Build Your Own Decorative Shelf Using Roof Edging

Scalloped edges are an up-and-coming home design trend HGTV's Jeremiah Brent is on board with. To join in on this taste maker's new obsession, there are ready-made products you can purchase following this trend. But making a useful and attractive décor piece is so much more satisfying. Build your own decorative scalloped-edge shelf with wooden roof edging, a piece of scrap wood, some shelf brackets, and a few coats of stain or paint.

If you don't have a pile of scrap wood, purchase a piece of 1-inch or 2-inch by 8-inch lumber, some wavy wood trim that's 1 or 2 inches wide, a dark wood stain, and two eye-catching metal shelf brackets. In our inspirational video, the crafter lucked out with a set of budget-friendly yet attractive metal brackets at a thrift store. Since you can't predict thrift store finds, hit Amazon for a set of shelf brackets with similar features; these NACH Decorative Shelf Brackets have a curved shape and come in a variety of finishes.

As for tools and other supplies, grab wood glue, a saw, a speed square, a pencil, a nail gun, and a hand-held power sander. You may be able to get by without a nail gun and power sander by just using wood glue to hold your wood pieces together and by hand-sanding the wood.

For the shelf piece, saw the 1-by-8 to the length you want. You'll be attaching the wavy wood edging trim horizontally to three sides of the shelf. How long to cut your trim pieces depends on whether you want them to meet at beveled corners or not. For the simplest option, cut two 8-inch pieces of trim to match the width of the board. For the front piece, measure the width of the end cuts of the side pieces; add both of those measurements to the length of the front piece before cutting.

Beveled corners are trickier, since there's not a surefire formula to know how long your trim pieces should be; the scalloped edges make it hard to calculate. Your best shot is to do a 45-degree cut on one end of a long piece of trim, cut so that the scalloped edge is the longest. Line up the straight edge of the trim with the length of the shelf, and mark on the trim where the end of the shelf hits it. Cut another 45-degree angle here so that the shortest edge of the trim sits at the end of the shelf. Follow up by making the same kind of cut on two more pieces that are slightly longer than the sides. Fit the front and side pieces together, and trim away excess.

Since the trim will project out from the shelf rather than hang down, lay all of your roof edging flat against the three edges of the shelf in the way you'll be attaching them. Stripe a bit of glue along the trim's edges, secure it in place, and nail the trim to the shelf in the troughs of the waves. If you're forgoing nails, use a generous amount of glue, and give it plenty of time to dry and cure. How long wood glue typically takes to dry depends on how much you use as well as the climate conditions you're working in. Give the glue about 24 hours to cure fully.

To fake a seamless finish between the trim and the shelf, mask the joints with an easy DIY wood filler you can make at home. Mix together sawdust and wood glue, and smooth it over any gaps between wood pieces with a spackling knife. Once it's dry, give the surfaces a thorough sanding, and top the shelf with stain.

With deliciously quirky scalloped edges, finishing off your shelf with workaday brown stain might be anticlimactic. Your creation could go from cute functionality to accent piece-status with a glossy paint color for both the shelf and the brackets. Try crayon colors, fluorescents, or streaky colorful stains like this set from Unicorn SPiT Sunset Collection. Just be sure to pick a paint finish that bonds well with both wood and metal.