Ever thought that you wanted floating shelves, then looked by buy some, saw the price sticker, and decided well maybe not? Yep. Same. Maybe we can DIY floating shelves instead!
In the middle of a DIY Bathroom remodel, I decided floating shelves would be great for light storage above the toilet. But, I wanted to spend no money, lol. So, let me show you how to make quick, easy, DIY floating shelves.
Here they are installed. Let me warn you, I built these “rustic.” You could build them with a little more *finesse* for sure.
DIY Floating Shelves Build:
These shelves are built with 1×6 and 1×8 boards cut to various widths and lengths. I found some free pallets on Craigslist that actually had some nice pine boards, so that’s what I used here. Occasionally box stores like Home Depot have a scrap lumber area you might find the perfect boards. Also check Facebook Marketplace. Or hey, buy a 1×6 x 8ft board.
Top Pieces: I used two 1×6 x 24″ wide boards for the top of the shelves. Each board is actually 5.5″ wide, so without reducing the width, the total shelf will be 11″ deep. I cut one board down to 3.5″ to make the shelf 9″ deep. Each top board is connected to the box frame below with two 1.5″ long screws each end.
Here is a closer look at the shelves from the top and side.
Box Frame: The bottom box frame is simply two 1.5″ tall x 24″ wide pieces screwed to two 1.5″ wide x 7.5″ wide pieces. Increase the 7.5″ width if you want your shelves deeper than 9″. The math here is 9″ total depth – 2 x 0.75″ actual thickness of a 1x board = 7.5″ length.
If you’d like some simple build plans to print out and help you build, I will link those here soon!
Like I said, these shelves are RUSTIC! lol. But here are some tips to build them with a little more finesse:
- Use hidden pocket screws to connect the frame pieces together.
- Use finish or small brad nails to connect the top boards to the frame. Fill nail holes with sand-able wood filler.
- Sand the shelf smooth. I didn’t do that here! You can tell…
- If you are painting the shelves, use a coat or two of primer first. I did not do that here either, lol.
Wall Connection:
You need a minimum of two screws per shelf to connect these to the wall. Since the shelves are 24″ wide and the walls studs I was working with were 16″ on center, I was able to screw directly into a wall stud through the back of the box frame. Let me show you.
You can see the shelves are not centered on the wall studs. That’s OK. You can connect to wall studs anywhere along the back of the frame. This allowed me to connect solidly to the studs and still center the shelves on the toilet below.
I recommend using 2″ screws or longer here to actually connect into the studs. The frame is 0.75″ thick + 0.5″ drywall = 1.25″. So a 2″ screw will connect 0.75″ into the studs. I used at least 2.5″ long screws.
DIY Floating Shelves Project Costs:
1×6 boards: Free pallet wood!
Screws: had on-hand from previous projects
White paint: free leftover from previous projects.
Total cost: FREE! Woohoo!
Let me know if this helped you build your own, quick, floating shelves. I’d love to see them.
Extras:
Here are some things I like to decorate your shelves with.
Clear jars for Qtips & cotton balls
Good smelling natural soap This stuff advertises to men, but I’m a female and this a great soap.
Potted plant Ikea has tons of great selections.
Small picture frame for random fun art 🙂
