Ideas for Tania's rustic shelves floating around

Tania asked me if I could build some shelves for her.

Tania's example of needed shelves

She's asking for simple, classic/rustic styled. and offered me this image to start with. Inside this post I'm offering different possibilities as of type of construction, fixations and other general shelves ideas.

The final product should consist of three 36 inches wide and 8 inches deep shelves made out of knotty wood. She wants them with a nice finish that she will stain herself. But this is if her mind doesn't change as we work together on ideas



After asking a few question to Tania, I know that pine seems to be the wood of choice for her situation. She would like something not to heavy and wont have to carry heavy things (few books, and pictures). She likes them thick so an inch and a half or more could give her something really strong. Her mind is not set for the type of fixations but at 1.5" it would be possible to use concealed brackets and keep the overall aesthetics simple.

In the simplest form, these type of shelves could very well be what she needs. It offers a clean, elegant and natural look

Simple natural looking shelves

But a little bit more rustic could be achievable by using old barn planks.
Which I just happen to have a few on hand.

Rustic shelf made with weathered wood

I've been saving the weathered boards for a special project. I had a piece of furniture in mind for them but if they would suite Tania's wishes I would have no problem using them for her project.


For an extreme rustic look, Rough lumber that still has bark on them could also be used. Personally they remind me of the smelly cottage a friend of mine had when I was younger. But again, with the properly chosen displayed item on them, they can become attractive as well.

One single shelf might not be significant enough to become useful but with multiple shelves, styling can gain lots of significance in the room . I doubt that this is what Tania really wants but I am still showing as we never know what kind of ideas it can bring.

We can recognize more of a mission style in the first picture provided by Tania. When talking about a Mission Style in furniture, we are talking about a design that emphasizes simple horizontal and vertical lines and accentuation of the wood grain. It is also constructed in a suggestive way of entirely handcrafted work.
Don't worry Tania I kept the best for last...

Floating shelf with drawer

Imagine the floating shelf with drawer done in soft knotty wood stained in your choice of color. It could be distressed or kept clean looking. Hidden storage is a fabulous way of adding multifunction to a piece that already offer two other functions, displaying objects and adding style to the wall it's mounted on.

Notice in these images that the shelves are clutter free. This is an important thing to point out as shelves acts as storage. Open storage that is. So the articles that will be on them needs to add a stylish accent and not a cumbersome disturbance in the room. I'm not saying this for Tania but to remind others that shelves are rarely butt-ugly. It's the mess on them that makes them look bad.