modular storage shelves with stroller parking

This Instructable uses power saws. Eye and hearing protection are important. Keeping body parts away from saw blades is VERY important.

My son asked me to help him create some shelves for his garage that would incorporate space at the bottom to park strollers (they have three kids under four years old). The design I came up with consists of three "tables" that are identical except for the length of the legs. When the units are stacked and then secured to each other and to the wall they are rock solid, but as three separate pieces they are easily moved around by two people. One potential advantage of the setup is that the separate units could be used as tables by taking out the anchoring screws and unstacking them.

The shelves are seriously over-built. I wanted them not to sag in the middle, so I opted for two by sixes for the front rails. After we were finished, it was obvious that two by fours for the front and one by fours at the back would have been adequate. Oh well, if my son ever wants to store a weight set or a small car on them they won't fall down.

Step 1 Tools and materials

The most important tool for any project is a plan. Drawing what you intend to build helps spot potential mistakes and reduces the return trips to Home Depot by letting you develop a complete material list and the exact dimensions needed for each piece. (The space in the garage was 71" wide and Zak (my son) wanted the shelves to protrude only 32" into the room, so that plus the ten foot ceiling of the garage set the overall size of the shelves).

This project required:

Three pieces of 5/8" oriented strand board (OSB) 69 1/2 by 30 1/2. (Home Depot happily cut these to size for us from 4 x 8 sheets. The scraps came in handy later when we set the finished tables on them outside for staining).
Three 2x6s x 71"
Twenty-one 2x4s x 8' (actually "stud-length" which is a bit short of eight feet)
deck screws, 3" (about one hundred twenty of these, more over-building.)
deck screws 1 1/2" (about 60)
eight 2" angle brackets
adhesive (the kind you apply with a caulking gun)
Paint or stain



The tools we used were:

Table saw (with rip fence)
Circular saw
Cordless variable speed reversing drill (with pilot hole drill and screwdriver bit)
Carpenter's square (Actually, I forgot to bring along my square so we made do with a level, but a square would have made it a lot easier.
Tape measure
Caulking gun
Paint brushes