Learn to conceal wire shelving with these straightforward DIY wooden fake floating cabinets!
Y’all, I’m so excited to share a little bit hack as we speak to cover all of these unpleasant wire cabinets in our houses!
After we moved into our home almost 4 years in the past, we had wire cabinets all over the place. I’ve slowly been ripping them out one closet at a time and changing them with strong floor shelving as a substitute.
However we’ve got what I’ve dubbed “the smallest linen closet on this planet,” and it didn’t look like it could be straightforward or sensible to seek out cabinets that match completely within the tiny house.
So as a substitute of ripping out the wire shelving within the linen closet, I made a decision to cowl it up as a substitute!
I want I might say that I got here up with this sensible thought all by myself, however that may be a lie. 🙂 Months in the past, I had proven our minuscule linen closet on Instagram and talked about that I didn’t love the cabinets. A follower despatched me this ah-mazing tutorial from Liz at Throughout the Grove. I knew I needed to do one thing comparable in our closet!
Liz used a router to create her cabinets, which is a implausible methodology. If in case you have a router and are expert at utilizing it, you possibly can observe her tutorial to create these wire shelf covers.
We would not have a router although, so we got here up with a unique methodology of placing collectively our cabinets. In case you are router-less like us, learn on to seek out out how one can cowl up these ugly wire cabinets with this oh-so-easy DIY venture!
The way to Create Shelf Covers to Conceal Wire Shelving
This publish accommodates affiliate hyperlinks. For extra data, see my disclosures right here.
Step 1- Collect the required provides.
Listed here are all the gadgets we used to create our shelf covers:
Step 2- Measure your wire shelving.
Earlier than we might begin reducing our wooden shelving items, we wanted to verify we had the proper measurements. This course of was fairly simple for us since our cabinets had been simply rectangles.
All cabinets are distinctive. In our state of affairs, there have been clips on the again of the cabinets alongside the wall. There was additionally a chunk of plastic that protruded from the aspect of the cabinets in opposition to the wall. We made the choice to not make particular person notches on the wood cabinets for all of those items. We had been superb with a small hole alongside the again and aspect of the shelf and never having the shelf sit completely flush in opposition to the wall.
Together with measuring the width and depth, we additionally measured how tall the vertical portion of the wire cabinets was. We needed to verify the entrance piece of our new wood shelf covers would utterly conceal the entrance of the wire cabinets.
In case your shelving is a non-traditional form, Liz’s tutorial has an important hack for determining what dimension to make your wire shelf covers.
Step 3- Lower your plywood and 1x2s to the proper dimensions.
After getting correct measurements, we went to Dwelling Depot to seek out lumber for our venture.
We discovered a half sheet of birch plywood that was easy and had a pleasant grain to it. The plywood was 1/2″ thick as a substitute of the usual 3/4″ plywood. The 1/2″ plywood allowed the cabinets to be much less cumbersome so that they wouldn’t take up an excessive amount of vertical house within the closet.
We knew our shelf width measurement, so we had a Dwelling Depot worker use their panel noticed to tear down our piece of plywood to the proper dimension. We later reduce down the wooden to the proper size utilizing our miter noticed at house.
At Dwelling Depot we additionally bought 1×2″ frequent board. That is pretty low-cost pine wooden that’s meant for end carpentry. It’s straight, knot free, and really easy. It’s an important wooden alternative for any such venture.
At house we used our miter noticed to chip the 1x2s to the proper size to match the cabinets.
As soon as our plywood and 1x2s had been each reduce to the proper sizes, it was time to place them collectively!
Step 4- Connect the 1×2 to the plywood.
As soon as all the cabinets and shelf fronts had been reduce, it was time to connect the 1×2 fronts to the cabinets. For this we used a Kreg Jig pocket gap equipment.
When you’re unfamiliar with Kreg Jig pocket holes, it’s a technique for becoming a member of two items of wooden. It was an important answer for a venture like this.
