DIY Gallery Photo Shelves
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I’ve gotten really into woodworking projects lately, it’s become my new hobby during quarantine! There is something so satisfying about building and finishing a project yourself, from scratch. I’ll be honest, I’ve always been very intimidated by power tools and woodworking of any kind, but something in me just switched and I just went for it. So far, it seems to have proved itself very useful and fun! I have a very long list of projects with my new skills! Lol. So a couple weekends ago I decided to finally build these gallery photo shelves I’ve seen all over Pinterest. They were surprisingly easy! Here’s my simple how to!
Materials (enough to make 2 shelves)
- 2 – 1x2x8 common board
- 2 – 1x3x8 common board
- 2 – 1x4x8 common board
*It’s really important to get the straightest boards you can find, as you won’t be able to fix a warped board on this project.
Cut List (enough to make 2 shelves)
- 2 – 1×2 @ 48”
- 2 – 1×3 @ 48”
- 2 – 1×4 @ 48”
Supplies List
- Miter saw
- Brad nailer
- Drill
- Drill bit to match screws
- Framing nails
- 1 ¼ “ wood screws
- Wood glue
- Wood pre-conditioner
- Wood stain
- Sander or sand paper
Step 1 – Arrange your cut pieces with the 1×2 standing up in the front, the 1×4 laying flat, and the 1×3 standing up in the back. You can play around and switch the 1×4 and 1×3 if you like the look of it better. Up to your creativity on that one!
Step 2 – Pre-drill holes and screw in 1 ¼ screws to attach the back (1×3) to the bottom (1×4). I used about 5 screws spaced evenly.
Step 3 – Apply wood glue to the front piece (1×2) and then use a brad nailer to attach the front (1×2) to the bottom (1×4). The wood glue probably isn’t necessary, but it does make it more stable.
Step 4 – Sand your shelf before you stain it. You could also opt for paint. When staining, I always use a pre-conditioner first, especially on soft or porous woods like pine, alder, birch, and maple. After letting the pre-conditioner dry, you can apply your stain!
And you’re done building your pretty new frame shelves! We hung them on the wall using 2 ½ screws into the studs. Our frames were from Amazon and are linked here!
