How I combined two shelf units into one

Do you have some spaces that need to be organized? I think we all do. I have found that having tools like containers, baskets, shelving makes the job of organizing much easier. The good news is that it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to obtain these things. All of the containers, shelves, baskets that I use in my craft room were found at a thrift store.

Most of us don’t have the luxury of having tons of room for our things. I find this especially true in my craft room. I am fortunate to finally have a room just for creating and for holding my craft and sewing supplies. However, it’s not a large room so I need to be as organized as possible so I have actual crafting space. I did a big organization in this room awhile back. You can read all about the room organization here. Today, I am focusing on a cabinet I created using two short shelving units.

Table Of Contents

Combining Shelves
Painting
Attaching the units
Adding plywood & beadboard
Adding trim
Finishing touches
Trim closeup
Finished shelving unit
Supplies Used
For your convenience

Combining Shelves

Part of my organization was to combine two shelf units into one. I found these two shelf units at separate times at a thrift store. I had stacked one on top of the other in the closet and since they were in a closet, I didn’t have to worry about them falling over so I never did anything to attach them together. Since I was now going to use them in the room, I needed to figure out how to combine the two small units into one tall one. At first, I wasn’t sure this outcome was even attainable but I was willing to try to make it work!

Painting

The little shelf units were white and now that they were out of the closet, I wanted them to match the room better. So, I decided to paint them. They are made from laminated wood so I chose chalk paint as I have had luck with using it on other pieces of laminated wood. I applied two coats of chalk paint to the units. After the paint was dry, I moved them to the garage to work on converting them from two into one.

Attaching the units

To attach the top shelf to the bottom, I used construction glue. As you can see, one of the units is wider than the other so I nailed a support board at the bottom of the top unit. If I were to build this again, I would have used the wider unit on the bottom. The reason I used it on the top was that the wider unit had an enclosed top. I didn’t know at the time that I would end up deciding to add an additional piece of wood on the top.

Adding plywood & beadboard

Next, I attached a sheet of 1/8″ plywood to each side of the unit using Elmer’s glue and my nail gun. I did this for multiple reasons: To cover the holes in the shelving units where the shelf plugs go, the area where the two units were connected, and also to provide some stability. To enclose in the back of the unit I cut a sheet of beadboard and a sheet of thin plywood and glued them to the back; I would have used beadboard for both, but only had enough on hand to do the bottom piece. Once the glue was dried, I secured the backing, even more, using my nail gun.

After the two sections were together, using my skill saw, I cut two pieces of 1/2″ plywood, one to create a base to make the unit more stable as it would be sitting on the carpet and the other to create a top since the top shelf unit was open. I sanded all the edges before painting them, then attached them to the unit with glue and nail gun. To finish off the pieces, I used 1/2″ decorative trim. I attached the trim with glue and then a few brads from my nail gun.

Adding trim

The next step in this project was to trim out the cabinet. Using 1″ corner trim, I covered where the plywood was added to the sides on all 4 corners of the piece. While it wasn’t a necessity, I wanted the unit to look like it was a custom-built piece so I trimmed out the front of each shelf with the same small trim that I used on the top and bottom pieces. I glued the trim with Elmer’s and used painter’s tape to hold the trim in place while the glue dried. Once the glue was dry, I painted the trim. When all the trim was installed, the glue dried and the nail holes filled in, I went over all the pieces with caulking to provide that custom-built look.

Finishing touches

When all the gaps & holes were filled & the caulking dry, I touched up all the areas with two coats of paint. The final step was to wax the shelf. I use Annie Sloan wax for chalk paint. While you can use just the clear wax when painting with chalk paint, I like the look of the dark wax. Using a waxing brush, I applied a small amount of dark wax section by section by swirling the brush in circles. After that, using a soft cloth, I buffed the wax. When the entire surface, outside, and also inside the shelves, I repeated the waxing steps with clear wax.

Trim closeup

Finished shelving unit

Even though I organized my craft room over a year ago, I’m happy to announce that it is STILL organized! That doesn’t mean it stays organized when I’m working on a project, but it has helped having the cabinets, baskets, shelves where I can store supplies when I’m done working on my projects.

Don’t you find it easier to keep a space organized once you have the pieces that make that possible? Adding containers such as baskets, shelves, storage cabinets make all the difference in the world when it comes to being able to stay organized. If you’ve been putting off getting your space organized, there’s no time like the present to dive in and get it done – you’ll be so happy that you did!