With the pocket gap equipment, you should utilize the varied settings to be sure to drill the proper dimension and site of pocket holes. For instance, we had been attaching 1/2″ plywood to three/4″ 1x2s, so we made positive to set the jig to 1/2″ and the collar on the pocket gap drill bit to three/4″.
I’ll say that this was the primary time we’ve joined 1/2″ inventory to something utilizing pocket holes. It was difficult. 3/4″ plywood would have supplied extra forgiveness. When utilizing the Kreg Jig after which truly drilling out the pocket holes, we needed to pay very cautious consideration to the angle we had been drilling after which driving within the screws.
If the angle was not good or if we overtightened the screws, the tip of the screw would pop by the highest of the 1x2s. If this occurred, we might again out the screw only a bit and all was properly.
After all the pocket holes had been joined, it was time to make use of the precise Kreg Jig pocket gap screws to connect the plywood cabinets to the shelf fronts.
To do that, we clamped the plywood to the work bench and pressed it up in opposition to the 1×2. This allowed us to drive pocket gap screws into the pocket holes with out the boards transferring round or coming aside.
For this step, it’s essential to additionally use wooden glue. The joint will simply last more and maintain up higher this fashion. Screws alone can slowly loosen up and make a spot seen the place the wooden is joined.
Step 5- Sand and stain the wire shelf covers.
As soon as the shelf covers had been put collectively, it was time to make them fairly! The plywood was fairly tough, so earlier than I might do the rest to them, I wanted to sand them like loopy.
I used a 340 grit sandpaper and a sanding block to sand all the surfaces on the cabinets till they had been fairly easy. I then wiped down the cabinets with a humid material and repeated the method with 400 grit sandpaper to make the wire shelf covers as easy as attainable.
After the second spherical of sanding, I wiped down the covers with a humid material once more, and I used to be able to stain.
For the staining, I used Minwax Darkish Walnut stain with only a easy rag to use it to my cabinets. Making use of one even coat gave me the colour I used to be going for. (If I needed the cabinets to be darker, I might have utilized further coats.)
I let the stain dry for twenty-four hours. I did a fast sanding of the cabinets with my 400 grit sandpaper, wiped them down with a humid material, and utilized a coat of clear satin Polyacrylic utilizing a foam brush. The Polyacrylic will defend the cabinets from getting scuffed or the stain from fading.
After letting the Polyacrylic dry for 2 hours, I repeated the method– sand, wipe down, apply one other coat of Polyacrylic. I ended up doing three coats of Polyacrylic complete.
After the ultimate coat of Polyacrylic, I let the wire shelf covers dry for twenty-four extra hours, after which they had been prepared to put in!
Step 6- Conceal wire shelving together with your new shelf covers and luxuriate in!
Putting in the shelf covers was actually simple. We didn’t screw them in or connect them in any manner. We merely set them proper on prime of the wire shelving!
When you’re working in a good house like we had been, you’ll wish to begin on the backside and raise up the wire shelf above the one you’re overlaying to make room to place the shelf cowl in place.
(Confession: I didn’t know that it was attainable to pop the wire cabinets out like that till an IG good friend instructed me. So right here is your heads up that it’s attainable in case you had been at the hours of darkness like me! 😉 )
As soon as your entire shelf covers are in place, you possibly can replenish your cabinets once more and benefit from the stunning new look of your closet! Yippee!
This was a fast and easy venture, but it surely actually made a huge impact! I’m thrilled to have the ability to conceal wire shelving with one thing extra stunning!
Pondering of constructing covers in your wire cabinets? You’ll want to pin the picture beneath so you possibly can reference this publish later!
Have you ever tried to exchange or conceal wire shelving in your house? I’d love to listen to about it within the feedback beneath!
Thanks a lot for following alongside! Have an exquisite day!
This publish accommodates affiliate hyperlinks. For extra data, see my disclosures right here.