DIY Faux Floating Shelves

Installing DIY faux floating shelves made from old barn wood in a small bathroom.

Slowly but surely I’m making progress in the bathroom. The painting is done, the vanity is in, the new lights and new mirror are up. We’ve also added a couple of faux floating shelves for some much needed storage.

I’d like to give equal time to every project (and stall for time while I finish up the vanity 😉 ), so we’ll focus on the faux floating shelves today.

I wanted something on the wall over the toilet, and I needed some storage (this bathroom is teeny tiny), so shelves were the right call. Budget is always a consideration when I do a project and this one was no different. After looking at several options, we ditched the idea of buying pre-made shelves and went with something we could DIY.

I had a couple of scrap pieces of old barn wood leftover from our Illinois kitchen remodel, so we decided to use that. The biggest issue we had was how to attach the wood to the wall so that they would be sturdy enough to hold decor and bathroom necessities.

My first thought was to use shelf brackets but the studs were in odd places behind the sheetrock, and we needed to hit them in order to keep the shelves from falling down. We had no idea what to use so the project stalled until I found these aluminum flat bars. It was the perfect size and it gave us just enough room to add holes so we could attach the shelf to the wall, and hit 2 studs.

One $11 strip was all we needed for both shelves, making this project come in way under budget.

It probably took us longer to measure everything. We had to be certain we knew where the studs were so we could drill the holes in the strip.

How to make floating shelves…

Once all the measurements were taken and we knew where the studs were, it was time to get the shelves ready to hang.

To attach the aluminum strip to our precut wood, we drilled 3 holes in the strip and 3 holes in the wood, evenly spaced. Then we drilled the 2 holes in the strip that lined up with the studs, so that the screws would hit the studs.

Once all the holes were drilled into the strip, we attached it to the wood. We did this by lining up the 3 holes across the wood with the 3 holes in the strip. Once the strip was attached to the wood, the shelf was ready to be attached to the wall.

All that measuring (and…let’s be honest…a little bit of arguing) paid off. We were able to get them up, level and secure on the first shot.

It sounds complicated but it wasn’t, and it actually worked very well. I wouldn’t put anything super heavy on the shelf, but they are very sturdy.

There is just enough space to add a little bit of decor among a few necessities. I also love that the old wood adds some warmth to the room.

Hope your week is a good one!

We also added industrial barn wood shelves to a guest bedroom in our Illinois house. It’s one of my most pinned projects on Pinterest.

DIY Barn Wood Industrial Shelves

And I added a set of shelves in our new kitchen for under $50.

DIY Kitchen Shelves for Under $50