text: DIY Shelving – Lindsey in the Queen City
  When Dustin and I moved into our house, we quickly decided that the office space was going to be kind of eclectic and would be geared towards Dustin because he would utilize it the most. This resulted in the plan for a gallery wall on one wall and another wall full of shelves. We debated buying book shelves, but after doing some research we decided to build the shelves ourselves and make them exactly what we wanted. We started to research reclaimed wood and quickly found out how expensive it can be.
  We found Wicked Old Wood Co. north of Charlotte and met with Jim, the owner. He showed us tons of options and we settled on some boards that came from a barn in Statesville, North Carolina.
  We knew we wanted our shelves to essentially cover the entire wall, so we carefully measured how long we wanted each shelf to be and how far apart we wanted each shelf. We decided to have our woods cut into 90 in shelves and 26 in shelves.
  After being the wood home, we first had to clean it. We just used water and an outdoor broom to brush it all off. Once it was completely dry, we were ready to sand it. We used an orbital sander that made this part a breeze. Sanding just ensures that all the wood is smooth and even. I used 80 grit sand paper and it worked great.
  After sanding, I used a blow dryer to remove excess saw dust and make sure the wood was clean. We debated staining the boards, but we really loved the color so we just used the clear poly(WHATEVER) to seal it. We did just one light coat of the seal and you can see the difference below.
  While the boards dry, we started marking off where the brackets would go on the wall. For the three longer boards, we used six brackets and for the shorter ones, we used just two. This part was tedious, but needed to be done precisely. We used a laser level to help us ensure we had each row lined up across and each column aligned going up.
  With all the brackets in place, it was time to secure the boards. Each bracket came with screws for the wall and the wood.
  We absolutely love the way they turned out! They were so much fun to decorate and it gives the room some extra moxie. This project was certainly not an easy one, but it is doable with all the right tools. See below for a list of everything I used.
  This was the first of a few DIY projects I have planned. Stay tuned for more fun around the Doyle house!