"Floating" shelves

Freelancer · 02-28-2006, 08:53 PM

We'd like to put some shelves on the wall to hold our CDs. We're trying to keep the lines clean and like the look of so-called "floating" shelves with hidden mountings, but we're not exactly sure how to go about it. I found a guide on the DIY.com site, but from the looks of it, the mounts can only be on the ends of the shelves. This seems like it might be a problem, since our longest shelf will be around 6' or so, and that seems pretty long to have no support in the middle. Does anyone have any ideas?

Also, we had been thinking of using plain ol' 1x6 for the shelf itself, because it's simple and cheap. (We'll be painting the shelves black). Even that will be fairly heavy, though. Is there something else that we could use that would be just about as cheap? Do lumber yards sell lumber thinner than a 1x6?

Thanks for any advice!

tgeb · 02-28-2006, 09:15 PM

I saw some shelves done on a show one time.

They built a shelf that was essentially a box with the back side missing. They did it with 1X s. It is a little hard to explain but it went like this.

Build your shelf out of 1X6 the length you want, box it down so that you have an inside that is 1-1/2 opening. That's a top, bottom, left side, right side, front side. You will end up with about a 3" thick shelf.

Mount a ripped down 2X4 to the wall with screws hitting studs so it is sturdy, you can then mount the "box" to the 2X4 by sliding it over the 2X4 and then placing screws though the "box" into the 2X4 there by creating a shelf that has no brackets.

I hope I explained it well enough for you, it's difficult w/out pictures.

But I think it is an easy, cleaver looking set up.

Tom

Freelancer · 03-01-2006, 07:04 AM

That is pretty nifty. I think the resulting shelf would be a little too thick, unfortunately. Something we'll keep in mind, though. Thanks!

MoJoe · 03-01-2006, 01:04 PM

I wanted to do the same type of thing but found that Ikea had what I was looking for, they call it LACK, at an affordable price. They have 3 different lengths. You may want to check them out:
http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/store...61*15637*15648

I like to do it myself whenever possible, but I'm willing to pay a tiny bit more for a better designed and built wheel if it means not having to invent it myself.

Freelancer · 03-01-2006, 01:38 PM

That looks pretty decent, but it looks like it's only available in their stores, and we're nowhere near one.

ERIK2173 · 03-01-2006, 03:15 PM

I've used the shelves from Ikea before and they hold up pretty well. One problem I had with them is the design of the brackets. Unless you re-drill the brackets it is pretty much impossible to mount these things to studs, the measurements between the holes in the brackets are no where near 16" apart. Which was a problem if you put anything heavy on the shelf. I had all my dvd's on one of the shelves and it did start to pull out of the wall a little.

I was looking for something a little nicer than that when I moved into my house and what I think I am going to buy is actually from a store in my area that sells fire places. It's a mantle which mount in a similar fashion but look quite a bit nicer. Of course the price is quite a bit more as well.

tgeb · 03-01-2006, 04:39 PM

Quote:

I think the resulting shelf would be a little too thick

I thought you might say that.

How about using a piece of 1X mounted to the wall, you could make the shelf the thickness of 3 pcs. 1X. a total of 2.25".

Just a thought.

Tom

Darylh · 03-05-2006, 09:42 AM

What about using 2x6, round over the edges to make the look not so thick and Dowel pin them to your studs.We used to do this with hand railings that were attached to a board that was attached to the wall.