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Updated: Apr 14, 2022 by Kris Jarrett

The Floating Wood Shelves in Our Bathroom & Kitchen

Looking for floating wood shelves? I’m sharing where I bought mine, how they’re installed, & ideas for styling them too!

The floating wood shelves in our bathroom are one of my favorite master bathroom remodel ideas that I shared {here}. I’ve gotten a ton of detailed questions about them so thought I’d write a quick post sharing everything I know! Along with info 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})

Where Can I Buy Floating Wood Shelves?

Let’s start 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:

Great info on floating wood shelves - where to buy them and how to install 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:

LOVE our new floating wood shelves - we chose the pickled white finish

Shelf sources (from top to bottom): White woven basket (medium)  |  Kumquat tree – no longer available  |  Gray & white striped planter (holding snake plant) |  Colorful moth art print  |  White wood frame  |  Decorative stacked boxes – no longer available  |  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:

Finish options for the floating wood (oak) shelves we're putting in our bathroom!

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

The Pickled White finish of our floating wood shelves!

We installed floating wood shelves in our kitchen too:

What we keep on the floating corner shelves in our kitchen!
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

I had never had open shelving in a kitchen before so wasn’t sure how I’d feel about it but I LOVE it! I share more about my love for open shelving in the kitchen in {this post} with favorite kitchen remodel ideas. 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 we had to DIY them.

I found the white oak wood at a local lumberyard and had it planed flat, my contractor cut it to size and created the corner design, I stained and sealed them, and my contractor installed them. You can find the step by step details in {this post on DIY floating corner shelves}. 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,

Installation of our floating wood shelves starts with drawing a level line

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

Using a stud finder to install our floating wood shelves

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

How we installed our floating wood 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:

Installing our floating wood shelves!

Done!

LOVE these floating wood shelves we installed in our master bathroom!

Details & sources for our glass shower enclosure are in {this post}

How High to Mount Floating Shelves & How Far Apart

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

The distance between our floating wood shelves!

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:

Love these floating wood ledge shelves in lots of finish options!

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:

Love the finish on this wood bathroom vanity!

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):

Gorgeous thick floating wood shelves!

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:

Gorgeous 6" thick floating wood shelves with a pretty gray wash finish

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:

Reclaimed wood floating shelves that come in three length options

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):

These floating wood shelves are an amazing price!

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!

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Categories: Bathrooms

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Wendy Blaszyk says

    April 25, 2021 at 8:31 pm

    How many inches did you leave between the shelve and the bathroom nook wall- 1″?

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      May 01, 2021 at 1:25 pm

      Yes it’s a little over 1″

      Reply
  2. EV says

    September 20, 2021 at 9:27 am

    This is so helpful! I am wondering, do you think the floating shelves you have in your bathroom and then nook will be able to be installed over tiled wall? I see you installed your brackets into non-tiled wall. My question is do the brackets have to be installed prior to tiling or can you just screw those brackets right into tile do you think? Thank you for everything, also appreciating the discount which I may actually be using very shortly for a few bathroom renovation projects we have going on.

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      September 20, 2021 at 3:01 pm

      Yes, their installation instructions say that it can be installed on an already tiled wall using a masonry bit to drill into the tile!

      Reply
  3. Coral says

    January 30, 2022 at 4:13 pm

    Hi I absolutely love everything about your bathroom getting ready to redo our master bathroom! How did the vanity hold up and with the shelves do you think they would look good behind a toliet?

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      January 31, 2022 at 5:45 pm

      Thank you! The vanity held up well – I would still choose the same one again! And yes, I think a series of shelves behind the toilet would be great – I would make them a bit more shallow than my shelves though.

      Reply
  4. Barb says

    March 04, 2022 at 12:57 am

    Where did you purchase the floating shelves?

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says

    October 06, 2022 at 11:03 am

    Love this! What is the brand/color of your walls?

    Reply
  6. Michelle says

    October 08, 2022 at 2:21 pm

    Love these! What thickness did you choose? 1.25, 1.75 or 2? And did you use the same thickness in both the kitchen and primary bathroom?

    Reply
  7. Nena Sparrow says

    November 15, 2022 at 8:46 pm

    Which thickness did you go with for the shelves…2″, 3″ or 5″?

    Reply

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