Yesterday, Allison and I made a Floating Shelf Panel for my sister and brother-in-law. They showed us a post on Pinterest where separate slats of wood were nailed together vertically and shelving was attached. After a brief discussion, I knew this was something Allison and could make in no time at all so off to Home Depot we went!
I decided to alter the design a little to make it simpler, more sturdy, and more secure since it is going in their nursery. So, we started with a 24" X 48" sheet of half inch birch plywood (~$20 at Home Depot). From there, we cut it down to about 24" X 36", saving the remaining 12" to make the 3 shelves. We measured out our shelf lines and gaps to make sure we had it all laid out before we started cutting.
Each of the shelves are set into a 1/4" deep groove cut into the main plywood panel using a router and a groove bit. This was a lot easier than I thought and a technique that I have been wanting to try for quite a while! My router base has a 3" radius from the edge to the center of my router bit. So, I set up a fence 3" from where I wanted the center of my shelf to go. It was a little difficult to get the fence clamped down and keep it in square so Allison really helped me with this one! Keeping my router against the edge of fence, I then cut a groove the length of each shelf. It was hard to see the mark of where to stop the groove so that is another place where having Allison there really helped!
After the shelf grooves were cut, we decided on a 4" gap for the vertical "fake slat" grooves. On a side note, a 24" wide project panel from Home Depot actually runs more around 23 3/4" wide. This would make an uneven slat on one end if you just cut a groove every 4 inches. So instead, we cut a 1/4" groove at 4" from the left, and then 4" from the right. Then, 8" from the left and 8" from the right. This left us with about a 7 7/8" gap in the very center. So we found the midpoint, and made our final groove cut there. This created a very uniform and OCD calming slatted board look to the panel.
Next was to cut the shelves from the remaining 12" from the original sheet of plywood. We decided on a 5 1/2" shelf because it seemed to give just enough surface area without sticking out too much off of the wall. After ripping them down on the table saw, we slid them into the grooves. Rather than measuring the grooves, we simply marked where the shelf met the edge of the plywood and made a cut on that line on the miter saw.
Lastly was to attach the shelves. This is probably where Allison was the most help! The shelves fit nicely in the horizontal grooves, but, we still had to make sure they stayed perpendicular to the panel as we pre-drilled, glued, and screwed them together. So, we slid the shelves into the grooves, Allison held them square, and I pre-drilled holes through the back of the panel, in line with my grooves and into my shelves. After doing this for each of the 3 shelves, we pulled the shelves back out, applied some glue, and screwed the shelves onto the panel into their final positions. If you have a deep enough groove, and you took the time to square up your shelves while drilling your pilot holes, your shelf should go into square without any problems!
We finalized our part of the project by attaching a french cleat hanging system that will give the shelf panel a strong and easy mounting connection. All in all, it took us right at an hour from running to Home Depot to finished product!
Now it is just up to Candiss and Taylor to paint the project, install, and enjoy!
UPDATE: Here is a picture Candiss sent me after a bit of sanding and the first coat of white paint. Looks pretty good!
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