If there's one thing that I've become obsessed with in my kitchen, it's shelving. I have a small house so shelves are an absolute god send for storage. Not only that, but I think they really add character to a space too, especially if they are beautiful rustic/industrial shelves. The first set that I ever bought for this house cost me around £70 and at the time it seemed like the best option - until I later discovered a much more affordable way to get rustic shelves up on the walls! Even if you're a complete beginner to DIY, I can promise you that they are an absolute breeze to make. I've made a couple of different types now so keep reading to find out more...
scaffold board shelves
What you need:
- Scaffold boards
- Electric Sander
- Wood Stain
- Wax (optional)
- Brackets
The first rustic shelves that I made were created out of scaffold board, you can find this available online from places such as Wickes but the cheapest place to find is it locally. I just went on Facebook marketplace, searched for scaffold boards and found a guy a few miles down the road selling planks for £3 each. I bought three so it cost me a total of £9 - bargain! Make sure that you know roughly what length you want your shelves before purchasing, as most guys will cut it to size for you, if you want a really specific width like I did for between my cupboards, you can always ask them or you can just get it as close as you can and then cut bits off with a saw.
They're really rough and don't look like much at first, but as soon as you take a sander to them, they look so smooth and gorgeous. I used an electric sander as this is far less time consuming and easier. I have my own sander at home, but because of the mess it causes I went over to my dads workshop and used his there to avoid the dust everywhere in the house. If you don't have one or don't want to invest in one, you can just sand by hand with a bit of sandpaper, but you'll need a bit more patience!
Once you've sanded the top, bottom and the edges (don't forget the edges!) you've done the hard bit. All I did after that was whip a wood stain on them. You can just source wood stains on Amazon or from B&Q, the colour depends on what look you want to go for, how warm/cool or how dark/light. The more stain you add, the darker they will go. I also popped a wax on afterwards but this isn't necessary, just makes them a bit smoother and locks in the stain. That's literally all you do, and then you've got a perfect rustic shelf that Etsy will charge you £234349 for. I put two between my kitchen cupboards so no brackets required, but I also put a third above my worktop so I just got some industrial shelf brackets from Amazon, I'll link them here. The shelf brackets were the most expensive part but in total it still cost less than £25. Most scaffold boards are a standard depth but just double check before ordering your brackets.
JYSK SHELVING MAKEOVER
What you need:
- £20 shelves from JYSK
- Wood Stain
- Wax (optional)
Another alternative to the scaffold board shelves (and something that requires less effort) is to buy the £20 shelves from JYSK linked above, they do online delivery or you can collect in store, and give them a revamp. They come in a plain wood, sanded but not stained and literally all you do is whack a stain on them. I didn't even bother with a wax on these and they look fab. I never took a before photo but you can see what they look like originally on the website. You can get them with black or white brackets for the same price of £20 and they're a steal.
I created both sets of shelves for less than £25 per set and got 3 shelves out of the budget. I created 3 separate scaffold shelves and the JYSK selves come as a set of 3. I kitted out my bedroom and my kitchen with shelving for less than £50 so you really can't complain for that price can you?! The other set of two shelves I have in my kitchen cost me more than all of these did together.
If you decide to give either of these a go after reading this post, tag me on insta so I can see! 🙂
