How to Make A Shelf with Mitered Corners

I love going Warrenton, TX during the Texas Antique Weekend, because I always find great things I can re-purpose, or just use outright. Almost guaranteed to find something a hundred other people you know don’t have. I love being original and hate going somewhere and seeing something that’s in my home. I especially hate seeing them on TV or in a magazine.

I found this great old mailbox my last trip out. Since I did not have a bar, nor a place to put wine bottles, I thought this was the best. I mean can you imagine having this many bottles of wine? Now in my new house, I do have a bar, but still didn’t want to clutter the counter with a generic wine rack; this was still the best option.

The only thing this really needed was a top, both for decorative purposes and function. I received a great bottle opener for my birthday and didn’t want it hidden away in a cabinet.

I had a bench built in the garage, and luckily had a piece of scrap that was the perfect size. All it needed was some molding and a coat of paint. The molding can be found at any hardware store, and I simply used some spray paint. Man spray paint has come a long way with all the different finishes and textures. I didn’t want the top to take away from the box itself, so I went with a simple matte finish.

 The molding was the hardest part of the project as I had to cut the corners just right. No power tools here. I decided not to cover the back of the piece as it was against the wall and would not be seen. I simply used some brad nails to secure the molding to the plywood. I didn’t want the nails to stick out so I sunk the nails to just below the surface.

 Mitered corners are HARD! I tried finding how to videos and they weren’t really helpful, so I have decided to put it on here.

Step 1:

Measure the first piece of molding to be cut. To get the correct length to make the corner you need to measure from one end to the other plus the width of the molding. You can use this piece to cut the second piece, but not to make the corner.

Step 2: Cut the piece at the marked line. Molding is such a soft wood that it can be cut with an old serrated kitchen knife.

Step 3: Once all three pieces are measured and cut, mark where the front of the plywood meets the molding. This is your starting point for your angle.

Step 4: To mark the third piece, lay the piece against the wood and lay the mitered piece on top of this piece. This will get the angles to match up once cut.

Step 5: Match up the ends

Step 6: File any ends that don’t match up. Be careful not to do a lot of filing at once, you can always take away, but you can’t put back.

Step 7: Using Brad Nails, nail the pieces on to the plywood.

Since this piece was scrap, it was not perfect so I used wood filler to fill in the holes in the plywood.

After the brads are sunk, I spray painted the entire shelf. I did two coats, enough to cover the wood, but not too think to hide the wood grain.

 Now I have a custom wine cabinet that I love showing off. All that’s left to do is fill up all the boxes with wine.