Floating shelves are all the rage right now, and for good reason! They are functional and pretty. So it seemed like it was time to give my readers and followers an easy DIY floating shelves tutorial. I will walk you through how to make your own shelves in this post, as well as considerations you should be making.

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What are floating shelves?

Before I get to the DIY tutorial lets talk floating shelves. What are they exactly? A floating shelf is exactly as it sounds. A shelf with no bracket so it appears as though its floating on the wall.

There are several different kinds of floating shelves, and they can serve many different purposes pending your space and needs. I used these solid wood floating shelves with amazing brackets in our last kitchen and they were amazing!!

That said – to do the same style in our craft space would have been super expensive. We decided on DIY for both expense, and the ability to make them weight bearing enough for any and all storage.

Check out this video

The video below shows the shelves up close and how I styled them in our craft room.

Easy DIY Floating Shelves Tutorial

Okay okay – so now you know what they are and you are ready to build! This tutorial is fairly beginner and something most anyone can do. Some tools are required, but you can also get the majority of your lumber cut at the store if you would prefer.

Selecting Lumber

I will walk you through what we personally selected for our project in terms of lumber, but want tot give some disclaimers and suggestions to consider when making your own choices.

The number one questions you need to decide before picking lumber are: How thick do I want these to be? and Do I want them stained/natural or painted?

The thickness of the shelves will make a difference on the board thickness you use, as well as the supports you select. And if you plan to stain or leave your shelves natural you will need to go with a solid wood not plywood like we did.

Lumber & Supplies:

We went with 2 shelves both 88 inches long, 10 inches wide, and when finished they were 4.5 inches tall.

One thing to remember when you are reading below is this will take some math. And also know that when a piece of lumber has a name that does not mean that is actually its measurement. IE – 2×4 boards are not actually 2 inches by 4 inches.

Lumber

• Support Lumber – For us we used 2x4s, but a 2×2 would also be a great choice for a less deep shelf. You need 1 piece cut to the length of your shelf minus 2 inches. (for us that meant the supports were 86 inches long). You then need scraps for the ‘arms’ cut to the width of your shelves minus 3 inches.
• Top and bottom boards – This is where you need to decide on your finished product. Solid wood will leave for less work with wood filler. These 2 pieces will be cut to the width x length of your shelves. (ours were 88 inches x 10 inches)
• Front Piece – The height is something you need to do the math on baed on what you buy, and the length is the same as your top and bottom pieces. For the height it is the height of your support piece (for us that was the 2×4) + height of your bottom board + height of your top board. ( So for us – that meant 3.5 inches + .5 inches + .5 inches) giving us an end board that was 88 inches long by 4.5 inches tall.
• Side piece (or pieces) – We only needed 1 of these because were in the corner, but if yours doesn’t go to the corner do the same on both sides. the height will be the same as your front piece (for us that was 4.5 inches) and the length will be the length of your top + added length of the front piece. (for us that was 10.5 inches). This is a good cut to do at home and measure perfectly before cutting if you can.

Tools and Supplies

• Nail gun (preferred but you could use a hammer and nails)
• Wood filler
• Drill and Screws
• Stud Finder
• Level
• Miter Saw

Steps – Let’s Build your custom DIY Floating Shelves

1. First things first is to get your lumber and have your larger cuts done in store. For us we had Lowes do the cuts for width so we didn’t have to mess with that when we got home.

2. Now it is time to assemble your frame. Take your long frame piece (remember for us this was a 2×4) and attach the arms well spaced on it. Simply drill through the back of the 2×4 to attach them, and remember you aren’t ever going to see this portion, so perfection isn’t key.

3. Once you have your frame built it is time to hang it. Depending your length you may need 2 people to level the frame on the wall and hang it by drilling into your studs.

4. Now it is time to attach your top piece. We personally used screws to attach this, but if you are going to stain you an use a nail gun so you have less to wood filler. Use a nail gun or drill to attach the top piece to the frame.

5. Do the same thing and attach the bottom board to the frame. We attached both in front and towards the end of the frame ‘arms’.

6. Next is the front piece and sides. Using your nail gun nail the front piece in several places to attach it, then do the same on the sides.

