Large Corner Shelf

Our living room has a nice fireplace in one corner, but nothing much in the other corner. That, combined with a need for a little more storage – we decided a big ol’ bookshelf would do the trick!

We wanted something that fit in a corner, that had a weathered & distressed look, and would have lots of unique character. As usual, my dad was able to help me get some giant pine boards – all I had to do was clean them up and put together a bookshelf. The final product was huuuge – a little bigger than I originally intended. But, it ended up looking fantastic.

Starting with just a basic plan in my head, I cut, sanded and arranged all the boards. This was a bunch of raw lumber, so it took some time. I built two large back pieces, then arranged them on a triangle base. To give the shelf an extra level of weatheredness… I added a bunch of bangs, dents, holes, and even let my daughter draw little lines & shapes. I used a knife to etch my daughter’s lines into the wood, ensuring it will easily show in the final design and be there forever.

I cut the shelves at angles, then added some support to the backing where the shelves would rest. After a few trim pieces were added, I sanded everything down nicely – and added some primer, then white chalk paint. A couple coats later, I sanded/distressed the entire thing. The sanding brought out the cuts, holes and etching that was done earlier in the process. A few polycrylic coats sealed everything together.

A couple cool features about this shelf… I drilled some holes in the back of the top shelf, that allows for running wires behind the shelf and out of sight. There’s also a tiny hole around the middle of the shelf where you could run a cable from the middle shelf to the top shelf. We fun a cable from the middle to the top shelf so we can plug a phone in to a speaker at the top.
Also – that lamp was cutom made to match this shelf. Made from an old lanter decor thing.