9.5K 51
As you may have heard, I just completed my $85 laundry room makeover. You heard that right. Eighty-Five Dollars. I painted walls, painted the dryer (to match the washer), created a lint box (from a cereal box), used a piece of cardboard to create a chalkboard Laundry sign, and more. One of my favorite things in the room is the wooden shelf overlay we made to cover our wire shelving. I am not a fan of wire shelving, especially because things fall through the cracks and don’t sit straight. My solution for the past 5 years was to lay an old towel on the wire shelving. (Cute, right?… Ummmm… no.)
Because I had a limited budget ($100), I knew I wasn’t going to replace the shelf. I, instead, wanted to create an overlay that would mimic a wood shelf. Initially, I thought we’d cut a large piece of plywood down to size, but it was expensive. (You pay for the whole piece, unless you can find something in the scrap pile for 70% off; which I could not). We found some cedar fence posts; they are lightweight and $2.25 per post (we needed 5). Our shelf was 71″ long, and the posts were 72″ (perfect because there was 1″ cutout at the top… great for a picket fence, not great for a shelf). When we bought the posts, they were really wet, so we laid them out to dry.
As noted, we cut off one inch from the tops of the posts, where they were angled.
We then used 5/16″ dowels and wood glue to attach 4 of the posts together (our shelf was 20″ wide, and the posts were each 5 1/2″ wide). Please Note: You will need a dowel jig for properly placing the wood dowels and clamps to hold the wood pieces together while the wood glue dries.
After the glue had completely dried, we sanded the boards down with our Ryobi Orbital Sander, starting with an 80 grit sandpaper, and working up to a 220 grit.
Because there is an overhang to the wire shelf, we cut the last cedar post to create the front lip of the shelf. After sanding it, we my hubby used wood glue, and then clamped the front onto the larger shelf piece. While still clamped, he used a nail gun to secure the front on. (Of course, I don’t have a picture of this. Sorry. #bloggerfail)
Once everything was good and dry, I stained the shelf in the color kona.
We allowed the stain to thoroughly dry and applied a couple coats of polycrylic.
I brought the shelf upstairs and laid it on top of the wire shelving, and that was all there was to it. In the picture below, you can see how the wood overlay sits on the wire shelf.
I did spray paint the support, as you can see. I thought the white would look funny, so I removed the support and sprayed it with hammered metal spray paint.
I just love how this turned out!!! Goodbye wire shelving, hello beautiful wood shelf!!!
If you have any questions regarding this tutorial, please feel free to ask away! You can see the whole Laundry Room Reveal HERE.
I hope you all enjoy this upcoming week!
Erin
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9.5K 51
Erin says
February 3, 2019 at 7:03 PMThis is great! I have seen the closets redone like this but that is over the top in my opinion. However, I have almost the exact set-up in my laundry room and would love to update it! Thanks for the DIY inspiration.
Amanda says
May 29, 2018 at 8:03 PMAbsolutely love this idea. It will be made for my house for sure.
Theresa says
May 16, 2018 at 9:11 AMWire shelving is the worst. This looks awesome, particularly the detail of painting the white support. I wish I would have thought of that. Instead, we built a shelf with the front lip (I did have some leftover plywood which is only about $32 a sheet) and used two 1.X4 attached to the wall on each side.
Bethany says
September 14, 2017 at 3:48 AMThis is one of the best, most amazing things I have ever seen. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!!
Erin Meyer says
September 14, 2017 at 6:53 AMYou are so welcome Bethany! It’s one of my favorite things in the laundry room… Loved it so much we did the same thing in our coat closet 🙂
Deb says
March 12, 2017 at 4:23 PMLove it!Hate those wire shelves so I am definitely going to do this.thanks for sharing
Erin Meyer says
March 13, 2017 at 9:12 AMI just don’t understand wire shelving at all! Glad you enjoyed the post. Good luck making yours 🙂
Diana says
January 28, 2017 at 3:44 AMI have spent hours trying to cover the too expensive wires from container store in our kitchen, laundry area and back work area. (That’s where my husband and I each get a side, but somehow his stuff migrated. He thinks 10 years taxes belong near CF bulbs.). I’ve tried magnets. I like this. How did you get it to stay on? Or I can just ask someone.
Erin Meyer says
January 30, 2017 at 3:25 PMThis shelf actually isn’t attached to the wire shelving at all, it’s simply set on top and resting on the old shelf.
Kristen Collins says
July 18, 2016 at 9:56 PMI absolutely love this idea! So smart! definitely pinning to remember this one!
