Nursery Closet Shelving Under $100

Alright Y’all, project #1 for the nursery is now complete & I am in full out happy dance mode! We have multiple projects to tackle in the nursery before baby Eli gets here, but I really wanted to start in the closet so that we will be able to (hopefully) stay organized as we go through the rest of the projects. That’s the goal anyways!

For the nursery diy closet shelving project, I wanted to add shelving similar to what we did in the office renovation & also add hanging rod sections. The goal was to make the closet as organized as possible while staying super budget savvy. So we chose to use MDF again for the shelving to save us some bucks!

***Check out our nursery design board here!***

If you followed our Instagram stories for this project you would know that during this build I took a lot of prego snack breaks & left most of the labor to my amazing husband! In between snack breaks I snagged a few photos for yall in case you wanted to recreate these awesome shelves for your own closet organization project.

Lets take a look at the before shall we:

Just a plain ole regular closet with lots of usable space I couldn’t wait to take advantage of. After a quick closet cleanout to remove the wire shelving it was time to get to work.

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Supplies:

• 3/4 MDF (we used 2 sheets
• Caulk
• Nail Gun
• Adjustable Closet Rods
• Oil Based Paint
• Paint
• Stud Finder
• Level

Process:

1. I had the awesome guys at Lowes cut our MDF the width we needed for the diy shelves & side pieces. Once I got home Justin cut them to the desired lengths we needed. It took us two pieces of MDF for all the shelving & we have plenty of leftover for any future project I want.

2. Justin cut the two long side pieces 5″ less than our ceiling height so that we would have room to move the shelving unit in once it was assembled. Our diy closet shelving is 10 3/4 wide because that’s how wide our closets back wall indention is. Our shelves ended up being about 33″ long, with about 16″ of space in between each shelf. We used 1 1/2″ nails to hold the shelving into place.

3. Once the four shelves were nailed in we added a header to the top of the shelving unit. We added one to the front & one to the back (not pictured, sorry yall) so that we would have something to screw into the wall. These pieces are about 5 inches wide.

4. After we got the closet shelving into place we screwed them into the wall hitting as many studs as we could.

5. Next we attached two hanging rods to each side of the unit.

6. I took a break from my snack break at this point & helped Justin add shelves over each rod. We did this by screwing 1X3 furring strips to the walls & bookcase for the shelves to sit on top of. Then, we nailed in the shelves from the top for extra security.

~See our office built-ins here~

7. Now that the back wall shelving unit was built, Justin moved onto building shelves in the closets smaller corner! He followed the same steps by adding furring strips to the wall sides/back & then nailed the shelves from the top into those strips. We did run out of furring strips at one point (baby brain math folks) and just used scrap pieces of MDF.

8. After the shelf building portion was done I had to put down my raisin toast because I was being tapped into work! I caulked the edges & filled the nail holes, then got to painting on the first coat of oil-based paint. If you work with MDF you MUST start with oil-based paint or else the MDF will swell. I just used the extra paint I had from the office renovation so that saved us a bit of money.

9. Once the oil-based paint dried I painted on my final coat of Sherwin Williams Oxford white. I painted the entire closet the same color to give it more of a built-in look. That’s one trick I like to use to make a small room look bigger!

I am so happy with the end result! This diy closet shelving units are not as fancy as the offices but this is just a closet so I don’t mind at all. Plus we got it all built & painted for less than $100! I found all my bins on Amazon for a great price & they are the perfect size for the shelving.

Is there anything cuter than little baby clothes on little baby hangers?! These felt ones are my favorite, I even have them in adult size in our closet!

I scored these foldable bins off of Amazon! They came in a pack of 3 & are the perfect size for all the small neccesaties.

These closet rods are similar to the ones we purchased & are also adjustable for any space.

These super cute bins add a little bit of the nautical vibe we are going for.

We also purchased the larger version of these bins for the bigger items & they are the perfect fit!

I’m so happy with the finished product, this nursery closet shelving is exactly what we need to keep all our little man’s stuff nice & organized! Plus this will make a closet cleanout a breeze when he starts outgrowing clothes. Even though we added a lot more shelving & hanging rods to this small space I feel like its a bigger room now! All that’s missing is a diy closet shoe rack… maybe when he learns to walk I’ll add it to the list!

Want to see how we created that faux wallpaper?!

DIY Closet Shelves & Rods Cost Breakdown:

• 2 Pieces of MDF- $60
• Paint- $23
• Closet Rods- $43
• Set of 3 Striped Bins- $24
• 3 Pack Med Gray Bins- $17
• 3 Pack Large Gray Bins- $25

Total- $192

Not too shabby considering if we bought a closet organizer it would be at least that much! One nursery project down & we are onto the floors. Keep checking in with our Instagram stories to see our flooring progress plus other sneak peeks of what we are working on.

Check Out The Complete Nursery Reveal Here

Want more diy closet shelving?! Check out the newly renovated linen closet we makeover for the $100 room challenge here!

In the spirit of getting organized stop by Kippi’s to get a yummy recipe for make ahead sandwiches or Denise’s for some delicious make ahead meals!