DIY How to Build A House-Shaped Shelving Unit

*This is a sponsored (paid) DIY in collaboration and supported by Bosch Home & Garden. Post may also contain affiliate links.

I’m back with another DIY (yes, it’s been a while!) and this one is in collaboration and supported by Bosch Home & Garden as an adaptation of a DIY from their ‘All About DIY’ website, which is a site for DIY tutorials, inspiration, guides and how-to’s to support you through your DIY journey. I say “adaptation” because the original DIY on their website was for an outdoor storage shed, however, this one I’m making will be going in the conservatory more as a shelving unit kinda thing.

This whole DIY will be made entirely with Bosch Home & Garden tools, which were loaned to me for the purpose of this project. All of the tools are suitable for newbie DIYers, occasional DIYers and even more advanced DIYers. Most of the tools also feature an interchangeable battery, which can be used across multiple tools, meaning you only need one battery for the job. They were all really easy to use and I’ll give you all the details and my fave features on each one as we go. So, if you want to learn how to make a house-shaped shelving unit, then keep reading!

(FYI, our conservatory is still quite unfinished, so do please ignore some of the more ‘working progress’ aspects of the room…)

How to Build a DIY House-Shaped Shelving Unit

BUILD TIME: 1 Day
Total Spent: £93
Difficulty: Moderate

You Will Need:

• 44x44mm timber (2.4m lengths x7)
• 70mm wood screws (approx 72)
• 30mm wood screws (approx 12)
• 9mm thick plywood (size 1829x607mm)
• 4mm perspex acrylic sheet (750x1000mm)
• Wood filler (optional)
• Wood paint (Cuprinol ‘Summer Damson’)
• Cord/Rope

Tools Used:

Safety Gear:

Step 1 – Cut Your Timber to Size

Securing the wood is pretty simple to do, but takes a bit of care and precision to get everything perfectly square. I have to be honest though, mine wasn’t quite perfect – the wood I’m using was annoyingly twisted and bowed, which proved to give me a bit of a headache. But anyway – I made it work! Just don’t look too closely in some places…

To secure the woods together, I used the Bosch drill driver, 70mm wood screws and a wood drill-bit to pilot a hole first (this stops your wood from splitting). You’ll be securing three pieces of wood together in this step, one of each length. The longest will be in the middle with the other two on each side.

You’ll need to place two screws in the centre of the wood on one side, then on the adjoining side, one screw above and one below, at an angle from each other (see photo below). This essentially ensures your screws won’t collide with one another, instead, it allows them to cross-over each other. You’ll be using this technique on every single piece of wood you need to attach.

For ease-of-build, it’s best to make two sides of your shelving unit first before attaching the middle shelf sections. When attaching the timber for your top shelf, you’ll want to position your timber around 25cm down from the top to account for the house-shape we’ll be adding later.

You’ll also need to make sure the wood for your shelves is evenly spaced apart. Mine is around 40cm. If you’re working alone, I also highly recommend using clamps to help hold your wood together whilst you attach it, too.

A couple of features I really liked about the Bosch AdvancedDrill 18 Cordless Drill/Driver was the fact that you get two head attachments which makes it really easy for you to switch between drilling and screwing without needing to constantly remove and insert each bit. The head can simply just pop on and off without the faff.

The drill also features a clever magnetic strip at the front of the drill, allowing you to easily keep hold of drill bits and screws and there’s also a handy arrow showing you the direction-of-spinning too. It’s fairly lightweight and I also felt it was really comfortable to use, particularly for smaller women hands like mine! There are several torque settings too and I found it to be quite powerful and everything I needed for the job.

Step 3 – Creating the House-Shaped Top

Now we need to create the house-shaped top. To do this, cut two 45-degree angles on some leftover 44x44mm wood. You can use the 45-degree angle on your combination square to mark this up, and then use the jigsaw to cut the wood.

Once you have two 45-degree angles, lay your shelving unit onto the floor and align these two cuts against the top part of the unit. Mark up where the two pieces of wood crossover and then cut the wood at this point. To attach, screw through the top of the wood into the frame below and also where they join together at the top.

Step 4 – Cut Some Plywood to Create a Roof and Bottom Shelf

For this, I’m using 9mm thick plywood and the Bosch mini circular saw. I took the measurements of each side of the roof and added 1.5cm on both sides to add a slight overhang. I marked this up on some plywood and then cut.

