To start off my holiday break, my wife was thinking we could updgrade the entryway closet.  It currently has a metal wire shelf with hanger rod, some small racks, a vaccuum and lots of miscellaneous stuff.

Here is a pic of it cleaned out

Like everything it starts with a rough plan, which I can’t find right now,  and a trip to the store.  Below is a “after” plan since I can’t find the original.

Each shef unit will be comprised of 6 pieces.  The back, left, and right pieces which are attached to the wall.  The shelf board wich sits on top of the 3 wall  mounted pieces and the shelf supports.

The back section will screw into studs and will carry most of the weight. The shelf supports will mount to the back from the backside.  There will be side supports mounted on the left and right walls to help support the shelves.  Coat hooks will be added to the lower one

I picked up  a sheet of melamine, some edge banding and 7 coat hooks.  I searched for a simpe shelf support that I liked (I mean my wife) and  I didn’t find anything.  So, I had some left over poplar that I used for the shelf supports.

Ripping Melamine Down

The proess started with ripping the melamine down to manageable sizes with my newly purchase Kreg rip-cut.   The back pieces are roughly 9 1/2″ tall by 53 1/2″ wide.  The lower shelf is 12 1/2 “deep and the top shelf is 10 1/2” deep.  I didn’t cut the shelf pieces to length at this time since I want to ensure a tight fit against the wall.  So I will cut them later.

Making the Shelf Supports

After cutting them down I turned my attention to the shelf supports.  I had some left over S4S poplar, so I cut it down into 8X9″ sections and laminated it together to get a 1 1/2″ thick piece.  From there I jointed one edge.

I ripped it to about 7″ wide adn the cut it to length, about 8″

I made a little template from the leftover poplar to get the curve looking right  I used  a 5 gallon bucket for the radius and once I happy I transferred it to the pieces and cut it out on the bandsaw.

This was the first time I actually used the oscillating feature on my drill press.  It worked pretty good, except the sandpaper roll kept sliding off the drum.

From there, I went to the router table and put a 3/8″  radius bit in to ease the edges. I did’t route the edges that contact the back or the shelf.

I had some burn and rough spots from routing, so I clamped the pieces in my new leg vise and sanded them down.  The new workbench is pretty awesome.

After sanding, they got a coat of primer and two coats of semi gloss white.

Mounting Holes in Back and Wall

I turned my attention to the back pieces.  I need to layout all the holes that will mount the back to the wall, so I don’t cover them up with the shelf supports.  Using a stud finder and then a  drill to locate the studs helped confirm their location.  I transferred the locations onto the back of the and drilled  the holes.  I also added a couple more for drywall anchor points. After I drilled and countersunk the hole I took the pieces back to teh closet and used the back as the template.   I drilled one hole temporarily mounted the back, so I could level it and drill the remaining holes in the wall.  This same process was used for the remaining 5 pieces (lower left and right  pieces, upper back and upper left and right).

Time to add edge banding.  The only time the iron gets used in the house.

Mounting the Shelf the Supports

After I laid out all the mounting holes, I could determine where the shelf supports could go.  Luckily I could place them at equal spacings without blocking a mounting hole.  I was able to drill the hole through the back first and countersink.

Then placed the back onto the bench (upright in picture) with handscrew clamps.  In the picture the workbench is the “shelf”.  This ensured the shelf support and the back were flush.

I mounted the shelf supports with some pretty heavy duty hardware.  All were pre-drilled.

#14 X 3 1/2″  towards the top (“bottom” in the above picture)

#14 X 2 1/2″ in the center

#8 X 2″ in the bottom

Mounting Shelf to Wall

Next, was to finally mount the back, with shelf supports added, to the wall.   I also mounted the left and right hand  pieces.  Pretty uneventful.  Now it was time to cut the shelves to length.  I measured the corners for the closet shelf and of course they weren’t 90.   They were about 92 and 91.  I cut the pieces to lenght at the angles and test fit. No good, too tight.   I cussed a few times and went back to cut more off.  I repeated this about 3 times and still messed up the drywall and didn’t obtain a great fit.  Oh well.   I made a little template to mount the coat hooks

I added some screws holding the shelf down to the supports and the boards around the perimeter.  Then my wife took over with caulking, painting, covering scew holes.

It is somewhat of an optical illusion, but the reallt white strip that runs horizontlal is the wall between the shelves.

Here are a couple pictures with it loaded back up