Thursdays are karate days, so today seemed perfect for tackling this project. I’d promised to build shelves for our home gym to display my daughter’s karate belts and awards, and I managed this without a trip to the hardware store – so it’s a win for me too!
Supplies:
(As an advertising affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. But it doesn’t cost you anything extra and helps me keep up my site!)
- Two 2x2s (mine were 6 ft)
- Twelve 11-inch 1x4s
- Seven 16-inch 1x4s
- Small nails
- Sandpaper
- Wood glue
- Paint
- Furniture hook
- Hanging hooks
Tools:
- Hammer
- Paint brush
- Tape measure
- Saw
Step 1: Plan and cut wood. I had a lot of good scrap wood left from when I redid my other daughter’s bed, and these shelves took two 2x2s (mine were 6 ft long), twelve 11-inch 1x4s, and seven 16-inch 1x4s.
I wanted an overall narrow but tall shelf stand, so that’s why I went with 6-feet tall. And by setting my 1x4s across the two 2x2s, I decided I liked 11-inches for the crosspieces and 16 inches for the longer shelf pieces, and this let the shelves stick out 2.5 inches on each side. Pretty easy math that way, so I went with it.
I cut my 11-inch 1x4s first, then my seven 16-inch 1×4 pieces. I didn’t have to cut the 2x2s at all because mine were already 6 ft.
Step 2: Attach crosspieces. I did all of this by lying my wood across the top of a yard cart, but you can use the floor or a table. The whole project was easy to do with the thing lying down, so don’t worry about standing anything up until the end.
First, I made VERY sure that my 2x2s were evenly spaced and square. You definitely want the bottoms even so it sits straight. Next, I nailed on one of the 11-inch pieces across the top, keeping the edges as flush as I could. With that top piece on, I did the same at the bottom. That kept the overall structure square while I nailed on the crosspieces in the middle. I spaced them semi-evenly, but I was a bit lazy with it – I just did my best to make sure 12 inches went from the top of one crosspiece, skipped the next, and hit 12 inches at the top of the next board.
Step 3: Attach long shelf pieces. Using wood glue, these stayed in place nicely. To make things easy, I measured 2.5 inches from each end and marked with a pencil to be sure they ended up in the right position. This seemed like a good idea to help me get them in place quickly once the drippy glue was on.
Then I ran a bit of glue along the top of the chosen crosspieces as well as dabs on the 2×2 where the shelf would connect. Then, I simply set the 16-inch 1×4 pieces on their sides on the 2x2s so the bottom back side stuck on the glue on the crosspiece, which was now “below” the self for a support.
I DID add a few nails at the very topmost board and the lowest board/base to help with stability. Nothing heavy is going on my shelves, so wood glue alone is fine for the middle shelves.
Side note: If you ARE going to put heavy things on your shelves (like statue awards, etc.), you should probably add a few nails into the top of each shelf where they sit on the crosspiece like a base support. To make this easier, you might want to nail them on BEFORE connecting the crosspieces to the 2x2s so your hammer or nail gun has room.
Step 4: Paint. After the glue dried, I sanded the exposed edges and sides smooth. Next, I painted the whole thing in a dark blue…because that’s what I had a lot of. 😆 I used 2 coats but didn’t bother with the backside because that’ll be against the wall. I did paint the insides and outside of the 2x2s because you can see through the spaces between the crosspieces.
Step 5: Secure with a furniture hook. Obviously this would be very tippy if left standing against a wall, so I added a furniture hook to the back wall and screwed a connecting line onto the back of the top crosspiece. This holds the whole shelf secure so it doesn’t fall over, but it’s not a heavy-duty install that would make it difficult to relocate if we want to move the stand later.
Step 6: Add hanging hooks. If you’re hanging medals on these shelves, these hooks are a great idea to add some dimension to the shelves. My daughter wanted her belts to hang up once rolled, so this worked for those too. I decided to screw my hooks in front of each 2×2, positioning them forward enough to spin around.
Step 7: Add your awards! We’re apparently missing a paper for the orange belt, but otherwise I could put things in order and leave room for belts to come! I hung the belts with just a piece of string wrapped around them and then attached to each hook (I need a few more hooks, but folding a few belts adds variety, right? 😉) I also had a few boards she’d broken, so I added those too. And we framed the little awards she’d been given, so it’s all there for her to be proud of.
DIY Must-Have Lists
