Introduction: Frosted Donut Shelf

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About: I love coming up with cool ways of using wood! Furniture is my specialty. Getting ideas from all my fellow wood lovers out there. Wood is Good!

Sweet tooths assemble! Who likes donuts?! ME LIKES DONUTS!

Hahaha but seriously. I love the look of them, the texture of them, and of course the taste. I have some things in my office I wanted to display on something cooler than just a regular shelf so I was inspired by the donut! Be sure to watch the video to see exactly how I did it. Good luck!

Supplies:

Step 1: Cut the Shelf Assembly

To start, let's cut our pieces to build the foundation for the shelf.

  1. Cut two pieces of 5/8" plywood at 6 feet long by 6 inches wide
  2. Cut one piece of 5/8" plywood at 6 feet long by 10 inches wide
  3. Cut one of the 6 inch wide pieces into two pieces at 10 inches long
  4. Make sure the 10 inch pieces have a 45-degree cut on one of their ends
  5. Cut a 45 degree angle on each end of the 6 foot 6 inch piece

Step 2: Assemble Shelf Foundation

Let's glue and nail are your freshly cut pieces together!

  1. Place all your pieces on a flat surface so you can see what your doing and to make things easier
  2. Butt your 45 degree ends of the 6 foot piece and 10 inch pieces together
  3. Glue and nail them in place
  4. Grab you 6 foot by 10 inch piece of 5/8 plywood and place it on top
  5. Glue and nail that down and voila you have the shelf structure!

Step 3: Add the French Cleat

I wanted this to sit flush against my wall but be very strong. So I went with the French cleat method. Basically it's when two strips of 45 degree angled wood meet and lock into place. They hook on to each other and becomes a very strong hold.

  1. Cut a 2 1/2 inch strip off your 5/8 piece of plywood making sure your blade is set at 45 degrees
  2. Mount it on the underside of the shelf so the 45 degree angle faces the inside of the shelf
  3. Make sure to keep it flush so when mounted on the wall, it will be seemless

Step 4: Creating the Wood Frosting

Now we start the fun part. The frosting on our donut shelf! To create this look, I used 1/4 inch plywood.

  1. Cut a strip of 1/4 inch plywood at 6 inches wide
  2. Bonus if you cut it to the length of your whole shelf
  3. Draw your frosting design down the middle of your 6 inch strip
  4. Cut down the line using a jigsaw
  5. You now have two pieces of frosting and should be enough for your shelf (if you used a piece of 4 feet or longer)
  6. Make sure you maintain the same measurements as your shelf
  7. Keep in mind it needs to be 1/4 inch longer on the sides to get the frosting to meet one another
  8. Make your side cuts at 45 degrees so it's a clean meet on the edges
  9. If you have two pieces that meet on the front of the shelf, make sure the frosting design matches up
  10. If the frosting design doesn't match, cut accordingly
  11. Dry fit the frosting to make sure everything fits

Step 5: Paint & Glue Frosting

Let's make the frosting pop! No need to use pink if you want to have a different color. Do what you like!

  1. Prep your frosting pieces for paint using 220 - 320 grit sandpaper
  2. You want the curvy edges to be smooth and frosty!
  3. Apply two coats of spray paint waiting for proper drying time in between
  4. Sand your shelf prior to gluing since it will be a lot harder to access after the frosting is on it
  5. I sanded mine down to 320 grit to get it nice and smooth
  6. Use construction adhesive to glue down your frosting to the shelf
  7. Make sure the frosting is flush with the top of the shelf and all sides
  8. Wax the bare wood on the shelf to protect from potential overspray (not necessary but it helped me)

Step 6: Top of the Shelf

It's time to take some 1/4 inch plywood and add it to the top of the shelf.

  1. Cut a piece of 1/4 inch plywood at 6 feet and 1/2 inch long and 10 1/4 inches wide
  2. This will become the top of the frosted shelf
  3. Always make sure you measure your piece to get the exact measurements as your wood might be slightly smaller or larger then what I used
  4. Glue it down using construction adhesive
  5. Using a router, roundover the top front and top sides of the shelf
  6. Use wood filler to fill any cracks or crevices in the wood
  7. Sand it all down smooth

Step 7: Final Frosting

It's now time to make the frosting really pop! Bring this bad boy somewhere you can spray paint safely and use a face mask.

  1. Tape off the bottom of the frosting so it protects the rest of the shelf from getting sprayed
  2. Spray two more coats
  3. Sand with 320 grit sandpaper before your 3rd and last coat
  4. Remove tape
  5. Sand off any overspray that may have occured

Step 8: Mount the Shelf

Mount this sweet new shelf somewhere sweet. People are going to want to see this, trust me.

  1. Measure the desired height of your shelf
  2. Find and mark your studs
  3. Pre-drill and mount another strip of French cleat to the wall with the 45 degree angle point towards the wall
  4. Mount the shelf
  5. Apply final coat of finish
  6. You're done!

Step 9: Enjoy

This is something you can be super proud of. It looks awesome. Just make sure you don't sleepwalk and try and take a bite out of this tasty looking thing. Hope you guys liked this build! Thanks for reading along and be sure to watch the video!

Cheers!