The previous tennants had this white little kitchen plank, which I never liked. So I set out to make a new one, with more storage space, room for keys and a lot more sturdy.

Unfortunately I ended up switching up the width so it ended up in the hallway instead. I guess I'll just have to make another one....

Step 1: Prepare Your Stock

I used pallet wood. It was hard...ish... wood, but needed to be cleaned. Should have used a plane, but I didn't have a proper sharp one lying around and last time I used it it took chunks out of my boards, so instead I just sanded it smooth.

Step 2: Cut, Fit, Groove, Fit, Groove and Fit Again.

After the planks were cleaned, I cut them to size, routed the grooves and laid them out. Once I saw the first set fit properly, I measured the board for the back, then clamped them down to the workbench together and router the new grooves for the backboard.

Step 3: Assembly and Glue Up

This step is fairly straightforward. I went ahead and rounded the bottom corners. Then clamped everything together, drilled pilot holes, screwed it together. Then I went and measured/fitted the front boards.

To be honest I forgot the exact steps here. It's not complicated though. It mostly involves:

Fitting everything together
Clamping the workpiece
Drilling pilot holes
Screwing it together
Disassemble
Add glue
Assemble and screw again, clamp if needed but screws should be plenty.

I added 2 little "catcher" boards at the front. always useful. After the glue dried, I also took out the screws, drilled out the holes to fit dowels, then glued those dowels and cut them flush with a cheap japanese saw. Smoothed it out again with a sanding block.

Step 4: Making Holders.

I used some scrap steel I had to make holders so the connection to the wall is hidden.

Cut small strips that fit into the panels.
Use a chisel to chisel out a patch that makes the strips fit flush to the wall.
Drill a hole in the strip, use a small file to make a notch to catch on a screw.
Test if it fits. In my case it didn't because apparently 34 is not the same as 43 (darn it!)... so I drilled new holes in the hall that were wide enough instead.