Over the past few months my nail polish collection has grown exponentially and I have been in the market for a nail polish rack. I can't tell you how many times I've picked up a nail polish only to bring it home and find out I already had it due to a bad storage system. My nail polish was stored in a big plastic bin and if you would have asked me, I wouldn't have been able to tell you what was in there.
So my search began (as they usually do) on the internet. Ebay and Amazon both sell acrylic nail polish racks that hold approximately 90 bottles for about $30-40. While scouring, I realized that all a nail polish rack is is a shelf. I could totally make one, and probably for much cheaper than the plastic ones they sell online. Thus my project began!
To be honest, this wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be to build. It took about 8 hours (start to finish, and that includes waiting for the paint to dry) before it was gloriously hanging on my wall, displaying my babies proudly. :)
I'll tell you step by step how I built mine and what materials I used, but obviously, you can adjust the board sizes to your own needs. If you need more storage, you may want to go bigger and add a few more shelves. If you need less, you can have fewer shelves. It's all up to you! It's custom made, that's the beauty of it!
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
10 - 2" x 2ft hobby boards (1/4" thick)
2 - 2" x 3ft hobby boards (3/8" thick)
A hot glue gun & hot glue sticks
Nails
Hammer
Ruler
Pencil
Paint
Level (or level app)
Wall mounts or shelf mounts - something to hang it on the wall (I used wall mounts)
HOW IT'S DONE:
First, get one of your 3 ft boards. Measure 4" and mark a line with your pencil. Keep going until you've measured and marked every 4" down the board. Next, glue your shelves on (the 2ft boards) using the hot glue gun either right over or right under the lines you've drawn. You'll also attach one to the top and one to the bottom. After that, put glue on each of the other ends of the shelf boards and quickly attach your other 3ft board to the side. You have to work quickly because hot glue dries relatively fast, but you'll want to make sure everything is straight. If you have a level, try to use it. If you don't you can probably download one as an app on your phone!
The glue will dry quickly, so once it does, bust out your hammer & nails. You'll want to put in two nails on each side for every shelf where it connects to the side boards. This just adds extra stability - you don't want your rack to fall down and your nail polish to scatter and break!
Once all your nails are in place, it's time to paint. You could use spray paint or acrylic and paint it by hand. I opted to paint by hand since my apartment doesn't really have a space that's safe for spray painting. I got Martha Stewart high gloss acrylic paint in black, but obviously you can paint yours whatever color you want (to match your decor or what have you).
After the paint is dry (which for me took about 45 minutes) you're ready to hang it up! Use your wall mounts or shelf mounts, then hang and organize!
FINAL PRODUCT:
My nail polish rack holds about 140 polishes, and cost about $27 to make. Not too shabby for a day's work!
