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DIY Stair Tread Shelves

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, on purchases made after following an affiliate link. See my full disclosure here.

January 24, 2012 By Jackie

In addition to my craft storage at the laundry room sink, I have two pretty shelves for extra storage.  These two shelves are on the opposite side of the room and high up out of the kids reach.  The top shelf is over 7 ft above the ground.  You have to use a step stool to reach stuff up there, but that is the point to keep everything away from the kids.  I put stuff I do not need to access often on the top shelf.  On the bottom shelf I keep more frequently used items.

Stair Tread Shelves

I used wire mesh magazine files to hold all my craft books.  The magazine files work great to save space instead of using book ends.  The lime bucket is holding decorative edge scissors.  The bamboo napkin holder is stocked with envelopes of varying sizes.  Behind it is a plastic storage container with little clear drawers.  I use the little drawers to hold paperclips, safety pins, eyelits, hot glue gun sticks, snaps, grommets, etc.  The little Singer tin holds all my most frequently used sewing notions.

Stair Tread Shelves

I bought the unfinished pine stair treads and corbels at Home Depot.  They were each $10.  So for two 36″ pine stair treads and 4 corbels, the total was $60.  I painted them to match our trim color (Divine White by Sherwin Williams).  I mounted the corbels to the wall with the included hardware and some wall anchors.  I topped the corbels with the stair treads.  I love the bullnose (rounded front edge) of the stair treads.

Stair Tread Shelves

The bullnose and the corbels make for a pretty profile.  I love easy and pretty storage!

Sharing this project here:
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Domestically Speaking
Blue Cricket Design
House of Hepworths
Miss Mustard Seed
Shabby Nest
Tatertots and Jello

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Comments

  1. Megan @ Two Live Colorfully says

    January 24, 2012 at 1:08 pm

    These look so great! And the price ain’t too shabby either! Definitely saving this for later!

  2. stephanie says

    January 24, 2012 at 7:34 pm

    I love your blog! Since I found it, I check it out regularily. Below your shelf is a beautiful bulletin board. Did you make it or buy it?

    • Jackie says

      January 24, 2012 at 9:23 pm

      Stephanie,

      I will do a post soon on the bulletin board. It is cork board tiles mounted to the wall with a decorative metal screen screwed on top. The only reason I have not shared it yet, is some of the cork tiles have come loose. I think the mounting strips that come with the tile are not that good. Once I find a fix for that I will definitely share.

  3. Larissa says

    January 25, 2012 at 11:24 am

    Love these shelves! So on my to-do list…aka my pinterest list…hahaha, gotta love pinterest!

  4. Kelly @ Eclectically Vintage says

    January 25, 2012 at 10:24 pm

    Fantastic idea – love it!
    Kelly

  5. Debbie Cotton says

    January 26, 2012 at 10:40 pm

    I just love your blog!! I stumbled upon from the Shabby Nest. I hope you have some time to stop by our linky party this week!! xoxo Debbie at http://www.inspiredhoneybee.blogspot.com/2012/01/pinterest-thon-linky-party-3.html

  6. Holly @ My Sister's Suitcase says

    January 27, 2012 at 7:17 pm

    I love these shelves!! I found you on TT&J tonight, and I’ve never seen your blog before… it’s beautiful! Can’t wait to start looking around :)

  7. Tricia says

    January 27, 2012 at 7:22 pm

    These are beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

  8. anu says

    January 27, 2012 at 7:52 pm

    Love these shelves. We are working on something similar for our office. Thanks for a great idea. I also like your wall colour. Is it that sunken pool colour you have listed on the side bar?

    • Jackie says

      January 27, 2012 at 7:54 pm

      Thanks Anu. Yes the laundry room is painted in Sunken Pool. It is such a nice and refreshing color!

  9. Aliesha says

    January 27, 2012 at 8:46 pm

    Clever… and so cute!

