Super Simple Shelving From Hollow-Core Doors Reader's Digest

One of our favorite fall back staples around the home is hollow-core doors. They won't do your laundry, wash your dishes or even walk the dog, but never disappoint when it comes to being desks, tables, platform beds, wall art and now... shelves. Click through the jump to see how you can easily and inexpensively, transform a hollow-core door into two floating shelves (and then install it!).

First things first. Obtaining a door.
Hollowcore doors can be purchased from your local hardware store and should always be in stock, however, you can usually find them at salvage stores and the ever-wonderful Craigslist. You can usually find them for less than $5 if you know where to look! We usually find ours at our local ReStore for $2-$3.
They also store easily under beds and sofas if you come across one but don't have time for a project that afternoon.

Next you will want to locate the studs in your wall. If you have a wall that is "studless" you will want to take appropriate actions. Concrete and brick can use a hammer drill and masonry screws while walls with metal studs can use toggles to help hold things in place. Ask your local hardware store employee for which will work best for your wall.

After cutting your door in half using a circular saw or table saw (having another person around to lend you a hand is advised, but not needed), knock out a few inches of the support materials inside the door. Do not remove them all, just enough to slide a cleat inside in order to attach it to the wall (see below).

Measure the gap inside the door. Locate a wooden cleat that fits inside the gap and secure it to the wall.

Using a right angle and some brads, nail down your new shelf to the cleat. Your new shelf is ready to hold your favorite family photos or toys!

To see the full step by step instructions (with more photos!) check out the full article by David Radtke over at Reader's Digest.

Comments (16)

oh, thank you! i've been looking for light shelving ideas to go in my dressing room for my collection of hats!

That is a really great idea! There are always doors in the damaged section at the hardware store, this is a perfect way to give them new life!

I did this! About a year ago. I absolutely love the shelf, and best of all, it was free! We have quite a few of these old doors lying around now, having replaced them with nicer models. Because of this, I also recently completed a headboard made from hollow-core doors and scrap mdf. Gotta love easy DIY's on the cheap!

Heck of a lot cheaper and apparently easier to install than those IKEA LACK shelves...

This is great but I need 12" deep shelves. Anyone have any ideas as to how I can ensure a floating shelf is not only large enough to hold dishes but strong enough as well?

I think you would need lots of access to the studs in the wall to create something that would hold dishes. Or install support cables. But that might not be the look you are going for.

Help, builders. I am in the process of making these at home. Faithful to the directions and optimistic as ever, I nevertheless hit a snag at the step, "Locate a wooden cleat that fits" ...

--1x1 and 1x2 lumber at my home store is all kinds of crazy bent.
--Ripping a hardwood 2x4 lenthwise with a circular saw can be dangerous, and I am an amateur. Kickback and blade binding scared me a couple of times. Not recommended.
--Thin strips of lathe could be stacked like a sandwich and glued to the correct thickness, but with two drawbacks: one doesn't get to use one's awesome circular saw much, and it might split when the anchor goes through the "sandwich" sideways.
--SO, I bought a saw fence to permit accurate cuts along an edge, and I will use it to cut strips of MDF to 1.25 inches, gluing them together to make a 2" or so thickness, and affixing this "sandwich" to the wall of for the cleat/ledger.

While I am just waiting for time off from work to coincide with decent weather to work outdoors, if anyone knows a better way to get this done, I'll hear it.

I did this in my garage with 34" hollow core doors. Cheap and sturdy. It doesn't get much better.

am also wondering if these are removable!

everything is removable.... do you want it to be removable without damage though?

From the pictures I would say, not really removable. With the shelf glued and then nailed into and onto the cleat, it isn't going to come down easily. If you wreck the shelf and get back at the cleat looks like it could be removed with minimal damage (aka the holes from the screws) to the wall.

The short answer to are these removable is "NO".

Part of what makes these shelves work is that the shelf part (made from hollow core door) is glued all along the length to the cleat, which is securely anchored to the wall. This turns the whole assembly into a torsion box. The shelves could be removed from the wall, but it would be a really hellacious job and would probably require some pretty serious wall repair

if you want it to be removable then instead of using wood glue, screw the door onto the cleat.

i think the easiest way to remove it otherwise would be to break through the hollow part of the door in order to get to the bolts. you would destroy the whole shelf, but at least you wouldn't damage the wall.

If you want something cheap that can be easily removed, buy a used IKEA Lack shelf off of Craigslist.

These can be easily removed with no damage to the wall other than the holes from the mounting screws for the cleat. If you want to remove them, just use a circular saw, or better for safety a jigsaw, and cut the shelf a few inches away from the wall. You then have access to the mounting screws. The shelf is damaged but not the wall.

Love this. My step-dad used these as our desks about 10 years ago, and I've since adopted it in my own home. We used adjustable wall braces to support the door, which worked pretty well but can only take much weight toward the back without fear of flipping. Love that you featured it, though!