How to Make a Simple Shelf

I know what you’re thinking right now. “Abby, is that a picture of a bathroom? I thought you were working on a kitchen renovation?” You would be correct. We are smack in the middle of a large kitchen renovation, so obviously it’s the perfect time to spruce up our powder room too, right? {At least that’s what I’ve been trying to tell my husband… 😉 } This room is close to the kitchen and is very small, so while we were working in that general vicinity of the house, I figured, why not give it a little refresh?

Since the kitchen is sapping most of my decor budget these days, I’m keeping it super simple and doing everything on the cheap, and the first thing I decided to do was make a little shelf for over the commode. {And when I say “I,” I of course mean that Donnie helped with the tool part. 🙂 } So I did what I always do when I first start a project: I began searching my house for things I could use to make the shelf I had envisioned. Originally, I thought we would just put it together using some MDF scraps we had in the garage. And THEN I remembered that in my swag bag from the Haven Conference, I had two pretty little wooden corbels that would be absolutely *perfect* for this project! {Thank you for those, Osborne Wood Products!!!}

Since I already had the corbels, I had Donnie cut down a piece of scrap MDF (mine was 25″ x 7.5″) for the top of the shelf, and we also used drywall anchors and wood screws to put it all together. This was seriously the easiest little shelf in the history of DIY shelves.

After Donnie had cut the MDF to the size we wanted, we just had to attach it to the corbels. He first used a countersink drill bit to pre-drill the holes, and then followed that up by screwing in the wood screws to hold everything in place.

I then gave everything a few coats of white paint, and it was ready to hang! Easy peasy!

Oh and of course I had to add some pretties on top because that is the very best part! Keeping my low budget goal in mind, the shelf and everything on top of it cost me a grand total of $0. Woot!

That floral “print”? It’s wrapping paper from Target that I’ve had for a few months, just waiting for the perfect chance to use it. The greenery in the mason jar– I believe those are technically weeds that I plucked from our front yard. 🙂

The “You are my favorite season” print is from Naptime Diaries and was part of a Happy Mommy Box (now ended) many months ago. The books were my grandmother’s, and all of the other little tchotchkes were just items I’ve collected over the years. Yay free!

I’m already loving our sweet and simple shelf, and I will be back with alllllll of the rest of the powder room details on Monday! {Oh I’m such a meanie! 😉 } Enjoy your weekend, sweet friends!