Plant shelf

By Janne from Anno1808

I have often been to Sweden and driven around the small, winding, dusty gravel roads and seen all the beautiful wood carvings on the houses and on their old wooden fences. That is why the inspiration for this DIY bookcase came, which was supposed to bring to mind an old wooden picket fence. It seemed like it could be so nice to have in my little garden house, decorated with pots, flowers and various knick-knacks. Ideally, it would be to build it from a real old fence, but since only a few are lucky enough to come across one like that, I had to try to make one that looks like something old.

I have used:
Brand new boards from the construction market.
Paper to draw a template on.
Various paint and wood stain residues.
Here, black stain, brown and white lime paint are used.
Gravel or sand to put in the paint.
Wood glue, sandpaper, and small wood nails.
Nail, hammer, folding rule, awl, wire brush and a jigsaw.

Start by drawing a template on a piece of paper. It's a good idea to use some checkered paper. That way you can best control your drawing. Use your imagination or look online for old wood carvings.

Start by cutting out your boards for the back panel. Here I have made it from 8 boards of about 90 cm in height and about 10 cm in width. It is the size of your "back wall" that determines the rest of the size of your Swedish shelf.

Now draw your desired pattern on the 8 boards and saw them out with a jigsaw. I have also sawed some notches at the bottom of the boards to make them look old, and hammered and made extra holes in the wood with an awl. Try it out. You can ruin the boards, they only get better the more you can hammer, sand and poke into them…

 Sand the cutouts as best you can with sandpaper. Paint them with black wood stain.

Lay the boards on the floor and measure how wide your shelf will be, and make the pieces a little longer than the back panel so you have something to attach the side panel to.

Now you saw two pieces of boards to the width of the shelf and nail them in place. Glue the boards before you nail and use nails that do not go all the way through the wood.

Now you cut two pieces of wood for the sides of the shelf. Here I have chosen that the sides should go up to where the cuts start.

Glue the side panel to the side of the shelf and nail the nails from the back pieces of the back panel (the ones that extend slightly beyond the edge) and from the edge of the side panel into the back panel.

Make two boards as the base. Make them a little wider than the width of the shelf so that they stick out on each side.

Saw a board that fits the shelf in the bookcase. Here it is glued and secured with nails from the outside into the shelf.

Now it's time to play around with multiple layers of paint. I've added gravel to one of the paints to give the shelf a more aged look.

Finally, I sanded with sandpaper and a steel brush to bring out the different layers of colors on the shelf.

Have fun, Janne.

TIP
Can also be used in the kitchen or bathroom, and you can easily add more shelves if you need them.