DIY Wood Nail Polish Rack | Aelida


Christal | November 17, 2015 | DIY |

Hello Beauties!

If you’ve been following this blog for a minute, you may realize I kind of have a thing for nail polish. I’ve been housing most of my collection in two table-top nail polish racks but I thought it was time for a wall shelving unit to store everything in one place. Store-bought racks of this size retail for $90 and up, so this is a great way to keep costs down and customize to your personal space.

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There are many tutorials around the inter-webs to make something like this and I was inspired by DulceCandy’sversion but I have added some more detail and extra steps for your viewing pleasure

The materials I used took about $35 out of my wallet and the entire process took about 6 or 7 hours (mostly due to glue/paint dry times). Below lists everything you’ll need if you want to tackle this project.

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Materials:

– 1 Wooden Backboard 36″x24″ (0.25″ thick) – 10 Wooden Shelves  2.5″x24″ – 2 Wooden Side boards 2.5″x36″ – Glue Gun – Glue Sticks – Gorilla Glue 4 oz. – 2 cans Gloss Spray Paint – Ruler/Tape Measure – Nails 3/4″ – Screws and Anchors 7/8″ – Electric drill – Screw driver

– Stud Finder

All of these materials can be found at any home improvement store like Lowes or Home Depot. The wood I used was all 1/4″ thick and the backboard and side boards came as 48″ long but they were cut to size for free at the store. The shelves were sold precut at 24″ wide. Perfect!

Now lets get started!

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1. Make Your Mark

First, make level lines across the width of the backboard equal lengths apart for the shelves. I used 4″ between lines, but with a length of 36″, one shelf will be a little narrower than the rest but that works for me to store shorter polish bottles.

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2. Glue the Shelves

Next, make sure you have your glue gun and sticks handy and start gluing over the horizontal lines and quickly attach the 24″ shelves. Press down firmly to ensure a tight and secure bond. Then, paste a layer of Gorilla Glue above and below each shelf attached for extra reinforcement. Note that the Gorilla Glue will expand as it dries.

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3. Attach SideBoards

Once all the shelves are attached, allow a few minutes for the gorilla glue to get tacky and then use the glue gun on each edge of the shelves and quickly attach the 36″ side board on both sides.

For extra reinforcement, I hammered 2 3/4 x 18 nails through the sideboard and each shelf. This required a lot of precision and patience because the boards are so thin. If you choose a thicker wood, this would be a piece of cake.

At this point, the construction is done and all thats left to do is wait for the glue to dry before painting. The Gorilla Glue took about 3 or 4 hours to completely dry and harden but after that, the rack felt really sturdy.

paint-768x1024-1 Once the glue is dry, its time for painting. Whether you use spray paint or regular paint with a brush, make sure to to this in a well-ventilated area and apply multiple but thin coats. I applied 2 coats and used one can of spray paint for each. Allow a few hours for the paint to dry and you can get ready to hang the shelves on the wall. hanging-the-nail-polish-rack-1024x682-1 5. Hanging the Nail Polish Rack This part was a little tricky to accomplish alone so if you have an extra pair of hands around, use them. Nail polish can get a bit heavy so its important to make sure that the rack is really secured to the wall. I used #6 x 1″ screws and #4-6 x 7/8″ plastic anchors. First, I used a stud-finder to determine the most secure beam in the drywall to start drilling and made markings on the wall.  I then made corresponding markings on the rack in the 2nd and last shelves. Using a 3/4″ drillbit, I made 4 holes in the backboard and then screwed through those holes straight to the wall to mark the corresponding spot on the wall. Once all those are in, I removed the screws and took down the rack to use the drillbit in those holes in the walls and installed the plastic anchors. Lastly, I aligned the screws in the rack to the holes in the wall, screwed them into the anchors and VOILA! Now just put up all your nail polishes in whatever order you choose. diy-wood-nail-polish-1024x1024-1

Lessons Learned

This was my first time making a rack like this and there are some things I learned along the way that may help you if you plan to make something similar.

Use a bigger glue gun. The one I used is the mini version and for this project, the glue is used up really fast, so the gun needs to be replaced very often (once or twice for each shelf). A bigger glue gun with chunkier glue sticks will reduce the number of times you have to stop and refill the tool.

Glue down one of the sideboards before the shelves. I secured the shelves to the backboard first and eyeballed their alignment with the edge. This caused some of the shelves to be uneven from the sideboard and not flushed to it with the glue. Since I nailed them as well,  it should be stable but if you don’t plan on nailing, its important to make sure the shelves are as tight with the sideboard as possible.

Use canned paint and a brush. Spray paint can be fast but it doesn’t always give the most even coatings and can get all over the place. With a brush, you can place paint exactly where you want it and  it can be cheaper than buying multiple cans of spray paint. Plus, there are more options for colors if you want to get creative with that as well.

So thats it! I think this is a great day or weekend project if you love the look of a wall nail polish rack. Use measurements specific to your nail polish needs and colors to fit the decor of the room you will install it in.

The great thing about DIY’s is that you are in control! Enjoy, and let me know if you try this out.

Thanks for reading!

How do you store your Nail Polish?