DIY Alcove Shelving

[MiniMan64]

Right-ho, bathroom project is nearly done and next on the list is to finish of the living room and last on the list is some book/CD/DVD recessed shelving to right of the chimney.

Now I've never done something like this before but I feel like I could achieve a decent finish on them. I don't want any sort of framework, just the 'floating shelf' look built right into the alcove, DVD's at the bottom, maybe above some ground space, then CD's and books on top.

Now the way I figure, to put the shelves up I need to put batons for each shelf around the sides and back of the alcove and then the shelf on top of that. To finish off the 'floating' look a thin sheet on the bottom of the batons and along the front? Is that right?

I've seen proper floating shelves with the wall bracket but never in a size close to the alcove shape.

Thoughts of the great PH DIY collective?

[MiniMan64]

Simpo Two said:

MiniMan64 said:

Now the way I figure, to put the shelves up I need to put batons for each shelf around the sides and back of the alcove and then the shelf on top of that. To finish off the 'floating' look a thin sheet on the bottom of the batons and along the front? Is that right?

If I understand the brief you want a shelf that looks like a thick chunk of wood with no visible fixings.

Edited by Simpo Two on Monday 22 February 18:18

Spot on, I just want the shelves and that's it, no frame, no visible brackets.

What I described above is one option, the others are the brackets I've been looking at on Ebay where you have a solid shelf and then the metal brackets slots perpendicular into drilled holes in the back of this.

[MiniMan64]

Interesting, I think I might stick with the framework solution but I'm certainly going to look at the wall mounted bracket options.

Next step is to decide what shelves go where, been measuring it up and planning tonight, is there a general convention on what looks best as it were? What we're planning is DVD's (two shelves) on the bottom (because apparently they are "not nice to look at") then three shelves of CD's and space for small CD/I Phone player in the middle and books and pictures and what not at the top.

[MiniMan64]

Simpo Two said:

MiniMan64 said:

Next step is to decide what shelves go where, been measuring it up and planning tonight, is there a general convention on what looks best as it were? What we're planning is DVD's (two shelves) on the bottom (because apparently they are "not nice to look at") then three shelves of CD's and space for small CD/I Phone player in the middle and books and pictures and what not at the top.

The usual convention (at least for books) is to have the deepest shelves at the bottom and reduce as you go up. That way you get the visual weight at the bottom.

Hmmm, it's not a massively deep alcove, something like 200mm-odd so I was just going to run them up the alcove all the same depth. I was more thinking along the lines of shelf spacing, not sure wheather I should space them all evenly (8 shelves, 2 for DVD, 3 for CD's, 3 for books) at about 220mm for each, or vary the spacing for each shelf, i.e. smaller for CD's and bigger for books.