diy by Kate Pruitt 31

diy project: honeycomb storage shelves


These honeycomb shelves came our way at a perfect time — not only do they satisfy my need for cheerful spring colors, but they also provide a great storage solution to alleviate spring-cleaning woes. Sarah and Josh, the creative husband-and-wife photographers behind Arrow & Apple, whipped up these pretty hexagonal shelves for free using salvaged cabinet doors and brackets. They really lucked out on the color palette of the old cabinets, and I love the mix of painted and unpainted pieces. Luckily, recreating this look is easier than you think. Thanks for sharing, Sarah and Josh! — Kate

CLICK HERE for the full how-to after the jump!

Josh and I just moved from a two-bedroom house to a tiny 250-square-foot cabin and were in severe need of practical storage! We have so much wall space, so Josh decided to take advantage of it. Also, Josh has this secret dream of keeping bees, which inspired the shape of the shelves. I absolutely love the way the shelves turned out because the design gives our cabin a little more character, and it’s sturdy enough to house all of our library books! — Sarah

Materials

  • wood at least 5″ thick and 10″ long (we used reclaimed cabinet doors)
  • wood glue
  • L-brackets and screws
  • brad nailer with 2″ brads
  • table saw
  • chop saw (to cut angles)
  • paint (if you want to paint your cabinet with different colors)

Instructions

1. If your wood has hardware in it, such as screws or handles, be sure to remove it before ripping the wood.

2. Cut the wood to 5″ wide strips, and then cut to 10″ long. The angles of each strip are cut to 30º, keeping the long side at 10″. Depending on how big you make your shelf, some ends might need to have matching angles rather than opposite angles. If we were math geniuses, we might be able to explain it better. (See the figures above and below — it’s a little confusing!)

3. Be sure to fit all the pieces together first before permanently attaching them. It will probably need a little sorting around to get the perfect fit.

4. Apply wood glue to both ends, then pin ends together with brads. (See Fig. 3 above.)

5. Once the shelves are assembled, screw the L-brackets into the bottom of four or five of the shelves for good support, and make sure that when you hang them, you go for the studs! [Editor's Note: To conceal the brackets, paint them the same color as your wall after you install them.]

Note: Altogether, it took Josh about 4 to 5 hours, from cutting the wood to assembly. The wood glue needs to dry overnight before you put it up in your home, but the extra time is worth it!

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diy / diy projects
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31 Comments

Jesse

I LOVE these! I just made some recently actually, but we made our cuts at 60%. These are adorable!

Patricia Torres

lovely post!! Im been thinking of making a CD rack.. and have been dreaming of something creative.. Maybe I can try this.. :-) Thank s for sharing!!

Djen

Oh wow, these are so cute!

Do they really mean wood that is at least 5″ thick?

Joshua

thanks for posting this, design sponge! @Djen, I chose to make the pieces 5″ wide, but you can rip them to any size you want!

Blayne

sooooo basically gonna have my woodworking friend help me out. these are too good to pass up. lovee these.

Stephanie

Thank you so much for this…I wanted something like this off a website but they were always sold out. So time to make them myself!

Heather

Oh, heck yeah! Shelving solution for the Bee studios found! Favorite. Tutorial. EVER! Thanks :)

Sabeen

Oh Yes!!!! Power tools here i come! I love the range of colours (or lack of) on the different facets of these clever shelves!

Jon

What angle are the cuts where the shelves meet (chop/miter saw cuts)? I figure they’re greater than 45 degrees, just wondering if you had an exact number.

Pat

Omg, this is such a decorative yet functional piece. What a clever way to add interesting detail to your room. I’ve just chanced upon your website and am loving lots of your posts.

Jess

I LOVE the shelves!

Ohhh I have a great place for this!!! I am not sure what I would put in in as I am not for nik nacks… I will nap on what I could do..

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