We have one storage closet in our house and we’re determined to never get more stuff than what fits in that closet. But, we’re only 1.5 years into living in our house and the closet is a disaster. Like can’t walk in, things might fall on you when you open the door disaster.
Sure, we went through our storage containers and got rid of some of the stuff we no longer needed, but the space still wasn’t working. We decided it was time to tackle some DIY shelves to organize our walk-in storage closet. And I’m happy to say that it worked! We ended up having extra space leftover in the closet and we can easily find what we need!
Alright, let’s start DIYing!
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TOOLS
- Drill
- Circular saw
- Electric sander
- Stud finder
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Every built-in will be unique to the space, but for reference, we used the following:
- (6) 1x3x8 pine boards
- (2) 4×8 MDF boards
- Brackets (for the large shelves we used 3 of these, for the small shelves, we used 1 of these on each shelf)
- 3″ Screws
- Caulk (make sure it’s paintable)
- Wood putty or spackle (since we painted, we opted to use spackle)
- 80 – 220 grit sandpaper
- Primer (we used a quart) – do NOT get a water-based primer
- Paint (we used a gallon of Sherwin Wiliams Extra White in Semi-Gloss)
- Paint rollers + brush (or a paint sprayer)
How To Make DIY Storage Shelves For Organization
New to DIY? Download our free 5 Steps to Getting Start with DIY guide!
STEP 1: CLEAR THE CLUTTER
Yup, get everything out of the closet. While you’re at it, go through and sort into sell, donate, trash, and keep piles. Let’s purge and start this store closet transformation on the right foot!
STEP 2: PREP
Mark all of the studs along any place that a shelf will touch.
Determine your spacing for your shelves. Our bottom shelf is 25″ off the ground and then we have 15″ between the top of one shelf to the bottom of another. Our deep shelves are approximately 24″ deep and the side shelves are 11″. Make sure you leave enough room for your brackets! You need to include brackets on your shelves (especially if they are deep) to prevent the shelves from sagging in the middle.
STEP 3: MEASURE
Measure the distance where the front of your shelf will be as well as the back of the shelf. Sometimes walls are pretty warped and the measurements might be different enough that you have to cut the sides of your shelf at an angle.
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