A corner is the cheapest square footage in your house. It is also the spot where everything ends up in a pile, because most furniture does not fit there.

This build uses one board, takes about an hour, and gives you a real shelf instead of a plastic corner rack.

What you need

• One board, one inch thick by ten inches wide, cut to the wall length you want
• Three small L brackets
• Wood screws, one and a quarter inches
• A level, a drill, and a pencil

Ten inches of depth is the sweet spot. Deeper and it becomes a head bumper. Shallower and nothing stays on it.

The trick that makes it look good

Cut the front corners at a forty five degree angle so the shelf face matches the shape of the corner. Measure from the corner out along each wall to where you want the shelf to end, mark both points, then connect them with a straight line across the board. That line is your cut.

1. Mark and cut the angle. Sand the cut edge.
2. Find your height. Hold the board against the wall and mark where you want it before you drill anything.
3. Locate one stud on each wall. Corners almost always have framing within a few inches, so this is usually easy.
4. Attach the brackets to the wall first with the screws angled into the studs, then set the board on top and screw down into the brackets.
5. Check level both ways. Along the front edge and along the side edge. Corners are rarely square, so you may need a small shim under one bracket.

Put the brackets close to the front corners, not the back. Brackets hidden in the back let the front of the shelf flex and sag over time. Moving them forward is the difference between a shelf that lasts ten years and one that droops in two.

Where this works best

• Above a toilet for spare rolls and a small plant.
• In a kitchen corner for oils and spices you use daily.
• Beside a desk at eye level for the things you actually reach for.
• In a stair landing corner where nothing else fits.

If you are painting it, prime the end grain twice. End grain soaks up paint and dries differently, and a shelf with dull ends looks homemade in the bad way.

Ours is above the toilet, holding two small plants and a stack of washcloths. It has been there three years and cost about twelve dollars.