Our Bathroom Floating Wood Shelves: Your Questions Answered!

I’ve gotten so many questions about the floating wood shelves in our new bathroom that I thought I’d write a quick post about them! Along with giving you the details on the shelves I chose for my bathroom as well as the ones in my kitchen, I’ll share the other floating wood shelf options I considered, the step by step installation process, and my favorite finish options for wood shelving. (post includes affiliate links; full disclosure statement available {here})

Let’s get to it starting with the details on the floating wood shelves I have in our newly finished master bathroom. I installed three of {these long white oak shelves} in the little nook between our shower and the far wall of our bathroom with our large lidded hamper (found {here}) centered under them: 

They function so well for this space by adding a spot to store rolls of TP (in the basket on top), bath bombs, washcloths (in the basket on the bottom shelf) and extra towels. They also add warmth and style and a fun place for a few decorative accessories:

Shelf sources (from top to bottom): White woven basket (medium)  |  Kumquat tree  | Round basket for kumquat tree (small)  |  Gray & white striped planter (holding plant) |  Colorful moth art print  |  White wood frame  |  Pair of decorative stacked boxes  |  Glass canister (1 gallon size)  |  Bath bombs  |  Belly basket with tassel  |  Favorite bath towels

I found my floating wood shelves {here} (they are giving my readers 25% off through this link!). What sold me on these shelves is that they are completely customizable. The ideal length of shelving for my space was 29″ so if I had to stick with a standard length, 24″ was the closest option and I’d be missing out on about 20% of the shelf space I could ideally have. I was also able to choose the type of wood (I chose white oak), depth (I chose 12″), and the finish too! I took a while debating between these finish options – the top three were my favorites:

I went with the Pickled White and love it – so so pretty (when you order then, you add the finish you want where it says “add your personalization” under the width and depth selections):

We have floating wood shelves in another room in our home too – we installed this pair of shelves during our kitchen remodel:

Shelf sources: White hurricane vase  |  Glass & brass pitcher  | Floral recipe box  |  White ceramic pitcher  |  Faux peonies  |  Pepper grinder  |  Marble salt cellar  |  Oil & vinegar bottles  |  Apothecary bottle (similar)  |  Striped planter  |  Decorative snail  |  Tray & Accessories: Round woven tray  |  Marble utensil holder  | Black & white hand towel

We created our corner floating wood shelves as a joint DIY with my contractor – I found the white oak wood and had it planed flat, my contractor cut it to size and created the corner design, I stained and sealed them, and our contractor installed them. You can find the step by step details in {this post}. At the time we installed our corner shelves there were no shops that sold floating shelves in custom sizes like the ones I found for my bathroom so these would be much easier to create than when I did it. When comparing pricing between what it cost me to create custom shelves with my contractor versus buying them pre-made, the pricing is fairly similar. Solid white oak is pricey!

Installation of both our kitchen and bathroom shelves was pretty straightforward. For our kitchen shelves, I bought {these steel brackets} that were installed prior to tiling. Our bathroom shelves came with the brackets and all other hardware needed to hang them. Here’s how our bathroom shelf installation went down… 

Installation of Our Floating Wood Shelves

Since my bathroom shelves weren’t too long, I was able to install them myself but longer shelves would require two people. I simply drew a level line for the screws that will hold up the steel bracket supporting the shelves,

and then found and marked the studs in my wall with a stud finder like {this one}:

I then screwed the steel bracket onto my wall, hitting at least one stud to ensure that it’s secure (the screws and the drill bit to screw them in are included in the hardware packet with the shelves):

I then re-checked that the bracket was completely level (if it’s not, just loosen up the screws and give it a slight adjustment and rescrew tightly). And then finally I slid my shelf onto the bracket via the pre-drilled holes in the back of the shelf: 

Done!

All sources for our master bathroom are in {this post}

For those of you wondering about how high we mounted our shelves, these are the measurements we went with:

The shelves seem VERY secure and the bracket system keeps the shelves completely level from left to right and front to back. 

Floating Wood Shelves: Other Options

I did a LOT of hunting for floating wood shelves before landing on the ones I went with in the end. If you can find pre-finished shelves in the size and look you want, it will be cheaper than going with custom made. Originally, I had actually planned on using {these floating wood ledge shelves} in the Seadrift finish which is one of the six finish options they’re available in:

It’s actually the same exact finish as our bathroom vanity (found {here}) so I thought it would be nice to have a consistent wood finish on both sides of the space:

Sources: Wood & rattan double vanity  |  Vanity knobs  |  Bathroom faucets – brushed nickel  |  Vanity lights  |  Vanity mirrors – gold  |  Woven seagrass tray on vanity  |  Cross base planter  | Marble stacking dishes  | Soap & lotion sink set with tray  |  Toothbrush holder  |  Bamboo toothbrushes  |  Gray & white striped towels  |  Robe hooks – golden champagne

Unfortunately once I received them, I realized that due to how they’re constructed, they couldn’t be cut down in size (which I needed to be able to do since none of the available shelf lengths fit for my space). So those were a no-go.

Other options I had looked at were {these 2.5″ thick floating wood shelves} in the white oak finish (they’re also available in bright white & walnut): 

One of the big pluses of these shelves is that they’re a generous 14″ deep. Unfortunately they were backordered until late fall so they quickly dropped off my list of possibilities.

I also thought that {these 6″ thick mango wood shelves} were stunners:  

but the smallest length they come in is 48″ and they’re only 10″ deep and a little thicker than what I was looking for so they went off my list of possibilities.

I was on the hunt for a light white oak for my bathroom but did come across {these reclaimed wood floating shelves} that might be winners if you like a more traditional finish:

And while they weren’t sized well for my space, if you’re looking for smaller, shallow shelves for a space like above the toilet, {these pine shelves} are a great price (but note that some reviewers say installation was difficult):

I hope that answered all of your questions! Let me know if I missed anything that you want to know more about and enjoy the rest of your weekend!