Erin Meyer says
July 21, 2016 at 8:36 AMThanks for sharing Kristen! Have a wonderful day!
Merri says
July 7, 2016 at 10:00 AMSo smart! What else can I say?
Erin Meyer says
July 7, 2016 at 10:17 AMAwww… Thanks Merri!
Essie says
June 22, 2016 at 4:55 PMI love this project & would like to give it a try but I have never worked with dowels before. What kind of dowel tool would I need and one that would line up the dowels from one post to the other?
Erin Meyer says
July 27, 2016 at 7:45 AMHi Essie- I am SO sorry it took me so long to answer this question. My husband was the one that did the dowels, and I kept meaning to ask him what the tool was called that helped create the holes for the dowels (and I kept forgetting to ask). I finally did, and he had no idea what it was called either 🙂 I did a little searching, and what you’ll need is a “dowel jig”. Basically, what it does, is allows you to drill the correct size hole for your dowel at the right depth. Here’s a Youtube video I found, just to show you the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_CQ-RBT4rc (The guy talks a lot at the beginning, but if you go to minute 6:46, he shows you what to do with it.)
Essie says
July 27, 2016 at 12:46 PMThank you Erin, We were able to find what we needed. It took a bit before we figured out how to use the dowel jig but we are just finishing up our first project with it. Before the next one I will be sure to check out the video. Thanks again.
Erin Meyer says
July 28, 2016 at 10:39 AMAwesome! Glad you were able to figure it out.
Tammy says
June 3, 2016 at 12:09 PMErin I have the exact closet shelf and am doing this today!! can you still hang coat hanger on the rack? maybe add an extra slat so it sticks out farther?
Erin Meyer says
June 3, 2016 at 2:28 PMI actually covered the slats where you would hang things, but you can check out what I did in my coat closet, where I did the same overlay concept, but spray painted the wire shelving so it wouldn’t be white against the darker wood (link below). My coat closet does have an extra piece on it for hanging coats, however, so I don’t know if you have that. Here’s the link: https://www.lemonslavenderandlaundry.com/100-room-challenge-coat-closet-reveal/
Liz says
February 1, 2016 at 10:42 PMWow, it looks great! What a great and economical idea.
Erin Meyer says
February 2, 2016 at 9:45 AMThanks Liz! This was a really fun project that completely changed the look of the space.
Cheri Hins says
November 20, 2015 at 7:47 AMLove your whole little room. Hubby and I are getting ready to move laundry to a closet and I love this whole remake. Thank you for sharing. I don’t have any shelf at all yet but have 5 pickup loads of scrap wood we cleaned out of the house so I’m sure I can find something
Erin Meyer says
November 24, 2015 at 9:27 AMThanks Cheri! Sounds like you’ll be able to create something with all that wood. Good luck with the laundry move.
Jewell Martin says
November 19, 2015 at 11:40 PMI was glad to come across your website. I have seen your shorter version showing the wood-covered wire shelf and was amazed. I’m surprised the wood is not too heavy for the wire supports. Did you have to add any extra bracing? I also like the fact that when the bottom of the wood was painted the wood color, it made a nice pattern on the bottom. One more question. Where did you put the detergent, fabric softener, bleach, and other necessary stuff? Thanks very much for this article.
Erin Meyer says
November 20, 2015 at 6:55 AMThanks for your questions. About the wood overlay; we used cedar, which is a very light-weight wood, so it does not add a lot weight to the shelving, and because the weight is evenly distributed across the shelf, we did not add any additional brackets for support. As far as where I put all my stuff… The laundry detergent you see in the befor pictures was almost gone. I decided to DIY my own version (which was powder), so it’s in the big glass jar. Most of the other things that were on that shelf (static guard spray, my sewing kit (that small bluish/purplish tote), dryell, etc.) went into the baskets that are now on the shelves. I moved my bleach down to my cleaning closet because I never actually use it for anything expect cleaning up after the stomach flu. Hope that answers your questions.
Mary-the boondocks blog says
November 18, 2015 at 2:25 PMErin, it is such a small detail but it makes such a difference. Really nice idea! Because a finished room is in all of the details.
Erin Meyer says
November 18, 2015 at 4:22 PMSo true Mary!
Lucy @ Patina Paradise says
November 18, 2015 at 12:09 AMWow, what an improvement over the wire shelving. It looks custom and gotta love free! Pinning!
Erin Meyer says
November 18, 2015 at 12:00 PMThanks Lucy!
