My Favorite Project

My favorite project we’ve completed at the Woodland Cottage in Pennsylvania so far are the floating shelves and dark green wall surrounding our wood burning stove! My dad and I worked together to create a custom design, cut the wood, and install floating shelves in the two alcoves. It has made such a difference in the overall visual design of the room!

We started building the shelves one evening as soon as the girls went to bed. We worked late into the night while the house was quiet, and added the finishing touches the next day.

Envisioning The Project

When Emily and I purchased this home, we spent time designing the layout for the living area and choosing the furnishings. The previous owner had added low built-in cabinets on both sides of the stove. We thought that the alcove spaces looked unfinished. We wanted to add visual warmth and depth to the space.

Adding Paint

I started by painting the alcoves and the angled wall above the alcoves a deep Jasper green. We love how the dark color added a richness to the space and how it accentuated the leather sofa and navy chairs.

Emily and I also researched several pre-made floating shelving options for the space. The alcoves look symmetrical, but they do not actually have identical dimensions. That made it difficult to find pre-made options that would perfectly fill the space. I decided to create custom DIY floating shelves with my dad.

Designing  and Building Floating Shelves

My dad and I researched several DIY floating shelves options and drew up a few mock-up plans. We finally decided to build the floating shelves out of 2 x 2 x 8 boards to create the frame. We added particle board strips to the top and bottom of the shelves.

The frame was designed to be drilled into the wall studs. The first step was to cut two large strips of the 2 x 2 x 8 boards to be the front and back of the frame. Then we cut 4 smaller strips to connect the front and back strips. We then drilled the pieces together to complete the frame for the first of the floating shelves, and screwed the frame into the wall. My DEWALT cordless drill made the assembly process so easy!

We repeated the process for creating a frame for each of the other floating shelves. Then we hung one shelf on the left side of the stove, over the television. We hung two shelves on the right side of the stove, with the top shelf on each side of the alcove hung at the same height to create a balanced look.

The next step was to particle board strips to the top and bottom of the frames, creating the flat shelf surfaces. I also painted the top, bottom, and sides of the shelves the same Jasper green color as the wall.

Completed Project

We love how it turned out! The deep color adds a visual depth to the alcoves. The floating shelves are the perfect place for us to add personal touches to the room.

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