7. Use wood filler to fill any holes. For us because we used plywood we also had to use wood filler to make the seams more smooth. Once the wood filler is dry sand it down well and paint or stain.

I used Behr Bit of Sugar for my shelves, but you can also use any stain or just use a water based poly sealer.

And that is it. Our shelves are HEAVY duty – I have no worries about them holding up to massive amounts of weight, which was a huge part of my decision making in the choices we made.

I also really wanted something affordable, so both were accomplished. I think ours cost us roughly $100 total (however lumber prices change frequently).

Other Posts You’ll Love

If you loved this post on DIY floating shelves then the posts below will be perfect for you!

Painting Stone Fireplaces | DIY Built-ins – an IKEA hack | DIY Canopy Bed | DIY Built in Desk | DIY Kids Table

Pin the Photo Below for Later

Hopefully you feel ready to tackle your DIY floating shelves and if you have any questions be sure to leave them in the comments below. Don’t forget to pin the photo below before you leave and follow me on Instagram (@arinsolange) for DIYs.

I know, I know – you have probably seen 400 IKEA play kitchen hacks, but I promise you this one is worth the read! I was looking for a fun way to make this play kitchen for my kids for Christmas, and boy do I love it. I set out to make it functional on both sides, and include extra storage, and if I had to say so myself – I think it was a huge success!

This post was graciously sponsored by Cricut – all opinions are my own, and I am so thankful for you supporting the brands that support this blog. Post may contain affiliate links.

Play Kitchen Hack

When I set out to do this kitchen hack I actually went back and forth on if I wanted to use the IKEA play kitchen, or go with a used kids kitchen off Facebook marketplace.

I felt like both options had there perks. On one hand – the IKEA kitchen is super affordable, already taken apart and is budget friendly for anyone who can get it.

On the other hand – I remember very well not living near an IKEA, so I know sometimes seeing all of these IKEA hacks can be really frustrating.

I decided to go with the IKEA play kitchen (obviously) but as with my other IKEA hacks I will give pointers on ways you can sort of implement this on other play kitchens, or things to look for in other kitchens if you want a similar look.

Getting Creative for Christmas

I LOVE getting crafty for Christmas gifts. I don’t think there is a year that goes by that I don’t DIY a gift or 10. Typically that includes using my Cricut – sometimes just to make custom tea towels or platters for teachers, but in this case to go big!

Although the IKEA play kitchen is adorable as is – I am a huge fan of updating simple items to fit my decor and home – and in this case to make them more fun and functional!

There is nothing better than pouring your heart and soul into something and seeing the joy on someones face as they open the holiday gift and continue to use it year round.

Why the IKEA Play Kitchen?

So I talked about considering other play kitchens, but I didn’t really explain why I went with the one from IKEA. There were a few reasons, but I will list them below!

• Cost – The play kitchen is $89 brand new. Not bad in terms of cost.
• Size – for our house we don’t have room for something huge, so I liked the size, and the functions you get for that size.
• Overall design – one thing I was looking for was something with a pass through. My kids love to play restaurant, so I had it in my head that this would be fun no matter what side you were standing on.
• Ease of assembly – say what you want about IKEA, but typically assembly isn’t horrible – and I have heard horror stories about other play kitchens haha!

What You Need for this Hack

• Play Kitchen – like I said I went with the IKEA one, and for exact results that is what you should get too, but there are plenty of ideas from this post you can use on your own play kitchen or a used one you find! (this one is really cute!)
• Cane Webbing – 1 foot is plenty. Mine was left over from this project.
• Spray Paint – This is a step you will need a few cans of. I would say 4 minimum. (more than one color might be needed pending what you want to do – I used pink, gold, and white).
• Sanding Block
• Cricut Joy
• White Permanent Smart Vinyl
• Cricut Joy Transfer Tape
• Black Permanent Smart Vinyl
• Super Glue
• 1 inch wood dowel from craft store
• Wood balls from the craft store
• Wire baskets – I went with 2 from hobby lobby, but these would work great too.
• optional but amazing – painters triangles

Getting Started

Before we get to the actual DIY – a few things you should think about. What color do you want your play kitchen to be? Do you want every part painted?

