You may be sinking. but your shelves can float.

how to make floating shelves yourself for cheap

I get it. You have all this junk that you want to show off but no shelf space to do it. The most popular way to display photos of your dead pets or people who you think love you is with shelves. And the current rage is floating shelves. For this reason they’re expensive as hell if you buy them from a store or online. But they don’t have to be. You can make them yourself and then have something on your walls that people actually want to look at.

It’s all about your support structure

Blind shelves are named so because you can’t see the mounting structure that holds them to the wall. These support structures run on the same principles of your emotional support structures. You want them to be very strong and supportive, but you don’t want anyone to know they are there because that’s embarrassing and makes you vulnerable to sabotage.

I’m going to make a plug that I’m not proud of. I’ve made many floating shelves and I purchase my supports from Amazon. I know supporting big business is frowned upon, but I’ve tried finding supports in stores and nothing comes close to ease and price.

These supports are essentially a metal rod welded to a plate that screws into the wall. Super simple and super cheap. The actual ones I use are rated to hold 80lbs. Honestly, I don’t know what you’re planning on putting on your shelves that weighs that much but if you’re getting near that number I would recommend a different mounting method such as a French cleat. These supports come in a pack of 8 for less than $20, meaning about $5 per pair. Here is the link.

All you have to do is drill holes in one edge of the shelf for the rods to go in. The only issue with these are that the smallest I found was 6” long and my drill bit only goes to about 5 1/2” so I have to cut the ends down with an angle grinder or hacksaw.

Thickness Matters

If you use these brackets you will need to drill a 1/2” diameter hole into the edge of your shelf. This means that 3/4” thick wood, which is the most common size of boards, is not going to have the girth needed to get the job done. I’ve gotten around this a couple of ways: I’ve either taken two boards and glued them together to get 1 1/2” thickness, or I’ve just used a board that was already that thick. A common 2x6 or 2x8 will work.

Wood can be free?

I’ve made a number of floating shelves, mostly because I have a neighbor who is obsessed with them. Almost all of these shelves I built for under $10 a piece. I just paid for the supports and finish. I did this by using reclaimed lumber that I got for free. In contrast, I purchased the wood (oak) for two small shelves and it cost me $45 a shelf.

Free reclaimed lumber is not that hard to come by. I used the creepy world of Craigslist and looked for people posting that they had torn down a barn. Most of the time these people just want the wood gone. So I would show up with a saw and pry bar and pick through the piles, cutting out what I want.

If you go this route you’re going to have to do some manual labor. Not only do you have to forage for good parts of lumber (people don’t tear down barns that are in good condition) but you also have to de-nail and clean the wood. You can find a number of resources that explain this process better than me, but I basically sprayed down the lumber, scrubbed with a brush and detergent, and then sprinkled boric acid to kill any pests. I let the lumber dry in my backyard before taking it into the house. Before doing this though I had to remove all nails which is an absolute pain in the ass.

You’ll also have to do some surfacing. You need at least one flat edge that runs against the wall. I also like the top surface to be flat as well. I have a machine that takes care of everything but you can get by with a table or circular saw and sandpaper.

Or like I said before, you can purchase 1 1/2” or thicker lumber, or glue two thinner pieces together to get 1 1/2” thickness. I glued two 3/4” thick oak boards together to make these shelves and then stained the boards.

2 holes 1 board

For every shelf I’ve built I’ve used two supports and I’ve always made sure at least one of those supports is fastened to a stud in the wall. This meant I had to find where the studs were in relation to the shelf. I first used a stud finder to find my studs and then marked them with painters tape. Writing on walls is for misbehaved children, not me. I then held my shelf up exactly where I wanted it and marked on the shelf where the studs were. I hope to be able to use two studs but sometimes one of the studs is too close to an edge. If that’s the case I plan on using one stud and then using a drywall anchor for the second bracket. If you’re going to be putting anything substantial on the shelf though, I would make sure to use two studs.

Once you know where your holes will be on your edge, you need to make sure they’re centered. For a 1 1/2” thick board your center point will be 3/4”. Your hole needs to be the same size as the rod that’s penetrating it. It’s going to be a snug fit. For these particular brackets I needed a 1/2” diameter hole.

I made the investment into a drill press which is very helpful with alignment when I drill the holes. The drill needs to be absolutely perpendicular to the board to get a perfect mount. Using a hand drill is going to be very tough to do this, but I have it done it this way. To help with alignment you can make your own jig or purchase one. Or just freehand it because who really cares.

Because the bit I use on my drill press only goes about 3” deep, I then use my hand drill with a longer bit to make the hole deeper.

After my holes are done, I then put my supports in there and see how much I have to trim off for them to fully seat. I trim what’s needed with a hacksaw or an angle grinder if I’m feeling frisky.

curb appeal

I then sand each shelf to 220 grit. For reclaimed shelves I generally leave the front edge untouched to highlight the reclaimed aspect. I’ve also experimented with writing on the edge but that’s too much work and I suck at it, so naturally I’ve given up on that dream.

I use polyurethane for a protective finish. I like to use the spray form, especially for live edge shelves. When I apply the finish I actually mount the shelf on a scrap piece of wood so that I can do all sides at once. It’s a real time saver versus having to flip the board between coats.

Once the shelf is finally mounted it should lay tight against the wall and you shouldn’t be able to see the brackets. If so this shelf is ready to hold your trash and collect some dust. Congratulations, you attached a piece of wood to your wall. And you didn’t have to pay $100 to do it.