Top tip – to save money on small projects like this, use tester-pots of paint rather than forking out on full-sized tins! These are the measurements for our brackets, however, yours may need to be smaller/larger than this depending on the depth of your shelf. When you’re putting up heavy shelves that you expect to hold heavy items, I recommend always screwing through into the brick. As these brackets are made by hand all measurements are approximate, but will be as close as possible to the above. We’ve used our evolution mitre saw* to cut the wood to size, but you can also use an inexpensive handsaw and mitre box too.

It’s quite “rough and ready” in its raw finish, but as we’ll be using this space for tool storage – it’s perfect! We screwed the brackets straight through the plasterboard into the breezeblock of the new extension using very long, very strong screws. Repeat the same process above for the middle crosspiece of timber, although this time you will need to drill and screw at a slight angle to work with the angle it needs fixing at. We used our Makita belt sander to do the main sanding, and then finished off the battered bits by hand with normal sandpaper, as using the belt sander would have removed too much of the character of the wood.Once we’d cut our boards to size, I gave them a light sanding and then applied a thin layer of oil using a paintbrush. I’m not going to do a “how-to” on installing shelves, but I will share some images of the room coming together. We used Osmo topcoat oil on the worktops, but chose to use Fiddes wax in Rugger Brown on the shelves to give a different finish. But for the shelves, I wanted to retain as much character as possible, so we sanded them to remove the general grime and any really rough patches, but generally tried to keep them as distressed looking as possible. One of the questions I get asked most frequently is where we bought the rustic shelves and industrial metal supports in our kitchen, so here’s a post explaining where they came from and how we installed them.

First, I measured the tallest item that I knew I wanted to include on the shelves (a glass water jug). We’re using new scaffold boards (as opposed to used ones) for this project, however, it means they currently lack any character. Purchasing via an affiliate link doesn’t cost you any extra, and I only recommend products I have bought or used myself.

Each bracket is hand made using a range of techniques, with cast iron, hand forged and angled iron options available. This gap not only looks neat, but is big enough to accommodate the minimum distance required by building regulations between water source (the tap) and lighting (LED strips that will run underneath the shelves).

I requested boards that were nicely battered but not falling apart, and that’s exactly what was delivered.It brings out that gorgeous grain and it also makes the wood appear a bit more ‘aged’ and less fresh too. Now we finally have electricity in our victorian cellar, we can actually start to properly use the space!

Don’t forget to leave a 35mm gap as shown below – we’ll need this part to secure the bracket to the wall.The gap between the middle shelf and the top shelf is about 32cm, but perspective tricks the eye into thinking the shelves are all spaced exactly. I experimented with the best place to include the slightly larger gap (which was needed to neatly accommodate whole metro tiles underneath) by drawing various lines on the wall to see what look best to the eye. In this photo, you can see the metal strip on the left of the bottom shelf (it’s on the right on the middle shelf). Next, I worked out where I wanted the lowest shelf to be placed, factoring in a) the distance between the shelf and the tap (I knew we would be including lighting under the shelf, so needed to meet building regulations requirements on distance from water source to lighting) and b) my design requirement to use whole metro tiles only between the worktop and the bottom of the shelf. Clamp your longest piece of wood to a sturdy surface, such as a workbench (we use these clamps*) and position the other two pieces so they are in situ – make sure to use a set square* as you do this to ensure the bracket is square.