The mini circular saw glided through the plywood and the accurate cutting guide meant I could easily freehand the cut and get it perfect! I love mini circular saws as I think they’re a great little tool for building up your confidence if you’re intimidated by the larger saws. This Bosch PKS 16 Multi Mini Hand-held Circular Saw cuts up to 16mm deep, so perfect for sheet materials like timber, MDF and plywood, although it did also come with a ceramic cutting blade – so apparently could even be used on tiles too! It’s a really versatile little tool and incredibly easy to use. If you’re a new DIYer and a bit scared of the bigger tools, I think you’d especially really like this!

I used the 30mm screws to attach the plywood simply screwing into the wood.

You can then do the exact same for the bottom shelf but also cut out corners for the plywood to sit perfectly in place. I also screwed this down using four 30mm screws, two on each side.

Step 5 – Sand and Paint

Now the shelving unit is almost complete, I decided to give it a good sand with the Bosch PSM 18 LI Cordless Multi-Sander – it’s pointed nose is perfect for getting into any corners and although I did use fairly smooth wood, it took out any rough areas and allowed me to soften some of the harsh corners.

You can also fill over any mistake holes (you know what I mean!), use a knotting solution over any knots in the wood and then finally go on with a splash of colour! The paint I’m using is actually a garden paint – but hey, who says you can’t use it indoors also? It’s Cuprinol’s Summer Damson, a purple/berry kinda colour and I LOVE it. I think the green plants I’m planning to fill the unit with are going to POP.

Step 6 – Cut Perspex Acrylic for the Remaining Shelves

I’m doing something a bit different with the remaining shelves and using clear acrylic rather than plywood for a more modern look, plus, I think this will give almost a “greenhouse-look” to the shelving unit, which fits in perfectly with the garden-theme of this room.

I used 4mm acrylic for these shelves and then, using the same measurements as the plywood on the bottom shelf, I cut the acrylic using a jigsaw and a high tooth blade. You should keep the protective film on whilst doing this. I’ve never worked with acrylic before, but I’d say, it turned out okay considering it was the first go!

Step 7 – Adding a Trellis Rope Side

Don’t worry – we’re almost at the end now! The final part to this DIY was to add a little rope trellis to one side of the unit. I have the perfect little climber in our conservatory with nowhere to climb, and I thought this would be a perfect idea!

I cut several strands of corded rope and stapled onto the side using the Bosch PTK 3.6 LI Cordless Tacker, creating a criss-cross kinda effect, going all the way from the bottom to the top. I think it adds a bit of rustic character – and you guys know I love rustic!

So that’s it for this DIY! Here’s an overall look at the finished unit – although please ignore the unfinished bits in this room – it’s still in working progress…

I think this idea would be great as a mini outdoor greenhouse, a log store or even a kids bookcase! You could adapt it in so many ways – it’s modern, quirky and kinda cute I think. If you do adapt this idea for any outdoor DIYs, do make sure you use treated wood and exterior-grade plywood!

I hope you like it! I really enjoyed the challenge of using some slightly different tools and getting to try out some Bosch Home & Garden tools – which I totally rate for DIYers! I used just one same battery across all the cordless tools. With full charge at the beginning, it lasted almost until the end of the project – which I was really impressed by! The project took me two full afternoons and then a few bits I finished up one morning, so I think that’s pretty good going! It also charges up super quick, which was quite a bonus!

In terms of costs, this wasn’t one of my cheapest DIYs, although you could certainly do it for much less if you swapped the acrylic for reclaimed wood and if you managed to find some secondhand free plywood (which I reckon you could do, as you don’t need much!). It is super sturdy though and always feels more personal when you make something for your own home rather than buy new.

I’d love to know what you think to this project and whether you’re inspired by this idea for anything similar in your house!

Total Costs:

(rounded to the nearest pound)

44x44mm timber (x7) – £38

Screws (cost for 100pack) – £5

Plywood (1850 x 650mm) – £13

Acrylic (1000mm x 750mm) – £32

Rope – £5

Paint – free as reused from previous projects

Total: £93

*This is a sponsored (paid) collaboration supported by Bosch Home & Garden, who loaned be the tools for this project and made it possible! All words, thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting this blog!

**Post may also contain affiliate links.