When sharing some videos of our bathroom You may have noticed a quick update we added on Instagram recently. It’s a wooden floating shelf in the window. It was a very simple DIY project I made on a whim a while ago (and it was very affordable!), so I thought I’d share some easy steps on how to make it yourself.
For reference, this is the window when I first showed it. before and after this space Back in 2020. We’ve always used deep windowsills for decoration and greenery, but adding extra shelves gives us space for more things and adds some nice interest to previously unobtrusive windows. has been added.
The steps for this vary slightly depending on your particular window, but here’s what we used:
tools and materials
*You can also cut the board to size at Lowe’s or Home Depot..
I had all of these supplies on hand, as well as some butcher block scraps. All it took was about $2 for cove molding to make this project a reality!
Why this window is suitable for a shelf
This project doesn’t work on all windows, but ours was a good candidate for several reasons. it has a deep threshold (approximately 4 inches). This means you can add four inches of shelving without cluttering your room. It’s fairly shallow and can make it difficult to fit most things in there (but Mexican wooden hands need about an inch of wood to balance). I could have made it stick out a bit (which is possible if you have a narrow threshold), but I personally prefer the shelf to be flush with the window sill as it was already deep enough to hold anything. I like it we wanted to be there
Secondly, This window has frosted glass – This means you don’t need blinds or roller shades for privacy. Windows that require covering (bedrooms or bathrooms) may not be usable as most window treatments interfere with such shelves. But this could be great on kitchen windows! The view is great, even if it’s not frosty.It’s also worth noting that this window is frosted in our house, but we Add matte film to windows In many of our former homes – so here it is tutorial for that If you want to remove the shade in your bathroom, frost the window before adding this shelf.
Lastly, this is not a bedroom, so we didn’t have to worry about an exit, such as in case of an emergency requiring a viable escape route to the bedroom. The bathroom does not have to fill the exit, but I made sure to install a shelf. I made the window open in the back.
I also chose to secure the shelves with some small finishing nails (which I’ll explain in a moment). Can be easily knocked out of the way in the event of a real emergencyThese are all good things to think about before adding shelving in front of windows that open.
How to make a window shelf
This project was so quick that I didn’t take a single progress photo, but you can see from the later photos that the process is pretty self-explanatory. This is basically a piece of butcher block resting on top of two small cove moldings.
the wood used This butcher block I had some scrap left over This embedded storage projectBuying just for this shelf would be pretty expensive, so there are other options. A basic 2 by 4 inch will suffice. However, depending on the internal span of your window (28 inches in our case), you will probably need something sturdier than the standard 1 inch thick board. If you plan to put it down, it can sag over time without a support in the middle.
I knew the butcher block was very sturdy, so I had to find a way to hold it in place.We didn’t want to use big obnoxious parentheses, so we decided to try this unobtrusive one cove molding insteadBlends in perfectly with the window frame largely Gives the effect of a floating wood shelf.
So with that plan in mind, the procedure itself was straightforward.
- Cut wooden shelves to size Use a saw (our measurements are 4 inches deep and 28 inches wide) or have them pre-cut
- Cut 2 Cove Malls to window trim depth (ours was 4 inches)
- Measure and mark desired placement at the bottom of the ledge on each side of the window trim
- Nail the cove molding to the window trimuse a level to avoid tilting back and forth.
- Add wooden shelf Then check the level again.
- Nail the shelf to the cove molding Hold it in place (done from below).
- caulking nail holes and paint them fit the trim
The nails we used were simple 1.5 inch finish nails and the shelf itself is not very heavy so there is nothing very sturdy. You can also see the nailed divot (I think it could use a second round of caulking!).
Again, this was a super easy DIY project that I did right on the spot with leftover butcher blocks, and I love the results. .
Oh, and if you want to know more about what’s on the shelf, besides the two plants, it’s a wooden hand covered in Milagro charms that Sherry picked up. Our Mexican Family Vacation last year. I like to joke that from the outside, the hands look like they’re recreating that scene from Titanic.
Other DIY Shelving Projects
If you’re looking for more DIY shelf projects, we have plenty!
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