Cube Shelf Makeover!

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I love utilizing cube shelves in my house. I usually get them from Target for about $30-45 each. They’re an inexpensive way to organize really anything!

The only thing about them is that they are pretty basic looking. Normally, I have them in closets, so I don’t really care that much.

We had a larger, 13-inch squared cube shelf with 9 cubes that we used in our garage to store shoes. I wanted to utilize it in my office, and replace the smaller (11”), darker cube shelf that was currently in my office with it.

Bigger white shelf that we used to hold shoes

I gave the white shelf a good cleaning- between my kids’ shoes, lots of dragged-in dirt, and birds that like to build nests near the shelf, this thing was pretty gross! Luckily, there’s not much that some Clorox wipes can’t help. 🙂

I measured the top (43 inches across) and cut some spare 2x4s into 45-inch lengths. I used two 8-foot 2x4s for this project. It took 4 of these 45″ pieces to cover the top (which is about 14” deep).

I used wood-glue to glue these four down onto the top of the shelf. I used random items to weigh the wood down so it would dry nice and sturdy.

I then stained the wood, using Minwax Provincial. It’s a great medium-dark brown color! I used a rag and rubbed the stain all over the wood, doing 2 coats. I had to spot-clean when I stained the thin sides of the boards, because some stain would get on the white shelves. Luckily… Clorox to the rescue again!

Once the stain dried, I put some matte polyurethane over the stain to help protect the top, since I’ll be putting things on the top of the shelf. The poly helps to protect the wood.

I ordered four pedestal feet from Amazon for $16 total. They didn’t have screws sticking out of them, which I did on purpose. I wanted a flat surface so I could gorilla-glue the feet onto the base.

It was super easy… I flipped the shelf upside down, put the gorilla-glue on the base of each foot, and stuck them into place. I let them sit like this for several hours, to make sure they completely dried. Those suckers were on there good!

We flipped the shelf back over, very carefully, as not to put any extra pressure on the feet. We set the shelf straight down onto the feet, and it sat perfectly!