  10. Marilyn says

    January 27, 2012 at 9:26 pm

    Love these shelves! Found you on tater tots and jello

  11. krista @ mk inspired says

    January 27, 2012 at 11:25 pm

    Hi! I found you over at TT&J. So glad I did! I LOVE your shelves, color choices, curtains…and I need a giant pair of scissors! Where did you find yours?
    …off to see the other great posts on your site! :)

    Krista @ mk inspired

    • Jackie says

      January 28, 2012 at 8:41 am

      Krista,

      The scissors are from Hobby Lobby. They are made of resin. They are normally $19.99, but they always have a 40% coupon on line. They don’t have a hook for hanging them on the wall, so I used Command Strips. Thanks for stopping by.

      • krista @ mk inspired says

        January 28, 2012 at 10:33 am

        Thanks Jackie!:)

  12. Maryann @ Domestically Speaking says

    January 28, 2012 at 12:11 am

    Great idea… love them! I’m featuring them in the PoPP Spotlight this weekend. Thanks for linking up.

    • Jackie says

      January 28, 2012 at 8:36 am

      Thank you for the feature Maryann! Your wonderful readers have been stopping by to comment!

  13. Cindy Rippe says

    January 28, 2012 at 12:39 am

    Love the shelves. I’m working on plans to update my pantry with bead-board on the walls and brackets to support each shelf similar to yours. Love the combination of Sunken Pool and White. Thanks for sharing.

  14. Jean @ Flower Hill says

    January 28, 2012 at 6:38 am

    So creative! Love it!

  15. Vickie says

    January 28, 2012 at 7:03 am

    What a clever idea to make the shelves from stair treads! Love them!

  16. [email protected] says

    January 28, 2012 at 8:24 am

    Great idea to use the stair treads! I have three left over from our stair remodel; now I may know what to do with them ;-)

  17. [email protected] in a Row says

    January 28, 2012 at 11:31 am

    I would have never in a million years thought about stair treads! Fantastic!

  18. [email protected] Smartie Pants says

    January 29, 2012 at 11:14 am

    I love this shelving. I am wanting to do something just like this in my kitchen. I don’t know why but I never look at Home Depot just Loews and they are right across the street from each other!

  19. Ruth says

    January 29, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    This is a great idea. The stair treads make perfect shelves.
    Ruth

  20. Lori says

    January 31, 2012 at 9:47 pm

    How creative! The shelves looks great and you styled them so nicely.

  21. SJ @ Homemaker On A Dime says

    February 2, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    Love it so I pinned it :)

  22. Nora says

    February 23, 2012 at 1:49 pm

    Where did you get the metal screen that covers the bulletin board?

    • Jackie says

      February 23, 2012 at 6:16 pm

      Nora,

      The metal screen is from Home Depot. I was hoping it was magnetic, but no luck. So I mounted for to the wall and then added the screen. I need to do a post about the cork board soon.

  23. Susie says

    February 24, 2012 at 9:28 am

    Where did you buy the gorgeous green curtains I see next to the stair tread shelves? Great site by the way!

    • Jackie says

      February 24, 2012 at 11:00 am

      Susie, I made the curtains. You can read all about it here: http://www.tealandlime.com/2011/06/laundry-room-no-sew-drapes/
      The fabric was an amazing sale find at Joanns. 100% linen for $7/yd. unfortunately that fabric has no markings in the selvedge to tell you what the print is. The silver lining for me, was with beautiful clean selvedge edges I did not even hem the side of the fabric for the drapes.

      Anyone else know what the fabric is? Or who makes it?

      • Susie says

        February 27, 2012 at 4:23 pm

        Thanks so much! Went to JoAnn Fabrics yesterday and couldn’t find the fabric, so if anyone knows where i can get it, please let me know. Thanks!

  24. Nora says

    April 26, 2012 at 6:26 am

    Thanks for the great idea. I’m going to use it in my office! I’ve already got the corbels and stair tread; just wondered how you attached the stair to the corbel? A screw down through the top? Also, did you mount yours to studs? I see you have books on there; mine won’t be going into studs so I’m trying to gauge how much weight it will hold.

    • Jackie says

      April 26, 2012 at 8:13 am

      Hi Nora. My corbels were not in studs either. I used drywall anchors to screw into and that worked well. You can get wall anchor kits at Target or Home Depot. I did not attach my stair treads to the corbel, I just laid them on top and they have not moved a bit. If they were lower or within reach of my kids I would have screwed them into the corbels from the top to prevent them from being pulled off.

