Quick and Easy Shelving - Do it Like the Pros

Shelves are almost always the most useful and hard-wearing "parts" of the house. Raised above the prying hands of children and unruly pets, shelves provide a private storage space where food or heirloom silver plates can rest quietly until they are used again.

Old parts of the house are good

According to Shaun Myer, a home improvement consultant in London:

"Taking away original features? Disaster! We're awash with TV shows and magazine stories telling us that we should savor the past and take it with us into the future. Ripping the heart out of a property will be seen as a heinous design crime."

Myer continues with:

"Original features are part of estate agency parlance - not having them is a serious disadvantage. Original features are a steady comfort in a fast moving world of fickle tastes and almost anything new can be made to work well along side them. Never get rid!"

Add shelf space, add life

Since getting rid of the old shelves aren't a good idea, financially, DIY shelving seems to be a good recourse. The materials that you will need are 1.5-inch screws (for masonry walls), rawl plugs (for masonry walls), no 8 screws (for stud partitions), screwdriver and shelving planks (cut to your desired size) and of course, a small sander.

The first thing to do is make sure that your brackets are secure before you install the planks. If you're dealing with a masonry wall, simply drill 1.5 inches or 1.25 inches into the wall and insert rawl plugs. Insert the 1.5 inch screws into the rawl plugs.

Extra support counts

The problem with brackets on both sides of shelving is that there is a tendency for the middle part to actually bow. According to Stefanie Mann, a design artist and DIY enthusiast from Edinburgh:

"Extra brackets don't cost much, but they add that strength to make sure that there are no accidents after you use the new shelving."

Instead of putting two brackets, put three or four. Make sure that the middle portions of the new shelving are amply supported. An ideal size for the planks of wood for the shelving would be between three feet to five feet, depending on the location of the shelving.

For kitchens, the optimum size would be three feet or even less. For bedrooms (such as bedrooms with small study areas), you can go beyond five feet. `

Sand it correctly

It's up to you if you want to paint or varnish the planks before installation. But a deciding factor here is whether the sanding has sufficiently evened the surfaces. Sanding should be done evenly on both sides of the plank.

Begin with the corners and slowly work to the center of the plank. The rhythmic sideways movement should always have consistent pressure so that when you sand an area again, the result would more or less be the same throughout.

You can use a small broom to remove the shavings from your work area. Be careful with the sander, as many sanders have thick, hard blades that can skin a hand if misused.

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