Floating Shelves for the Nook

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I saw this idea on the Young House Love blog.  A link to that project is posted here.  We wanted to put some floating shelves in our computer nook, just above our computer desk.  We found this lovely secretary style computer desk at Wal-Mart when we lived in our old apartment.  It has been a couple of years since we made that purchase, I'm not sure if the item is still available.  However, it is a great solution for small spaces.

Now, I am not a huge fan of the placement of our outlets.  We requested they be lower, but the builder overlooked that request.  I am working on a solution for them.  To the left of the secretary desk, I plan to put a decorative chair.  When that happens, the TV trays may have to move to another location, but we shall see.  This area is still a work in progress.

We followed the instructions from YHL's blog to construct these.  I chose white paint for the shelves to compliment our white baseboards.

We built out the shelves and the brackets. The brackets may need to be sanded a little at the ends a bit, so the shelves slide easily over them.

We sanded the shelves down before painting them.  The brackets were left unpainted.  Here is a picture of one of our shelves drying.


Then, we mounted the brackets into studs on the wall.  This is important to ensure the bracket is secured to the wall.  You want the weight of the shelves to be on the studs, the sheetrock will not support the weight well.  We used a level to ensure the brackets were level before securing them to the wall with cabinet screws.

Once the brackets have been secured to the wall, we simply slid the shell for the shelves over the brackets.  These shelves are made for decorative purposes, although they can hold pictures and lightweight knick-knacks.  I would not put anything too heavy on them, just to be safe.  The maximum weight limit has not been determined.

Check out the original tutorial on YHL's blog for more detailed pictures of the process.

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