I have posted a few pictures in a couple different sets on Flickr if you would like to check it out. Below is the birth announcement I made using Inkscape.

Aunt Frances’ Lemonade via Taste of Home.

A search for pre-manufactured overhead storage products did not turn up anything useful for my situation. There are some solutions, but none were anywhere near the size I was looking for. I wanted a single shelf to run across the length of the back wall of my garage. Most store bought suspended shelves are too small and too square, and I needed something over 24′ long, but only about 20″ deep so I decided to make it myself out of steel and medium density fiberboard (MDF). Plywood or OSB could also be used, but the MDF has a nice smooth splinter-free finish that doesn’t need to be painted.

I ordered 1″x1″x1/8″ steel angle and 1″x1/8″ steel plate to construct the frame. You can buy this steel at a home center, but the local stores weren’t stocked with the 20′ lengths I wanted (I think 8 or 10 feet was the max.). I was fortunate enough to be able to order it at work through one of our steel suppliers, but I’m sure if you look around you can find a source. Steel is available unfinished as well as in a galvanized zinc finish (the zinc plated steel I saw was also a much lighter gauge). The zinc doesn’t require painting and won’t rust, but it is much more expensive. I used the unfinished steel and painted it. The MDF was purchased at Lowes in 4′X8′x3/4″ sheets and ripped to width to make the shelf. For fastening the steel framed together I used 1/4″ diameter bolts available at any hardware store. The shelves were fastened to the frame with 6-32 machine screws which are also readily available. The entire assembly was screwed to the ceiling with 1/4″ lag screws.

The dimensions of the steel frame were determined by the width of my garage, the size of boxes I would be storing, and the depth of shelf I wanted. I ripped each 4×8 sheet into (5) approx. 19″ wide x 4′ long pieces. These dimensions maximized the shelf depth while minimizing waste.

Here’s a typical section showing where the steel was used.

After taking careful measurements I cut the steel using a cut off wheel attached to an angle grinder. A side note: be careful and wear proper protection when using power tools. An electric drill and bit made for steel were used to make holes for all the connections. Rip the MDF to width with a table saw or circular saw & straight edge. Drill all holes and test fit everything before continuing. You don’t want to realize you need another hole when you’re up on the ladder trying to put it together and everything is already nicely painted. When everything fits together easily mark each piece so you can put it back together after you take it apart to paint, making sure the marks will still be readable after it’s painted. I etched small nicks in the steel with the cut off wheel.

After all the fabrication is done, clean the steel to removed any oily residue providing a good bonding surface for the paint. Also, remove any burrs or rough spots with grinder. Allow the steel to dry thoroughly, and begin with a steel primer. I topped mine with two coats of satin black enamel which produced a nice clean finish.

With the length of shelf I made it was easiest to assemble it piece by piece. Make sure when attaching it to the ceiling that each screw is anchored into a ceiling joist. Use a stud finder to locate solid wood. As with any time you drill holes in walls, floors, or ceilings, be careful not to puncture any wiring, plumbing, gas, etc…

I don’t have any shots of the installation process, but here’s one before anything was put up.

I ended up building two shelves in my garage as you can see below. One was in front of the soffit and one below. I can walk under the lower shelf without hitting my head while still being able to reach it without a ladder. It has added a significant amount of storage space while allowing the floor space below to remain available. Note: the shelves are finished in this picture, but the garage reorganization process is not, hence, the other stuff in the photo.

Diagram of planned work.

Testing to make sure the circuit is off.

The outlet before disconnecting.

The wires before terminating.

The terminated wires with the juction box back in.

The finishes I used.

The top with just stain, no polyurethane.

The drawer base with the hole to access the junction box.

The kneespace drawer cut to size.

The cabinets only installed.

Everthing completed except hardware.

I initially did the drawing below (click to see the entire image) in about 15-20 minutes. It would have gone much faster had I have had all of my drafting tools, most of which are at work. With this drawing I was mainly trying to see if the space would work for what we wanted, and if it would look ok being so close to the window. I also sketched a few lines for a future upper cabinet above as you can see. I did not add many details since I was mainly drawing it for spatial relationships. Those would come later on the computer.

The next drawing I did was using AutoCAD. I didn’t necessarily add more details, but I was able to more accurately lay out the cabinets and determined the sizes. You can see I didn’t even add simple details like drawer pulls. Locating light switches and outlets was also done in this drawing since I will have to move a couple boxes and I needed to decide where to put them. You can also see from the full AutoCAD drawing that I experimented with adding the future upper cabinet as well.

A full 3d rendering was the last work I did. This definitely wasn’t necessary, but I enjoy doing them and this was a good excuse. You can spend a lot of time with these 3d models trying accurately represent reality. Beside getting the correct shapes as with manual drafting or AutoCAD there are many more variables to consider such as color, texture, lighting etc… Lighting seems to me to be the most difficult to represent. In the image below I added a lamp which produces a very obvious yet somewhat realistic shadow on the wall and ceiling.

To more accurately explain what’s involved in producing a rendering like the one above I will post an article specifically on that subject since it can be so involved.

We initially wanted to order cabinetry to match our existing kitchen, but, after checking, they no longer make our color and finish in the same door and drawer style. After determining that the new style would only look like a mistake if we used it we decided to go with a contrasting color for the new cabinetry. Our exisiting cabinets are maple with a honeywood stain and a chocolate colored glaze so using dark brown cabinets would compliment the glaze. We found we could still get our same cabinet style in cherry with a sable finish which goes nicely with our kitchen according to the sample we brought home.

The other major decision was what to do for the top. We thought about just using the same laminate we have in the rest of the kitchen, but it just seemed like the top should be different since the cabinetry will be. Amy immediately thought of a wood top so that’s what we had a the first choice. As it turns out the cabinet company had a leftover piece of solid wood countertop (made by SPEKVA in Denmark) that we can get for a deal. It is nearly the perfect size and will be just enough to make a matching backsplash. After bringing it home I believe I may have to stain it to make it blend more with our kitchen. I’m not yet sure whether I’m going to do a hard polyurethane finish or do a more natural oil finish. The oil finish is typical of solid wood kitchen tops since the finish is easily repairable when damaged. Polyurethane is more typical as a furniture finish and since this workstation is somewhere between kitchen cabinetry and a desk I just can’t make up my mind. I’m thinking polyurethane would be better for writing (the primary use of the top) since it’s a hard finish. We also plan to serve off the workstation since it’s close to the dining table so that makes me lean toward an oil finish. We’ll figure it out somehow.

In Part II I plan on using this project to demonstrate different drawing techniques from pencil and paper to 3D renderings. Taking the time to carefully determine exactly what you want to make/build can save a lot of trouble and enhance the end result. With something like this everything is fairly straightfoward, but the same principle applies to all projects.