How to Build a Picture Shelf

DIY Picture Shelf

I love this clean look above my sofa in my living room. This picture shelf brings the focal point together, focusing on family. This shelf will add charm to any wall in your house, I know because we made two of them. Below I broke down the steps that we used to make them.

I love these shelves. I think we made them almost a year ago, so I don’t have pictures of the process.

Materials

Wood – I used 1×2 and 2(1×4)
Sandpaper
Screws or nails
Stain or paint – I used Minwax Ebony Stain
Wax – I used Minwax Paste Finishing Wax

Preparing Your Project:

We usually buy pine. You can cut the wood down to the size you want, or you can have the hardware store do it for you.

First, we sanded the rough edges. Always sand in the direction of the wood.

Then we stained, or you can paint, all sides of your wood. We used ebony stain for this project. When we stain we use a foam brush wiping it on in the direction of the wood and immediately wipe the stain off. We used a cut up T-shirt.

Making your shelf:

Drill holes for your screws, then fasten wood together (shown below).

The arrows point to where our screw placement is. We added some nails and you can too along with wood glue.