Project: Floating Shelves

Sometimes, you just look around the room and say "This room is missing..... something."

I had done that for a while in my living room.  So I put a picture on the wall.  That wasn't it.

Then I got lamps.  That helped, but still wasn't 'It.'

One day, when I was trying to sleep, it dawned on me:  I didn't have any shelves.  I didn't have any place to set 'things.'  I didn't have a place for a sense of ME.  My walls were also practically bare.  Painted, but bare.

I don't care of bookcases, but I knew I wanted shelving.  Built-ins were out of the question as they can be somewhat expensive and require more handy work than is all of my family, combined.

As with a lot of my ideas, I started with research.  I figured out what I wanted first and then researched the options available.  It happens that my beloved Ikea has floating shelves.  I liked the options at Pottery Barn, but let's be honest:  Do I seem like the person to buy the Pottery Barn option over the Ikea option?  That would be a no (under most circumstances).

To see if my plan would really work out, I resorted to making a life-size representation.  I seem to do that a lot, right?  It works.

I created a layout that a combination of long and short shelves to create a unique look.  

Unfortunately, this project was done before I started taking lots of pictures.  So the only other picture I have is of the final outcome.

Misadventure #1:  Small floating shelves are very difficult to install and don't hold much weight.  It could just be the way I installed them, but we had some issues with the foot long shelves.  We ended up using 1 in the corner on the middle shelf to make it stand out.  It still gave me the effect I wanted.

Misadventure #2: Walls and corners are rarely square.  This makes putting perfectly square things into corners challenging.  Think along the lines of round whole, square peg.  In the end, I put the long part of the shelf against the wall and just let the corner be.  If it was a bit off, that's alright.


I actually did the trip to Homegoods before I put up the shelves.  I wanted an eclectic, but unified look.  I went for silver, black and ornate.  There are a few pieces that are different, but I think all the pieces look good together.  *Most of them have stock photos, but I'll update with a recent picture as soon as it's sunny.

*Update:  This is what it looks like now, with candles, votives and real pictures!

I plan to eventually do the same thing in the other corner.  For now, that corner belongs to Bella and her things.  What do you think?  Leave me a comment or send me an email!