In this video I will show you how I built this shelf. It may seem simple, but in reality it was full of difficult little things to discover. but! It was worth it, as I had bought this very general store shelf in my house before, and I was finally able to replace it with something I made instead.
Let’s build a modern wall shelf!
Modern wall shelf plans
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The materials I used to build this modern wall shelf
- wood
- Wood glue
- opinion
- screws
- Wood finish
- nailer
Step 1: Cut the wood for the modern wall shelf
I already had walnut and maple in my shop, so I made my own from that. I started by cutting all the parts to form the central hexagon made of walnut. I cut all of these boards a little longer than really needed. So, in the next step, when I cut all the corners, I can have some wiggle room to make it all perfect. I first cut the metric pieces on one end of each desired panel. Then when cutting the second side, I set up a stop block so I can make sure they are all the same. You can test the accuracy by putting them back together.
Step 2: Test fit the hexagon portion of the shelf
I then did a proper test just to make sure things looked right. They were, so I then got ready to start applying the glue. When making miter tools, it’s a good idea to put a piece of masking tape on the inside face first because there will be glue squeezed out, and cleaning the inside face always takes a little time, but a piece of miter tape solves the problem.
Another tape trick to help adhere thinners is to apply tape long enough for all the pieces. My arms are barley long enough, and I actually put two in because of the depth of my cut. This is so I can place all my parts, exactly end to end, on top of the bar. Then I apply glue. I wouldn’t go overboard with the glue, just make sure the entire face of each miter is covered.
Now I can start at one end and put things together. Use this tape to help each miter in place while making the lap. The tape can also act as a clamp, giving me a way to hold the hexagon together since the glue has had enough time to set. However, since I have a 23 gauge nailer, I went ahead and fired a few nails into each joint so I wouldn’t have to wait for the glue to dry. If you don’t have a bobby pin, leave it for an hour before removing the tape.
Step 3: Cut the straight shelves
There are actually two other pieces of walnut for this unit but they are just straight shelves without needing any explanations, so let’s move on to the maple triangles that accompany the hex walnut shape.
They can be cut exactly the same way as walnut pieces on a miter saw, but I wanted to show you a different method that is usually more accurate which is using a sled on a table saw.
If you have a table saw I recommend making all your cuts this way. What I did was tilt the saw blade and then use a sled to slide my piece across the blade to cut off one end of all the pieces. I then set up a stop block to completely cut the second end of the board, as well as cut the board along that cut. Any time you make a geometric shape like this, the finished product will look its best if all the pieces are as identical as possible, this is where using a more precise tool will pay off but know that it can still be made no matter what tool you have.
Step 4: Assemble the triangle shelves together
Unlike a hexagon, a triangle will actually have an exposed miter cut on all three sides, so I did a dry fit to align things first…and here we go. This way I could make sure I was applying the glue to the correct part of the board. The duct tape trick doesn’t work on a connection like this, so instead I inserted a few pins on each side. However, if you don’t have a push pin, remember that masking tape makes a great peg while setting the glue!
Since my design contained two triangles, I repeated the process to create another triangle.
Step 5: Join the hexagons and triangles
Now, the hard part, guys. Join things together. In the finished product, these triangles will slide directly over the horizontal portion of the hexagon shelf. I actually prefer to make these cuts on a table saw but the blade on it will only go 3 inches and I need 4 inches. So instead I used a miter saw.
After making all my marks indicating where the cuts should be, I set the depth on my miter saw so that it could go as deep as 4 inches. I cut out the outline of my marks, actually I went a little inside them because you can always remove more but it’s hard to put them back in. My intention was to remove the remaining interior one cut at a time, but the first cut was enough to break it down from there. With this done I just had to get the bottom flat which I did by lowering the saw to its full 4″ depth and then slowly moving my board left and right until the blade hit the side walls of my piece.
I kept the shelf piece handy so I could test fit things and make adjustments. It was quite small to start with, so I took a little more space so the shelf could easily slide into place.
The thing I like about the miter saw for triangles is that I can cut both holes at the same time but on the shelf I took a different approach to show you an alternative method if you want to build this
For the shelf I used a bandsaw.
The thing about a bandsaw is that the deck will tilt but only in one direction, I’ll show you that cut first even though I’ve done it second in real life. This cut is easy, tilt the deck, align the blade, make the two outer cuts first, then cut the inner ones until you have a nice rectangular slot. To get a flat bottom, I like to get close to the line with my straight cuts, but then, just as I did on a miter saw, I slowly move the piece left and right across the blade to even things out.
Step 6: Make the second cut on
For the second cut, which is the opposite of the first, you can’t move the table down, so instead I moved the part up with a jig. This jig is a scrap of wood cut at the right angle, clamped to a band saw’s miter gauge, then another scrap is screwed on top to give me a fence to mount my part against. This will allow me to keep my part in place and slide it into the blade at 90 degrees but actually cut at the angle needed to slide right over the other parts.
Step 7: The finishing touches! Staining modern wall shelf
Let’s see if it works. In this part I was very careful because those outer pieces will be fragile and break if you put too much pressure on them. So I took my time moving it nice and square.
This was the final complicated part, and now it was almost over. For a hanging method, I attached some simple store-bought brackets to the top horizontal walnut shelf. Since everything is connected, it is the only thing needed.
Then I put on a coat of finish. One thing I did do was put some protective lotion on my hands before I finished. This lotion is called gloves in a bottle and bonds to the top layer of your skin to prevent things like stains, paint, or other finishes from penetrating the top layer. It’s a little protection if you keep a pump bottle in your store like I do. Oh and don’t worry, it doesn’t leave your hands greedy.
After letting the finish dry, the only thing left to do is remove the old boring shelf and install the new custom shelf. I know it’s a bit funky but there are enough flat surfaces to accommodate the items I like to store here, which include a speaker, glasses, clutches, and keys. I placed hooks on one side only to keep the light switch in the area clear.
Conclusion modern wall shelf
We did it! I’ve built a modern wall shelf to help spruce up your living space. I love the amount of stuff you can put on these.
If you liked this project, visit my website where I have lots of building plans to help you with another project.
