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12 DIY Floating Shelf Ideas Because Bookcases Are So Last Year

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Updated on May 7, 2022 by
floating shelves ideas

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The best part about floating shelves in your home is that, in most cases, you can hang them no matter what level of craftsmanship you are at. You will need to know your way around a drill to drill holes on your wall so you can properly anchor screws in the wall to safely and securely hang shelves midair, but that is typically as far as you need to go with your construction knowledge for these DIY floating shelf ideas.

Not to mention the overall benefits of floating shelves in your home. They take up far less wall space than typical bookcases or free standing shelves and they can add something special to almost any room’s decor. Add floating shelves above your toilet for easy to access bathroom storage. Or place a few in your living room to use as a spot for frames photos instead of getting a bulky bookcase to push up against a wall.

DIY floating bookshelves are, for the most part, easy to install and these ideas will help give you multiple ways to utilize floating shelves in your home no matter your style.

If you are a book lover, you know how frustrating it can be to keep all of your books in one place. That is why the idea of a display shelf for your books is such a good idea. Home improvement and DIY enthusiast will love this floating shelf idea. You can make your own floating shelves with a few simple tools and materials that you can easily find at any home improvement store, Ikea, or Amazon.

What You Might Need

  • Studs and stud finder
  • Circular saw
  • Cleat
  • Drill bit
  • Drywall anchors
  • Paintbrush
  • Miter saw
  • Velcro tape
  • Wood filler

1. Corner Floating Shelves

Floating shelves in a corner in your home might not be the first option you consider when you think of floating shelves, but they are another solid option. In this case, they can be used to add something extra to an awkward little corner of a bedroom or common area. And as long as you’re OK with measuring and cutting up enough wood for all of the little pieces of this shelf system, it’s a practical and attractive possible floating shelf idea.

2. Farm Style Shelves

Floating shelves are legitimately suitable for any room in your house. And these farm style floating shelves for a kitchen prove that. You can certainly put them elsewhere in your home, but if you are limited on cabinet space, these offer an open solution for kitchen storage. And honestly, the stain really helps drive home decor the farmhouse style aesthetic.

3. Pegboard Shelving

The keys to this unique take on floating shelves are pegboard, wooden dowels, and plywood. You then put together shelves as big or as small as you need them to be and hang them effortlessly from the pegboard. You can also add other decorative items to the pegboard to add to the aesthetic it provides.

4. Pipe Shelves

Sometimes with floating shelves, you want to do as little as possible but make it look like you put a lot more effort into it. To be fair, that’s the goal with a lot of DIY projects. In this case, you can do just that with these wooden shelves held up by pipes. Just make sure you thoroughly clean the pipes before you hang them, otherwise you’re sure to be left with black smears everywhere.

5. Re-purposed Wooden Crates

If you have some wooden crates lying around or don’t mind spending a few bucks on some, you can totally use them for floating shelves instead of placing them on the floor to hold your photo frames and albums. You can even cut them a little shorter so they aren’t so deep as floating shelves. But really, either way, you can’t go wrong. You can stack out your photo books in the crate or place them as you would books on a bookshelf. Having photo books in a place that’s easy to access makes it a lot easier and means that people will actually flick through them to check out the pictures instead of them just gathering dust elsewhere.

6. Hexagon Shelves

Who said floating shelves have to be all about straight lines and simplicity? Kick things up a few notches with these hexagon shelves. You will need to cut your wood to perfectly angled portions which you will then glue together using standard wood glue. But if you’re comfortable with that, you can definitely make a statement with these floating shelves in particular.

7. Cloud Bookshelf Ledges

These cloud bookshelf ledges might seem a little intimidating, but they can be just the shelf project you need to get your hands wet in more intricate but still approachable DIY projects. They are perfect for books in your child’s bedroom or your baby’s nursery. You can put other things on them as needed, however, you will just have limited space.

8. Flower Shelving

Unlike some of the other DIY floating shelves on this list, this flower shelving is designed specifically for flowers and small vases or mason jars. It can still be plenty useful if you need it for that. You will just be limited on adding anything else to the shelf, so you should probably be sure you want to permanently keep flowers on your wall with this floating shelf idea.

9. Pallet Shelves

Pallets will forever be the go-to solution for some Pinterest-loving crafters. So it should come as no surprise that there are floating shelves you can make from the remnants of wooden pallets. if you aren’t wild about how rough around the edges the pallet shelves will be, you can always sand them down. But either way, they are one of the easier options.

10. Open Wall Shelves

If you have the space and the right distance between two walls in a room, these long wall shelves can save you a lot of money on actual bookcases or other standalone shelving. These kinds of shelves open the door for adding picture frames, decorative items, or even a small lamp where you otherwise might not have had an area for all of those kinds of things in the room.

11. Over-sized Floating Shelves

While floating shelves are the answer for conserving space for some people, these over-sized floating shelves can also upgrade an entryway or common area of your home center. An oversized floating wall shelf is also relatively easy to make once you get the hang of actually cutting the wood and putting them together.

12. Key Holder Shelf

You get more than one simultaneous use out of this floating shelf, which adds to its value and overall versatility. You can place things on top of it as needed, like your wallet or cell phone, but the hooks on the underside of the shelves provide the perfect spot for your keys when you come in the door.

Depending on the DIY floating shelf ideas you go with, it can either be tricky or super easy to install yours. They are also less costly than buying entire shelving systems or bookcases which take up much more space. You will have to make sir your floating shelves can accommodate as much weight as you need to place on them, but the versatility and sleek design of most floating shelves, including these options, are hard to ignore.

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