BUILDING FLOATING SHELVES WITH BUILT-IN ACCENT LIGHTING

This summer we decided to re-convert one of our rooms on the main floor from my office into a dining room. One of the neat things about this room are the two perfectly balanced cubby area's on either side of the window.

When I saw these cubby areas I knew they'd be perfect for built-in floating shelves. Since I made them from scratch, I decided to also add some recessed lighting into them. Here's the area before I began.

1) I started by adding the cleats to the back portion of the cubby area. The left cubby was 27 1/2" wide and the right cubby was 26 5/8" wide. All the cleats that I used were 1" x 1" that I planed from scraps I had in my wood shop. I piloted holes to line up with the studs and screwed the cleats to the wall.

TIP - Piloting holes on finer pieces of wood helps to prevent splitting

 

 

2) After the back cleats were installed, the sides looked like this. I spaced the shelves out by taking the height from the ceiling to floor (96"), deducted the desired thickness of the 4 shelves, 1 1/2" each (1 1/2" x 4 = 6"), and divided the remainder by 5 since I have 5 spaces (90" / 5 = 18").

 

3) Next, I added the inside cleats (closest to window). To figure out the length of these cleats, I took the depth from the near edge to the back wall (22"), deducted the back cleat that was installed from the previous step (-1"), deducted another cleat that was installed later (-1"), and deducted the face trim that was installed at the end (1/2") to get the cleat length of 19 1/2".

 

 

4) On the opposite side of the cleats from step 3, I made holes to run the low voltage wiring for the lighting. Keep in mind, I chose the outer sides to run the wiring since there isn't any insulation there, which is a lot easier to deal with.

Having the cleats ready to install, I used my stud finder to locate the stud and marked their locations on the cleat that I was temporarily holding in place. Once marked, I made a 1/2" hole through the cleat about 1" away from the stud marking and drilled right through into the wall. You can see the holes in the wall as well as in the cleats that are resting on the back cleats. (If you need to make the drywall holes a bit bigger for fishing the wire, don't exceed the maximum shelf thickness)

5) Next was the fun part of fishing the wire. I prefer using a fish tape but whatever method you use that works is fine. Since these flexible LED strips are linked in series (each connected in a line to the next), I needed to have 2 x 18-gauge 4-wire runs per shelf (1 male and 1 female connector) fished in. The shelf furthest from my plug point only needed 1 connector fished in (my top shelf) since it was the end of the run.

6) Once the wiring was complete I tested the lights and the connectors.

TIP - Discovering any wiring faults before the finish stage saves a lot of time and headaches

 

7) After I confirmed that the wiring and lights are were in working order, I pulled the wires through the holes in the cleats and screwed the cleats to the wall.

 

8) For extra strength I added an additional support to the middle area and attached them with corner braces. I'd recommend always piloting holes before adding screws so you don't split your wood.

 

9) To complete the interior structure, I added the front support.

10) Once the interior structure was completed I started adding the outer surfaces. I installed the faces of the shelves. If everything is measured correctly you should have the faces flush with the wall (window side).

I then used 1/4" one-side-good panel wood and began with the bottoms of the shelves. Using brad nails and glue worked great. Keep in mind that if your glue runs onto any exposed surface it will mess up the stain/finish later. If you're painting it won't matter.

TIP - If you plan to stain wood, avoid contaminating the surface with glue or silicone

 

 

11) Next I installed the tops. Again I used brad nails and glue and held everything in place with clamps and weights.

12) At this point the shelves were physically completed and ready for the finish stage. You can see them with the accent lights in white, or in the dark with blue (there are many colours that can be selected on the remote.....it depends on your mood!!).

 

13) Prepping for the finishing stage I taped the edges to keep my wall clean (as much as possible). Since I was after a more modern rustic look, I used drywall compound to fill in the gaps and any other imperfections. I then sanded the shelves smooth to make them ready for staining.

14) Here was the before and after 1 coat of walnut stain. I like the foam brush but anything that doesn't leave streaks gives a nice look.

15) This was the darkness we were after (2 coats of walnut stain).
16) Once the staining was completed, I added 3 coats of urethane, sanding very lightly in between coats. I like to use 1 ply cardboard to break down the rough areas instead of sand paper. I find that even using the finest sand paper can take off too much if you're not really careful.

17) COMPLETED. The floating shelves with recessed accent lighting.

 

 

If you found this blog post useful you can 'like' the post and add your email address in the top right to be notified of any future posts.

Brian
(Don't forget to Pin it, 'Like' it, Share it, and comment below ;)

NEXT UP: Building a 72g bowfront aquarium stand - p1 - The base