood scraps to cut and cover the back. I measured the size they would need to be and stained them.

Matt then used a small finishing nail and hammered them into the middle shelf board, so it was one nail down the middle of each Purebond wood piece).

We made sure it was level and rigged a little hanging device on the back. This is a heavy piece, so we wanted to create a safe way to hang it that would hold up. Using 50lb eye hooks and hanging wire that we wrapped into a loop made a secure way to attach it to hooks that we anchored to the bedroom drywall.

The last thing was to hang it up and stage it! I love how it came out. It is simple, yet has character and charm. I am still building my confidence with my Ryobi Miter saw. I use it often to cut things, but it is usually something simple like a wood sign. To design and build something from scratch is still new to me. I am so proud of this piece.

I love the rustic, natural wood with a pop of pretty blue color. I love the edges of the shelf hanging over the side blue wall. What do you think?

I loved putting my accessories on this shelf. It’s a simple, yet fun way to decorate our foster care bedroom. Since we will have a range of age and gender staying in the room, this shelf allows for me to quickly switch our decor based on who is using the room.

Do you collect wood? My stash is running low, so maybe I will be on the hunt for some pallets soon. I hope you had a great weekend. If you missed it yesterday, I got a tattoo this past weekend!