I am glad to finally share how I did the floating shelves next to my breakfast nook. It came out looking perfect the second time. Earlier when I worked on them, the brackets and the anchors were loose since there was no stud behind and the shelves ended up sloping down a little. Although I could keep things on the shelves, I wanted them to look perfect. Read along as I walk you through how I fixed them:
Step 1: Taking off the anchors from the drywall
Tips to cause limited damage to the drywall:
– first, take a bigger size screw
– drive it in a little
– wiggle out the anchor
Step 2: Fitting back the floating shelf brackets
Drill the wall with a half inch bit and put the toggle anchor in and break off the extra bit. The toggle that worked best for me is the one I got from Home Depot (Linked here). When you have a good anchor for your screw, put the brackets in and then repeat the steps for the rest. Link to my floating shelf brackets here.
Step 3: Getting the board ready for the shelf
After cutting the 2X8 inch board, I recommend using a drill guide otherwise the hole will be sloped. Always put a tape on the drill to know when to stop drilling. Now, before you buy a drill guide, make sure the drill bit fits the slot. It was frustrating for me in the beginning as the half-inch drill that I bought didn’t fit in the half-inch slot. I ended up drilling with the small drill bit, taking the drill guide off, and then used the half-inch drill bit.
I used 220-grit sandpaper to sand off the board followed by a wood conditioner. A 220 – 320 grit sandpaper is recommended to get a smooth and even finish. The stain that I went with is Minmax Polyshade in American Chestnut. You can go for an extra coat to have a darker shade as I did.
My DIY floating shelves were finally done and this time, it looked perfect!
Please check my Floating shelves story highlight for a video tutorial.