For me I knew I wanted everything to be painted other than the backing piece and the counter top. I set those aside before I got started so they didn’t accidentally get painted.

I then decided what colors I wanted to paint everything else. I went with Gold for the faucet, hanging bar and hooks, and stove. I painted the sink white, and the rest of the kitchen pink ( My exact pink was rustic pink).

There is a video below of this DIY talking a bit more about it and showing it up close, so be sure to watch that while you are here.

Creating your custom IKEA Play Kitchen

First things first – If you are doing the cane webbing you need to remove the plexiglass that is in the 2 doors. My method for that was to take a large drill bit and drill through the plexiglass. Once there was a hole I used a pair of needle nose pliers to break chunks off until it was all removed.

Now you have all your pieces, and it is time to paint. Lightly sand any surface your going to paint, then start spray painting.

I would lay everything out and give it a good few coats (following cans recommendations for time between). When it is time to flip use those painters triangles to avoid any issues. Fully paint all sides.

Once your paint is FULLY dry it is time to add the cane webbing to your two doors. I will give short explanations for that here – but for a better video of it, head to this post where I made a large Cane cabinet

Because the crevices weren’t as deep in the play kitchen it was a bit trickier, so what I did was cut the cane BARELY larger than the opening. Once it is cut, soak your pieces of cane in water for 5 minutes. Do this one at a time – soak right before you work on each door.

Dry the cane off, then carefully start to slide the edges into the crevice that used to have the plexiglass. Once you have one corner in place as far as it will go – try your bet to get one side well aligned and in. Then CAREFULLY add super glue and let that dry.

Once that side has dried a bit, then start sliding the other sides in. My guess is that the last 2 sides will have ‘extra’. I used my Cricut knife to wedge the extras in. This will make it hold even better.

Once it is all in, carefully add super glue to all 4 sides inside that crevice and let it dry.

Now you should have all your pieces and be ready to assemble your IKEA play kitchen per the instructions. (Add everything but the handles!) Once it is assembled it is time for the fun parts.

Adding Details with Cricut Joy

Now that you have a fairly functional play kitchen – it is time to get creative and add what makes it special.

I used my Cricut Joy to cut hexagons in both black and white. I did mine on Permanent Smart Vinyl. Start by placing a white hexagon, then place them with a small gap (to imitate grout). You want to make a ‘flower’ with black in the center and white around.

The big thing to remember is to make sure you FULLY create a new flower when adding a new black one. So that will mean way more white than black. On the edges use a craft knife to cut the vinyl.

Next I added ‘Order Up’ in the font Snell Roundhand. Cut it on Smart Vinyl and use transfer tape to place it.

I also added a hollow circle to the drain in the sink. Honestly there are so many fun things you could add with the Smart Vinyl and the Cricut Joy makes it so easy to get out and cut it with ease.

The Final Details

Now you have a NEARLY finished play kitchen – but I figured there were a few other things you could do to make the kitchen a bit more unique and fun.

Instead of adding the stock drawer pulls I used a 1 inch wooden dowel and cut it for the drawer pulls (go slightly longer than the holes on the doors). I personally used our miter saw but you could easily use a hand saw.

I also added 3 wooden knobs to the front with these craft balls.

Last – I wanted to add storage. I added 2 baskets to the sides of mine that were also painted the color of the play kitchen. In order to screw them in you will have to add a piece of scrap wood to the insides so that the screw doesn’t just stick out inside.

I used scraps from the 1×1 piece of wood we used for the handles. Simply hold it inside and screw into those pieces instead of just into the play kitchen itself.

And that is it! Seriously such a fun toy that I know my kids will enjoy for years and years to come!

Other Posts You Will Love

I have done so many other IKEA Hacks – here is a link to all of them in one post.

And if you liked this, although it is in the IKEA hack post you will likely love the cane cabinet hack!

And if you are looking for more gifts that are less DIY be sure to check out all my gift guides linked here!

Pin the Photo Below for Later

Hopefully you are inspired to do your own IKEA play kitchen hack and feel ready to tackle an amazing holiday gift for your kids. Be sure to leave a comment below if you try this and love it, or if you have any questions, and follow me on Instagram (@arinsolange) for more fun DIYS!