DIY Mug Collection Display Shelves

These DIY display shelves were custom made to show off a whimsical mug collection. The simple shelves fit snugly inside of an existing alcove.

I’ve been collecting coffee mugs for a long time, but I’ve never really had enough room to display my collection. They were overflowing from our kitchen cabinets and spilling off of the shelves of the tiny mug shelf that I had installed in our kitchen. We needed a larger and more permanent space for our mug collection, so we decided to turn our shallow decorative alcove into functional storage and display shelves.

What We Used for Seven 35″ Shelves:

(2) 1″ x 6″ x 10′
(1) 1″ x 6″ x 8′
Table Saw
Finish Nail Gun with 2″ Finish Nails
Brad Nailer with 1.5″ Brads
White Paint

My husband used our table saw to rip the 1×6 boards into 1×4 and 1×1.5 pieces (note: a 1×6 board actually measures 1×5.5). The 1×4 pieces became the shelves and we used the 1×1.5 pieces for the ledgers. Because the alcove is arched, our shelves actually measure anywhere from 34-35″ so each shelf was individually cut, assembled with the brad nailer and 1.5″ brads, and painted before we installed them in the alcove.

Installation was as simple as nailing the shelves to the wall using the finish nailer and 2″ finish nails. They’re very sturdy, and they easily support the weight of the mugs. Don’t you just love that funny “Martha is My Spirit Animal” mug? It was a holiday gift from my friends at Porch.com, and it’s one of my most recent favorites.

This definitely looks like a his & hers section if you ask me (you can never go wrong with a sprinkled donut mug!)! My son got my husband this Raiders mug for Christmas, and we never even realized that the logo is totally crooked until about a week after he opened his gift! Ha!