Finally sharing the tutorial for my DIY floating corner shelves in our kitchen! When I first started dreaming up ways to upgrade our builder grade kitchen, I knew I wanted open shelving. We had it previously, but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. It was more for decor and I wanted these shelves to function in our everyday life. They had to be corner shelves, they had to be super sturdy and strong, but had to be thin. It took me a while, but I figured out a way to get all three of my must-haves! (post contains affiliate links, see disclosure)
BEFORE
AFTER
DIY FLOATING CORNER SHELVES
SUPPLIES
- miter saw
- sander
- router
- straight router bit
- (12) 10-inch shelf brackets
- 2 1/2 inch wood screws
- 1-inch wood screws
- nail gun
- 1 1/2 inch brad nails
- Kreg Jig
- 2 1/2 inch and 1 1/4 inch Kreg Jig screws
- (3) 1x12x8
- (6) 1x12x4
- (3) 1x2x8
- a stain of choice, I used my go-to favorite
- wood conditioner
- poly
- (3) foam brushes
- stud finder
- drywall cutter
- drywall repair patch
- putty knife
- DAP DryDex spackling paste
- sanding blocks
- primer
STEPS
The smaller portion of each shelf was easy because it had support on both sides. One side is supported by the wall and the other by the cabinet. However, it got a little more complicated for the longer portion of the shelves because they are open on one side. Also, behind this wall is our guest bathroom. Every time I screwed my original shelving frames into a stud, it was blocked by metal. I assume it was to protect the plumbing on the other side of the wall, so I wasn’t going to fight this and had to come up with another solution. Also because I want these shelves to be deep, I need the weight to be supported all the way to the front of the shelf and not just towards the back of the wall.
These brackets were the solution. But because I wanted them hidden, I cut small sections of the drywall out on each stud. Then using wood screws, screwed the bracket directly into the stud. I also alternated the direction of each bracket so that the weight of the shelf would distribute evenly. Even though these are heavy-duty metal brackets, they still had a little bit of bend to them and I didn’t want them all leaning downward.
This project was a lot of trial and error. I started with the placement of the smaller shelves first. Then, I would make sure the larger shelf was level and mark on the wall where my brackets needed to be. With the drywall being open, it was also easier to adjust each bracket to make sure everything was level.
Once I had everything level and in place, I repaired the wall with drywall mesh and spackling paste. It took a day or so to fully dry, then I sanded it smooth with a sanding block. Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about it being perfect because our walls are textured. Then, I primed and painted to match our wall color.
After I had the brackets figured out, it was time to start on the shelves. The smaller shelves are 30 inches and the longer ones are 48 inches. The larger shelves are screwed into the brackets from the bottom with 1-inch wood screws. Then, for the smaller shelves, I used my Kreg Jig to create two pocket holes where the studs on the back wall are, two for the wall side, and three to attach to the larger shelf. Attaching them together would ensure there was no sagging where the corners meet. On the cabinet side, I used wood screws to secure the shelf to the cabinet from the inside.
For the bottom portion of the larger shelves, I routed out space for each bracket. This allowed the pieces to be sandwiched together with no gaps. I attached the bottoms with a nail gun and 1 1/2 inch nails. Then, I sanded and stained each board with my favorite stain color combo. Next, I used two coats of poly and sanded between each coat with a 220 grit sanding block. This made the wood shelves super smooth. I need them to be durable and easy to wipe down since they will be used daily.
Then on the fronts, I added a stained 1×2 and attached it with a nail gun. Lastly, I used color-matched wood putty to fill in the nail holes. These shelves are definitely not one of the simpler DIYs that I have done but they were still worth it. If I would have purchased these shelves they would have cost $700-900 each!
There are a ton of shelving tutorials in the blogging world. However, I couldn’t find any that worked for our space, were affordable, and super strong. Online, the strong shelves are bulky and the thin shelves are made from plywood. And I really didn’t want that. I’m so glad that in the end, I figured it all out on my own and created shelves I really wanted. I hope I can inspire you to do the same! And if you need more visuals, I also have these DIY floating corner shelves saved in my video highlights on Instagram.
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