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DIY farmhouse shelves

Learn how to build thse DIY farmhouse shelves! So easy to make your own from unfinished wood. Just add paint and stain! Lots of pretty farmhouse decor ideas!
Pretty farmhouse dining room shelves, click through to see how easily the room came together. Step by step how to create this look! Pretty farmhouse dining room decor ideas! DIY farmhouse shelves using stain + paint! 

Hi there, are you following us on Instagram and Pinterest? We update daily and you’ll have seen that I’ve been on the hunt for old, chippy corbels for a couple of years but haven’t had any luck finding more than 2 at a time.  When I started my dining room makeover, I became anxious to finish it (poor hubby was sick of our house being in disarray, lol).  With a few bucks and a little more time, we were able to mimic the look I was going for and love how it turned out. Sure love our DIY farmhouse shelves in here on our newly wallpapered wall!

Supplies to make DIY Farmhouse Shelves:

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How to build farmhouse shelves:

Check out the tutorial: #DIY Farmhouse Style Corbel Shelves. Such an easy to follow tutorial on how to make farmhouse shelves. Love the farmhouse style!

We took a trip to Home Depot together and browsed their unfinished corbels.  We decided on these $13 plain corbels, I didn’t want them to compete with the decor that would sit atop the completed shelves.

Pretty farmhouse dining room shelves, click through to see how easily the room came together. Step by step how to create this look! Pretty farmhouse dining room decor ideas! DIY farmhouse shelves using stain + paint!

I stained the edges and corners with my fav stain, Minwax’s Dark Walnut.  I applied it with a small foam brush.

Pretty farmhouse dining room shelves, click through to see how easily the room came together. Step by step how to create this look! Pretty farmhouse dining room decor ideas! DIY farmhouse shelves using stain + paint!

Using my finger (after the stain dried), I rubbed some petroleum jelly on the spots I didn’t want the paint to stick to for easy distressing.  I didn’t want to chance the raw wood color showing through and the jelly acts as a barrier to preserve the deep color.  (See another project we used with this Vaseline trick a few years ago!)

Pretty farmhouse dining room shelves, click through to see how easily the room came together. Step by step how to create this look! Pretty farmhouse dining room decor ideas! DIY farmhouse shelves using stain + paint!

We mixed our favorite chalk paint powder into flat paint (we prefer not using the paint + primer in one but it’s hard to find them separate nowadays) then brushed it on over the whole corbel.

Pretty farmhouse dining room shelves, click through to see how easily the room came together. Step by step how to create this look! Pretty farmhouse dining room decor ideas! DIY farmhouse shelves using stain + paint!

I didn’t include the picture but I power sanded the edges until I liked the amount of dark showing through.  The paint came right off thanks to the petroleum jelly barrier, whoop!

Pretty farmhouse dining room shelves, click through to see how easily the room came together. Step by step how to create this look! Pretty farmhouse dining room decor ideas! DIY farmhouse shelves using stain + paint!

We then waxed it to seal them since they’ll be near food in the dining room.  If any particles manage to land on them, I’m now able to wipe them down since the wax is the protective barrier to preserve my hard work.

Pretty farmhouse dining room shelves, click through to see how easily the room came together. Step by step how to create this look! Pretty farmhouse dining room decor ideas! DIY farmhouse shelves using stain + paint!

Do you like them?  I adore how they turned out, super chippy!!

Pretty farmhouse dining room shelves, click through to see how easily the room came together. Step by step how to create this look! Pretty farmhouse dining room decor ideas! DIY farmhouse shelves using stain + paint!

Earlier this week we posted the wallpaper process, check it out!  Here’s the blank wall PRE-shelves:

Faux wood wallpaper from Walls Republic, a fast alternative to shiplap or planked walls. Looks so good in this farmhouse dining room! Come see the full before/after room reveal!

For the wood shelf, I’d have loved to score a giant piece of authentic barn wood but we’re in Arizona, a newer state and there aren’t a lot of options around.  So we grabbed a higher quality pine wood from Home Depot with no knots or imperfections and brushed on some more stain.  I sealed it with the wax as well.  

DIY farmhouse shelves! So easy to make your own from unfinished wood. Just add paint and stain! Lots of pretty farmhouse decor ideas!

How to hang farmhouse shelves:

  • Anchor your screws into the wall (using drywall screws or directly into a stud) and set corbels onto screws, (my corbels were pre-drilled.)
  • Once corbels are secure, lay 8′ piece of wood (or the length for your space) over the corbels.
  • Drill 2 screws directly into each corbel through the wood.
  • Decorate!

DIY farmhouse shelves! So easy to make your own from unfinished wood. Just add paint and stain! Lots of pretty farmhouse decor ideas!

Pretty farmhouse dining room shelves, click through to see how easily the room came together. Step by step how to create this look! Pretty farmhouse dining room decor ideas! DIY farmhouse shelves using stain + paint!

Time to start filling them up!  We’re sharing a final reveal after our lights arrive but here’s a peek at what they’re looking like, I love them!

DIY farmhouse shelves! So easy to make your own from unfinished wood. Just add paint and stain! Lots of pretty farmhouse decor ideas!That’s all we’re sharing for now.  We have some adorable pendants coming to finish the space off.  Just wanted to share the how-to for these fun faux vintage shelf brackets since we shared a peek on Instagram and had lots of questions about the details (: See how easy they are to make?? Please pin so your friends can make their own!

Pretty farmhouse dining room shelves, click through to see how easily the room came together. Step by step how to create this look! Pretty farmhouse dining room decor ideas! DIY farmhouse shelves using stain + paint!