Katie says
November 17, 2015 at 4:43 PMHonestly I was searching Pinterest just last week for ideas to make our wire shelves (in our walk in robe!) look and function better. I love this, thank you!
Erin Meyer says
November 18, 2015 at 12:01 PMYou are so welcome! Glad you like it! Hope it works well for you if you decide to go this route!
April R @Uncookie Cutter says
November 16, 2015 at 9:39 PMErin, this is amazing! Just…WOW! Why have I never thought of this?!
Erin Meyer says
November 17, 2015 at 10:18 AMI ask myself that same question every day when I see how creative other people are. It’s amazing what you can come up with when you have a limited budget. And thankfully I had my hubby with me to point out how well the cedar posts would work.
Heather @ The Deans List Blog says
November 16, 2015 at 6:57 PMI would have never thought that started as a wire shelf! I may have to steal this idea!
Erin Meyer says
November 17, 2015 at 10:18 AMSteal away! 🙂
Amanda says
November 16, 2015 at 5:47 PMWhat a great idea!!! I have a few places where I would love to do this!!
Erin Meyer says
November 17, 2015 at 10:19 AMI know! We have wire shelving in our closet and it always leaves ridges in our clothes, so we’re thinking of doing this in there too.
Karen says
November 16, 2015 at 3:52 PMI LOVE this idea! I need a shelf in my laundry room and this is genius!
Pinning!
Erin Meyer says
November 16, 2015 at 5:27 PMThanks Karen! If you decide to go with this idea (or any idea really), I’d love to see what you come up with.
Lisa J says
November 16, 2015 at 1:25 PMyes, i was waiting for this post today! I would have never thought of fence posts, but the thickness is perfect! Are you able to share how many dowels you used per post to attach? I was thinking 3, but figured you may have found a different number to be sufficient.
Erin Meyer says
November 17, 2015 at 6:33 AMI was SO happy that my husband pointed out how well the fence posts would work, and I think they turned out better than I could have hoped for. In answer to your question, I believe we used 5 dowels in between each post, but you could certainly adjust that number depending on the length of the shelf. Have a great day Lisa!
Melanie says
November 16, 2015 at 1:08 PMI love this DIY and may have to copy it! I have been wanting to cover my wire pantry shelves for years. Great job!
Erin Meyer says
November 16, 2015 at 5:24 PMThanks Melanie! It was a pretty easy project and made a world of difference!
Ruthie says
November 16, 2015 at 11:11 AMErin I love how you updated your shelf while keeping the previous one there! Amazing job!! I love the dark stain with the rest of your decor!! 🙂
Erin Meyer says
November 16, 2015 at 5:23 PMThanks Ruthie!
Tiffany says
November 16, 2015 at 11:08 AMHi, Erin ~ You and I must be on the same wavelength, because I was just sifting through different ideas for how to cover our ugly wire shelving. Your idea is my favorite! It’s so beautiful, and I love anything wood. I’m pinning this to refer to when we redo our messy and ugly hall closet. Thanks for sharing and awesome job!
Erin Meyer says
November 16, 2015 at 5:23 PMThanks Tiffany. Glad you like it! I just don’t understand wire shelving at all. Excited for your hall closet redo 🙂
Elaine says
July 7, 2016 at 9:05 AMHi Erin: re you “not understanding wire shelving”, back in the mid-80’s building boom in Ontario, we bought a new build & wire shelving was a considerable added “extra” cost to the basic house price. Many preferred it over wood as it was felt there was better air circulation in closets – especially linen cupboards. I no longer have “male help” in cutting wood, etc. so I painted clean cardboard with white acrylic (to blend with the wire) and lay that down before stacking clothing on top, thus, no ridges on my clothes. I like your shelves very much, though, and wish I could do that!
Erin Meyer says
July 7, 2016 at 9:16 AMThat actually makes so much sense, allowing more airflow in closets. Thanks for sharing that. I am actually looking into ideas to cover the wire shelving in our master closet because all my clothes have wire imprints; not sure if I’ll do wood again or try something different.
Elaine says
July 7, 2016 at 12:21 PMYes, it’s funny to see what was so sought after in the 80’s is now considered a nuisance but as I said, it was much desired then and was expensive when buying a new house. Since I’m now a widow, I’ll have to stick with the cardboard idea.
Laura Ingalls Gunn says
November 16, 2015 at 10:54 AMThis is SO incredibly clever and crafty Erin! Great work.
Erin Meyer says
November 16, 2015 at 5:22 PMThanks Laura!