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You are here: Home / Interior Design / The Art of Designing with Floating Shelves

The Art of Designing with Floating Shelves

December 23, 2011 by Dan

Wall art collections can add lots of personality to a room. Related framed art or photos and other souvenirs and collectibles can look fantastic when displayed together, but how do you get them arranged on a wall, especially those items that aren’t designed to be hung. And what if you decide to change up the display later? Do you really want to patch all those holes, and then have to prime and paint the repairs?

Floating wall shelves are the solution to both dilemmas. These shelves are hung neatly and cleanly with no ugly hardware or unsightly metal strips or brackets to ruin your display and you can easily change up the featured display whenever you wish. Floating wall shelves come in many different sizes, colors and finishes so it’s very easy to find shelves that work perfectly with your decor and they offer maximum flexibility in design options since they can be hung in a horizontal line, a vertical stack or staggered on the wall. They are usually made of wood or composite materials and have a bracket system that mounts them to the wall; the bracket is designed to be totally hidden so the shelves virtually ‘float’ on the wall. When choosing floating shelves, be sure to check their load capacity and keep in mind that shelves that will hold heavy items like books or dishware should be attached to wall studs. If you have any reservations about the sturdiness of a shelf, hire a competent woodworker to add extra support.

Here are some ideas for decorating with floating wall shelves.

A Blissful Bedroom

Try floating wall shelves in lieu of a headboard, but instead of envisioning one or two long shelves spanning the distance above the bed, try two stacks of shorter shelves with an empty space in the center. The shelves can hold framed photos and art, candles, small baskets filled with practical items, trinkets, collectibles and accessories. Be sure to hang the shelves high enough so they won’t pose a danger when getting in and out of bed. The center space can be used to display anything from a great framed artwork to a decorative metal wall cross. You can add and subtract elements at any time to change up your style, explore a new look or experiment with different colors and themes.

A Handsome Man-Cave

All guys love kicking back in their own space and floating wall shelves give them the opportunity to keep the space looking neat and handsome and also capable of style changes at a moment’s notice. For example, if your guy wants a cabin style man-cave, rustic wood shelves are ideal. Stagger them on a focal wall along with a wolf metal wall art, and a series of photos from favorite camping or fishing expeditions with his buddies. When football season rolls around, it’s easy to change up the look just by switching the metal art with a framed football poster and related memorabilia on the shelves.

A Fresh Contemporary Living Room

It’s easy to create a great look above a low profile couch. Hang a shelf high enough to be safe and arrange a trio of photos on the shelf; frame and mat them identically, but if their sizes and orientations vary somewhat, this will just make the arrangement more interesting. Add another element on the shelf to pick up an accent color in the room, such as a large initial or glass vase. The key here is proportion and scale, so play around with the elements until you get the look you love – and with the flexibility offered by floating shelves, if you change your mind, it’s no big deal!

 

 

Filed Under: Interior Design, Wall Coverings Tagged With: art collection, Bedroom, floating wall shelves, man-cave, wall art, wall decor

About Dan

Dan Fargo,the editor-in-chief of Archtopia, an online magazine dedicated to architects and designers.

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