DIY: Bike Shelf by Kaleb

Recently Marilyn and I decided to rearrange a few areas in our little home. With the rearranging, I acquired a 'bike nook.' The house we currently live in is around 90 years old and has much of that old charm we love, but also has some awkward, small spaces due to what was useful back then. We have a small room in between our kitchen and dining room (originally created to be a small breakfast room). We were previously using this room as office/storage space, but we realized after awhile it just became storage - and maybe not the best use of space. 

So we ended up moving everything out of the small space and decided to make it a 'bike nook.' This also fixed this issue of my bikes being in the living room and covering our windows. I realized once we created this defined space for bikes and gear, that I needed a shelf to store my gear (i.e. bike tools, bike kits, bike shoes, etc.) So I decided to build a shelf to store everything and that could also be mobile in case I need to use it as a stand for bike work. It's perfect because I built it to the dimensions of the room so it works with the space. Below is how I created this shelf. 

Supplies:
Wood - 3 pieces of 1"x12"x36" long (cut length to preferred size)
Plumbing piping - 8 pieces .5"x12" long
Flanges - 16 pieces same width as plumbing pipes
Casters - 4
Wood Stain
Foam Brush
Black Spray Paint
1 Drill
Wood Screws - .5" long
1 Ruler

Step 1: Stain the wood, brushing with the grain in nice even strokes. Try and keep your brush wet, when the brush starts to get dry it will drag and create an uneven coat. Depending on how dark you want the shelf to be apply multiple coats. I painted two coats waiting three hours between each coat.

Step 2: Screw the plumbing pipes into the flanges and stand up on end to paint. When using spray paint it can be frustrating when the paint starts to drip and run down what ever surface you are painting. Here are a couple tips to help get a clean smooth coat with no drips:
1) Don't hold down the cap and spray all at once, think of it in sections. Once one section is complete, turn and paint the second section, do this until the pipes have an even coat.
2) Apply two coats, this helps get rid of any thin spots of paint or spots you missed.

Step 3: Once the paint is dry, start to assemble the shelf. Make sure your screws are not to long, that when you screw them all the way in they don't stick out the other side. Measure one inch out and one inch in from the first corner. Then repeat this with all the pipes this will make sure all the pipes look consistant when the shelf is finished.

After the shelf was finished I went back and hand painted all of the screw heads with black paint so thy blended in better.

Step 4: Now that the main part of the shelf is constructed, turn upside down and place the caster on the first corner and screw into place. I measured these out .5 in. from the edge. Repeat with the rest of the casters. Turn it back over and now you're finished.

Photography by Kaleb Nimz