Building Floating Shelves for a Client’s Master Bath

I was in a client’s bathroom, in Colorado Springs, working on a project I was pretty excited about, A set of floating shelves for his master bath. Now, I’ll be upfront: these shelves sit higher than what you’d normally use for everyday stuff. That was intentional. My client has a collection of antiques and collectibles he’s picked up over the years, and he wanted a place to show them off. The one piece he mentioned right away was his grandfather’s shaving kit. That kind of thing deserves a proper spot on the wall.

Planning the Build

Before I cut anything, I sat down and thought through how this thing was going to be constructed. The top and bottom panels are going to be veneered, and the front face of each shelf is going to be solid wood. That combination is intentional, and here’s why.

Wood moves. It expands and contracts across its width way more than it does along its length. If I built the whole shelf out of solid wood, I’d have two pieces trying to move in different directions at that front corner, and over time, that corner would open up and split. Not great. By veneering the top and bottom panels, I’m keeping that movement in check. The veneer is thin enough that it barely moves at all, so the corner stays tight for years.

Milling and Veneering

I ran all the material through the planer first, re-sawed what I needed at the bandsaw, and then got to work veneering some quarter-inch plywood for the tops and bottoms. I veneered both faces of each panel. If you only do one side, the panel will want to cup. Two sides keep it stable.

One thing I’m always watching when I’m working with vacuum bag glue is the clock. This particular glue has about a ten-minute open time. If I’m not done spreading glue and getting everything into the bag within that window, I stop, seal up what I have, let it cure, then do the next batch. No point rushing and blowing past the open time, you’ll just end up with a bad bond.

Cutting the Miters

This project had a lot of miters, and every single one had to be spot on. Any little error in a miter shows up right at that corner where everything meets, and there’s nowhere to hide it.

My table saw is the most accurate tool I have for cutting angles, so that’s where I cut all the critical miters. I set up a featherboard for each cut to make sure the wood was tracking consistently against the fence. Consistency is everything when you’ve got multiple pieces that all need to come together at the same corner.

To get the returns, the pieces that go back toward the wall. I taped up and was ready to glue. I used my table saw fence as a straightedge. It’s a good trick for keeping pieces aligned while you tape them. When I test-fit those corners, they came together beautifully tight.

Glue-Up

Since I couldn’t easily clamp these pieces in a conventional way, I used the glue block method. The idea is simple: you glue small blocks of wood at the joint to pull everything tight. I put blocks on both sides of each joint. If you only do one side, it pulls that side together but opens up a gap on the other. Two sides give you even pressure all the way around.

I also glued an extra block across the main seam to bridge it and add some reinforcement. It keeps everything aligned and adds a bit of strength right where you need it.

Once the glue dried, I knocked the blocks off, cleaned up the surface with a little sanding, and applied the finish, a standard stain color, and a clear coat of satin.

Hanging Them Up

At the client’s house, the shelves hang on a simple cleat bolted straight into the wall. Nothing complicated about it, just solid and clean.

I’m happy with how these turned out. That front corner stayed tight, the shelves are level, and now his grandfather’s shaving kit has a proper home.

More Project Build Videos

Shelving