Pretty farmhouse dining room shelves, click through to see how easily the room came together. Step by step how to create this look! Pretty farmhouse dining room decor ideas! DIY farmhouse shelves using stain + paint!

Update: Check out how our Farmhouse Dining Room is coming along!

Gorgeous farmhouse dining room. All the tips to achieve this look without breaking the bank! Love the aqua dining room accents and the farmhouse pendants too! Pretty neutral dining room ideas!

Visit more farmhouse shelf tutorials:

Kristi did her own version for her farmhouse chic dining room shelves:

Farmhouse Chic Dining Room Shelf decorating ideas... love!

Here’s the same concept in our laundry room:

Easy step-by-step tips to spruce up your laundry room on a budget! We transformed this space for less than $300!

And our recent creation: DIY Turnbuckle Shelves! LOVE how they turned out in our newly renovated bathroom!

WOW! Check out these pretty diy turnbuckle shelves!! Tutorial for an easy diy turnbuckle hardware kit included! Adore this farmhouse bathroom shelves!

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55 Comments

  1. Hey Jane your shelves are beautiful. You are keeping it simple that’s what I’m looking for. Great job !!!! Jean

  2. Beautiful shelf!! I am planning a similar project for my dining room. What is the thickness of your boards?

  3. Beautiful! Did u use the walnut stain for the shelf itself? And what did u use to protect the shelf? The same wax?

  4. Enjoyed this post.. corbels are soo expensive and this is a perfect alternative for me. Now off to Home Depot. Thanks again. I can do this. Rebecca

  5. I am having a difficult time finding your brackets? What were the style of corbels you bought at home-depot?

  6. You ladies are the bomb(s)! We are just getting ready to put shelves up on our laundry room wall using corbels and barn wood. I so love the treatment you did on your corbels. I’ve never seen it done quite like that and I love it. Talented girls! Thank you!

  7. I’m confused. In the article you said the shelf was 5 foot. but the comments say 8 foot. Am I reading it wrong?

  8. Hi what did you cover the nail with? It looks white? Did you just paint over the nail that is in the wall? I was just looking at this in Home Depot before finding this post. Do you have them so the longer side of the corbels are connected the the wood and the shorter part is on the wall? I was trying to determine which way I would want them..

    1. Hi Sheena! The corbels come with little wooden plugs so we put those in after we screwed the shelf to the wall. The longer side is running along the wall, the shorter side is touching the wood shelf 🙂

  9. Love the Corbels. Being in Australia, we don’t hear the term Farmhouse style, or word. Yet I absolutely adore it. I’m going to try and make my own Corbels from pallet wood. Products are limited here, so I tend to build and create Farmhouse Furniture and decor from scratch. TFS.

    1. Thanks! Here’s the directions!

      To hang the shelving:

      Anchor your screws into the wall (using drywall screws or directly into a stud) and set corbels onto screws, (my corbels were pre-drilled.)
      Once corbels are secure, lay 5′ piece of wood over the corbels.
      Drill 2 screws directly into each corbel through the wood.

  10. Love how those corbels look. think due to price will have hubs make our own corbels or some kind of shelf bracket, good old pallet wood . I would so love to take upper cabinets down in our kitchen but with the wind, dirt/gravel driveway and traffic on it everything would be so dirty would make me crazy. Wish I could take them down cause then wouldn’t have to paint them all.
    Love your nice long shelves, they look great, lovely styling job, have fun with that. Love this post and all others.
    Enjoy rest of weekend

  11. I was wondering if you sell these. Even though your directions seem easy-I am not talented at all and would rather buy some. If you would be willing to sell some, how much would you charge? I am interested in 4 of them.

    1. Hi Karen!

      Yes, the shelves are 8′ wide and 11″ deep (we purchased the 12″ wood from Home Depot but it’s actually measures 11″)
      They make a huge statement in our house and you will love them!

      🙂

      1. I’m confused. In the article you said the shelf was 5 foot. but the comments say 8 foot. Am I reading it wrong?

  12. Love the look of these shelves. I have been seeing several tutorials about using petroleum jelly for distressing things. My question is, when you are painting, does the jelly not mix in with the paint an alter the way it stays on other areas of the project? Really wanting to try this, just want to know what to expect.

    1. Thanks Sheila! Since you just use a fine amount, it doesn’t mix in; it kind of acts like oil and water as the paint WON’T stick to it at all. Hope that makes sense. 😉 You can try it on a small scrap piece of wood before painting an entire piece to see how it works. Good luck!

  13. PLEASE tell me how you made or where you got your GATHER sign. I LOVE everything about it. The color of the frame, the font of the letters. THANK YOU!!!!

  14. Wow! The corbels turned out stunning. They look perfectly aged! Bummer about not having barn wood available easily. I actually have seen some really neat tutorials about aging new wood to look like barnwood. But I’m also lucky to live in Ohio where there are no shortage of old barns. haha!

  15. Love this! I’ve been looking for farmhouse or DIY shelves to display my Grandmother’s china in our dining room and this looks gorgeous. I do have a question I haven’t been able to find the answer to, how much room is between your dining chairs and the shelves behind them? Our dining table and chairs are huge and I only have about 43″ between the table and wall. Is that enough room for full size shelves? Thank you!

  16. Wow great looking website I run a small family air conditioning company in in Australia and have found the diy market has helped grow our business. I was just just browsing the web at present as I am just about to do a diy upgrade on my web site also.

  17. Very, very lovely!! I read that you were thinking of offering this ‘gather’ sign in your etsy shop…any update on that?

  18. Seriously cute, ladies!! I LOVE this and am so happy to know how you achieved that perfectly aged look!!!

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