Alcove shelves

Shimmyhill · 3 Sep 2013 at 16:20

inogen said:
I made some last year. Screw battens into the wall then screw mdf to the top, bottom and front. I also made supporting struts that came out from the batten on the back wall, which I screwed the front mdf into.

BnQ will cut your mdf to size. Though each piece needs some adjustment, which is much easier with a miter (not just a circular) saw. HSS hire them out. You actually want the mdf cut ever slightly too big for the recess. It'll stay flat once screwed and glued, but that way you end up with a shelf wedged rather than just screwed in to the wall.

The shelves I built like this can support my weight. I can dangle off the front of them and they don't budge or even creak. I don't envy anyone who attempts to remove them

I made six long (1.5m+) shelves for about £150 including saw hire.

Lets have some pics then!

All good food for thought people so many thanks.

Ply or MDF if painting it anyway for shelving?

Nightglow · 3 Sep 2013 at 18:00

valve90210 said:
To be honest I hadn't really done much looking about for prices etc I just happened across the board whilst browsing wickes the other day. Looking at the site you linked they only seem to go to 25mm thickness, really I'd like something a little thicker for my shelves (maybe 50mm), unless I coule easily use two sheets without it looking like two sheets?

Essentially I'm looking to make something like the pic I posted earlier. I was thinking nice thick wooden shelves and then cupboard made up of 2x1 frame work faced up with timber boarding, with the doors also made from the timber board with some routed detailing on them. The top surface also I'd like to be nice solid wood too.

In the past, I've glued two piece of ply together, then faced the front edge with 2x1 & fixed using biscuits.

LOAM · 5 Sep 2013 at 17:18

I did ours like that, excuse the wires, they are all gone now.

Cheeks were lined with one piece then I cut the shelves to fit in between the lining cheeks, then cut smaller "props" and worked up from the bottom using a paslode brad nailer. No need to level it either as all the props were the same length. The front is then just architraves to cloak the junctions. The whole thing from start to finish took about 2 hours for both sides.

Shimmyhill · 5 Sep 2013 at 17:32

Is that done with furniture board?

Having ordered all the other furniture for the room this project is go and starting soon, need to work out spacing and all sorts!

LOAM · 5 Sep 2013 at 17:43

Planed sawn soft wood (pine) and then painted.

Shimmyhill · 5 Sep 2013 at 19:41

Looks really good - i think i want the more floating look, my chimneys look to be a fair bit deeper than yours.

What did you paint them with, daughter has all white high gloss furniture so aiming to get a finish like that?

LOAM · 5 Sep 2013 at 20:38

Undercoat then gloss, although my mum did them as I cant stand painting, bless her

pitchfork · 6 Sep 2013 at 07:51

If you want real high gloss you'll be looking at primer (undercoat thinned with white spirit) then first undercoat, sand with 120 and then 240, second undercoat, wet and dry with 240 then gloss 1, w&d with 600, gloss 2 w&d with some 2000 grit finishing paper to give a final high sheen.

Lay off well and keep a good open edge and you won't have a problem.

Thats how you get the mirror finish without fancy equipment.
Although a good brush and roller will help you massively.

Also, I recommend Johnstones Aqua with a dash of Floetrol, aside from Sikkens (which you'll find hard to work if you aren't used to it) it's the best Acrylic finish you can get right now.

Shimmyhill · 10 Oct 2013 at 13:17

So i am mid way through this now, bought MDF and got it cut roughly to size in B&Q and then built frame;

I have painted with an MDF undercoat and then couple of coats of gloss but i'm not 100% i want the gloss finish..

I know i am not going to get a high gloss finish so i'm thinking of getting a eggshell or satin paint instead. What i want is something durable but not as much as a pain as gloss to work with - 16 hours between coats and a week before it hardens off is not ideal when i will need to paint some of it when its all in situ (cover screw holes etc)

I am hearing nothing but good things about Zinsser undercoats so tempted to pick up a tin and undercoat and then apply a different top coat - any suggestions?

Also whats the difference between the different Zinsser undercoats - is the B I N or Bullseye the one to go for??