      Would love to see pictures when you get your shelves done!

      • Nora says

        April 26, 2012 at 2:14 pm

        Thanks for the info and I will send you pics when I get them finished!

  25. Gabrielle says

    August 17, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    Hi Jackie,
    I love your house and decor taste. I was wondering your curtains in the background of these pics,where are they from? love them!!! The shelves turned out awesome!! Thank you!

    • Jackie says

      August 18, 2012 at 10:12 am

      Thanks Gabrielle. I found the fabric for the curtains on clearance at Joann’s and I used a no-sew method. You can read all about it here: http://www.tealandlime.com/2011/06/laundry-room-no-sew-drapes/

  26. Jan says

    February 18, 2013 at 11:44 am

    I will be doing this in my kitchen…I mean it. Thank you for sharing!

  27. Betty819 says

    May 4, 2013 at 1:12 pm

    Hey,Thanks for sharing this project with your fans/followers. I love those shelves and corbels. Do both come unfinished when you buy them at HD? Did you sand and prime them before putting final coat of paint on? How did you attach the corbels to the wall? It looks like the stair treads would he heavy and require a special type of toggle bolt or whatever you call those things(I’m drawing a blank right now for the right hardware name.)

    DH and I are sharing a small office and his solid cherry desk is so heavy, even the movers grumbled when they moved it here. I’d love to rearrange his desk but there’s no way the two of us could do it, even with furniture gliders underneath it. We need some strong manpower! I use the room for my computer and for storing a lot of my genealogy research. I have 30-40 notebooks full of genealogy research. I’d love to get rid of this computer desk(by Sauder)and get a table, no wider than this computer desk but would give me better access to my printer. I hate all the computer cables and my kids keep telling me “Mom, buy a laptop.”
    I’m not comfortable typing on a laptop. I’m going to look around the rest of your blog now; as I just found it. Love the wall color too! What kind of flooring do you have? Carpet, wood or tile?

    • Jackie says

      May 5, 2013 at 9:08 pm

      Betty,

      The corbels and treads come unfinished. I painted mine with latex paint that matches the trim in my house. The corbels have hangers on the back to mount them to the walls with screws. I always try to screw shelf brackets into studs or use plastic anchors.

      We have a mix of flooring throughout our home…wood floors on the main floor, with carpet just in the office and living room. We have new carpet and cork floors in the basement. We live in Minnesota, so tile is reserved for bathrooms and mudrooms.

      Welcome to Teal & Lime. I hope you enjoy your look around. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

  28. Janet says

    June 18, 2013 at 10:47 pm

    Great idea! Your shelves look amazing! :)

  29. Betty819 says

    June 23, 2013 at 6:26 pm

    Printed off your DIY article about using unfinished stair tread shelves with cobels..I love the finished look. That white really stands out against the beautiful wall color. Would you share the wall color and paint brand? With the white paint of the shelves, they would stand out with any color chosen I think.

    Aren’t those stair treads a bit heavy..what did you use as hardware for the corbels to hold up the weight of the stair treads? That would be my big concern. Are the shelves just resting on the corbels or did you screw them into corbels? I love the finished look of the rounded edge on the stair treads. Thanks for sharing this idea with us.

    • Jackie says

      June 23, 2013 at 9:24 pm

      Betty, The pine stair treads really aren’t much heavier than the melamine or MDF shelving. The corbels I used had mounting hardware on the back, which I used with large screws and drywall anchors. On these shelves, I made sure one end of the shelf was secured into a stud. On the other end I used the drywall anchors to secure the screws. I did not attach the shelves in anyway, they are just resting on the corbels. They have not budged for a couple years now.

  30. Leslie says

    March 21, 2015 at 7:56 am

    Love this idea! I am making them today for my kitchen. Perfect for my cookbooks.

  31. Rachel says

    June 5, 2015 at 10:34 pm

    Love the shelves! Do you happen to remember the name/brand of the blue paint?! I’m having the hardest time finding just the right shade for my vision of my blue walled office with green accents. This looks just like what I was thinking!!!! Thanks!

    • Jackie says

      June 7, 2015 at 9:59 am

      Rachel, Sadly this blue paint was part of the Martha Stewart line at Home Depot that has been discontinued.

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