Honeycomb shelving unit.

I've had this honeycomb shelving unit on my mind for the longest time. I've been seeing it all over the www., magazines, tv... you name it! It seems like everyone I know and their sister is in love with this hot trend and I, of course, am on that bandwagon! How could you NOT love these shelves? They can be utilized in ANY space in the home, from kid's rooms to laundry rooms and bathrooms, to man caves and she sheds... these shelves are so versatile there literally isn't a space where they don't belong. If you make them yourself (or have someone make them for you), they can be customized in any way you desire; small or large hexagons, a combination of various sizes, entirely stained or painted with a fun accent colour on the inside walls... there are so many possibilities here. Move over plain and boring straight shelves! These beautiful hexagons add such great visual interest that they don't even need to be entirely "filled" to look appealing. Just a couple of random items here and there and your walls will rejoice! Furthermore, these can be made to fit any wall space; one or two hexagons make perfect accent shelves on small walls, meanwhile large honeycomb units make a dramatic statement on big, open wall space.

Ok, enough of my drooling over these shelves. If I haven't convinced you by now that honeycomb shelves are awesome, then I don't know what else there is for me to say. Maybe the following pictures will entice you...

For this project, I made a medium-sized unit with five hexagons. The honeycomb can be built in one of two ways; one option is to assemble in a way where the hexagons in the unit share walls, OR... all the hexagons can be built separately first and then joined together to make the honeycomb. In the latter option, the interior walls of the honeycomb will be doubled in thickness. This is the option I preferred, so I got straight to building the five hexagons first. For this unit, I used 1x6" pine planks. A few quick cuts on the miter saw and the hexagons were ready for assembly.

Cutting and assembly was actually quite quick and once the hexagons were put together, it was time for the best part of this project - playing around with different configurations. After I finally decided on the arrangement, I attached the hexagons together with a healthy dab of wood glue and brad nails. The next step was to fill the joints and nail holes with wood filler and sand the whole unit down.

Next, I painted the interior walls of each hexagon. I used a good quality paint+primer product in a light mint colour.

Finally, I finished the unit off with a medium-dark stain on the outside walls. 

Check out how perfectly the joints and edges turned out...

The key to obtaining perfect hexagons is to ensure that all the walls are exactly the same size. If your measurements/cuts are off, the shape will be distorted and it will be impossible to get each to fit into a honeycomb. It's important for all the walls in the honeycomb to make full contact, especially if you are building a large unit, because that will ensure that the unit is structurally sound. It's worth investing some time into the initial measuring and cutting as it will really save you a headache or two later on. 

That's it! This beauty is complete!

Now all you need is a few small L-shaped metal brackets to hang the unit on the wall and you can admire away!  Once you've got the shelves hanging, use a bit of your wall paint (if you happen to have some left over) to dab the half of the bracket that touches the wall, and leftover paint from this project to paint the other half of the bracket that makes contact with the inside walls of the unit (not shown).

Alternatively, you can use clear plastic brackets in lieu of metal brackets, but I would only do so if you are hanging individual hexagons or a very small unit, and will not be displaying any heavy items.

This has got to be one of my favourite wood working projects to date! I know, I know... I say that often, but honestly, what a fun build this was!

I put this unit together for my dear cousin so unfortunately I'll have to part with this beauty, but I'm not fretting... it just means I'll just have to build more for my own home. Can't wait!