Ohh and one more question, i am getting some 6mm MDF cut for the front - is the best method to stick it to the front something like no more nails and panel pins??

Sheepdisease · 23 Jun 2015 at 20:29

What did you end up doing and how does it look?

Zefan · 23 Jun 2015 at 20:36

Just posting to mark this thread so I can copy in the next next few months! Looks pretty good.

koolpc · 23 Jun 2015 at 20:45

Looks like some decent work there. Be interested to see the finished article.

Sheepdisease · 24 Jun 2015 at 06:53

I would also like to see this.

Kiyoshi · 24 Jun 2015 at 13:46

I'm planning on doing this exact same thing for a few internal wardrobes we have at the moment, which have just a clothes rail but no shelving. The two pictures Shimmyhill posted are exactly what I was thinking. Is 6mm MDF thick enough for a reasonable load, i.e. will it still bow assuming I baton every ~18 inches? I was initially thinking 18mm MDF but that will be a lot of wasted space, and in itself be extra load and I've read thicker MDF does not necessarily reduce bowing.

Shimmyhill · 24 Jun 2015 at 19:28

Ohhh wow I forgot to update this one somewhat - they turned out amazing even if I do say so myself, here a few more in progress shots and will go take one now as they are...

Kiyoshi · 25 Jun 2015 at 09:17

Thanks for the pictures, it looks great!

What thickness MDF did you use for the top in the end? Did you glue it down or just screw it? From your pictures I'm thinking I'll be putting a similar load on it, not super heavy but more than just some ornaments. Have you noticed any signs of the MDF bowing between the batons at all?

Sorry for all the questions, what undercoat and paint did you decide on for that finish?

Skiddley · 25 Jun 2015 at 09:39

Shaz]sigh[;24876005 said:
I did this last year, I created a frame (I think from 1.5x1.5) attached to the walls, braced across the front and middle then glued and pinned 6mm MDF to the bottom/top and front.

Was then a case of a decent wood primer followed by sanding and a couple of coats of eggshell.

I also had a couple of sets of MDF doors made up for the fronts to create a cheap cabinet look (mostly to hide the AV stuff).

Three things of note for me:

I wish I had a circ saw back then as it would have made life easier
I wish I'd used softer filler for sanding as it would have made life easier
I wish I had a device to stop dust dropping on the finishing coats overnight as it would have made life easier...

Looks good. where did you get the doors made up?

Might do the same myself.

Sheepdisease · 25 Jun 2015 at 13:53

For ease of reference I have quoted both posts with photographs of your work.

Shimmyhill said:
So i am mid way through this now, bought MDF and got it cut roughly to size in B&Q and then built frame;

I have painted with an MDF undercoat and then couple of coats of gloss but i'm not 100% i want the gloss finish..

I know i am not going to get a high gloss finish so i'm thinking of getting a eggshell or satin paint instead. What i want is something durable but not as much as a pain as gloss to work with - 16 hours between coats and a week before it hardens off is not ideal when i will need to paint some of it when its all in situ (cover screw holes etc)

I am hearing nothing but good things about Zinsser undercoats so tempted to pick up a tin and undercoat and then apply a different top coat - any suggestions?

Also whats the difference between the different Zinsser undercoats - is the B I N or Bullseye the one to go for??

Ohh and one more question, i am getting some 6mm MDF cut for the front - is the best method to stick it to the front something like no more nails and panel pins??

Shimmyhill said:
Ohhh wow I forgot to update this one somewhat - they turned out amazing even if I do say so myself, here a few more in progress shots and will go take one now as they are...

What thickness wood did you use for everything and how are the shelves being used?

Shimmyhill · 25 Jun 2015 at 18:48

I will measure up the spare MDF i have - you could sit on them no worry and there is no bowing at all, they are rock solid!!

I used Zinsers undercoat after trying others and its amazing stuff.

Shelves are screwed and glued.

Shimmyhill · 26 Jun 2015 at 21:16

I think I used 18mm MDF for the top and 12mm for the bottom - couldn't find a good tape measure so did it by eye and a ruler and they were the nearest!!

I wanted the chunky look and for them too be strong, went overboard on both really but they do look very good in the flesh.