DIY Floating Shelves for my Living Room

Build these easy DIY Floating shelves with FREE Printable plans and how-to tutorial by Shanty2Chic. These are inexpensive and add character to your home!

I built the eight floating shelves you see there for only $120!!!  Each shelf is 4 ft. long and 12 in. deep!  How amazing is that 🙂

I was inspired by the DIY Floating Shelves that Whit built in her bathroom!  If you missed them you can see them HERE 🙂  I basically followed the same installation instructions and only made a few modifications to the size!

Check out our How to Build a Floating Shelf Video HERE!

Here’s how I built mine! CLICK HERE TO JUMP TO THE FREE PRINTABLE PLANS

How to Build DIY Floating Shelves

Supplies:

• 1 2x4x8 Framing Lumber
• 1 1x6x8 Pine Boards Or Common Boards
• 1 3/4″x24″x48″ Hardwood Plywood (Birch)
• 1 1/4″x24″x48″ Hardwood Plywood (Birch)
• 1 1/2″ Pocket Hole Screws
• 1 1/4″ Brad Nails
• 3 1/2″ Wood Screws
• Wood Glue
• Wood Finish – paint or stain
• Wood Filler

Tools:

• Drill
• Miter Saw
• Kreg Jig

Step 1: Cutting the Lumber

To avoid using my table saw, I had the nice man at the hardware store rip 1 sheet of 3/4″ Purebond Plywood (in Birch) into 4 – 11 1/4″ boards and 1 sheet of 1/4″ Purebond Plywood the same.  So you will basically have 4 – 8ft. 3/4″ boards and 4 – 1/4″ boards the same length.  (My daughter’s home away from home 🙂 ) You can also use a circular saw to rip your boards.

I also purchased 6 – 2x4x8 and 6 – 1x6x8.

I came home and got to work!  I cut 1 – 2×4 @ 46.5″ and 2 – 2×4 pieces at 9.75″, for each shelf.

Step 2: Building the Frame

I built the “E” brackets the same way Whitney did by drilling pocket holes into the short 2×4 pieces with my Kreg pocket hole jig.

• You can find the Kreg Jig HERE on Amazon

Step 3: Building the Wall Shelf

Then, I cut the 3/4″ plywood pieces and the 1/4″ plywood pieces at 46.5″ (totaling 8 boards per size).  These will be the top and bottom pieces of wood on the shelves.

I also cut 16 – 1×6 pieces @11 1/4″  and 8 – 1×6 pieces @48″ but I missed getting pictures of that! (these will be the sides and fronts of the shelves)

I used my Kreg Jig to drill pocket holes into each end of the 3/4″ plywood boards and attached them to the 1×6 pieces to form the top piece and sides of the shelves. (again missed pics of that – I blame summer 😉

Step 4: Attaching the Floating Shelf to the Wall

Time to bring them inside to install!

After deciding where I wanted my shelves (I decided to give 13″ between each shelf) I used my level to draw a 4 ft. line where I wanted each shelf to sit.

Next, I used my stud finder to mark where the studs were.  Attaching the “E” brackets to the studs behind the wall will avoid the need for wall anchors and allows them to hold more weight.

To attach the “E’s” to the wall, I used 3 1/2″ spax screws and drilled them into the “E” and then into a stud with my Impact Driver. I did 2 screws per stud.

I installed 4 on one side of the fireplace and 4 on the other 🙂

Once the “E” brackets were installed, I dropped the assembled shelves on top of each one and attached them with my brad nailer and 2″ nails.

Then, I followed-up with the 1/4″ sheets underneath.

I attached the 48″ 1×6 pieces to the front with my nailer as well (and surprisingly didn’t get pics of that part either)!

Step 5: Adding a Finish

I taped them off with painter’s tape before staining, sanded them all over with a 120-grit sandpaper and filled any exposed holes with wood filler.

I wiped on one-coat of Carrington stain, let it sit for 5-minutes and then wiped it with a clean cloth. Once the wood stain was completely dry, I added one coat of polyurethane with a paint brush.

• You can find Rust-oleum stain HERE on Amazon.

Here is my before…. I’ve been starring at this space since we moved into our new home 4 months ago and finally decided how to fill the space.

I built all of this shelving for about $120!!!  That gave me lots of dough to spend on decor 😉

I bought the majority of the accessories from Homegoods and Marshall’s, and a few pieces from Hobby Lobby!  Seriously LOVE my new space and $120 for 8 – 4ft. shelves is a lot of bang for my buck 🙂

Thanks so much for stopping by!

~Ashley

Info on other things in this room 🙂

I did build the coffee table and you can find it HERE!

You can find out about the fan HERE

and the info on the flooring is HERE

You can find the rug HERE