Easy DIY floating shelves with hidden brackets

I'm on a mission to find the easiest way to put up floating shelves that actually stay put. The shop-bought ones I put up before were hollow boxes that slid over a flimsy bracket, and they rattled around and failed not long after going up. Most YouTube builds use frames and housings, which is fine if you have the space, tools and patience, but I wanted something quick.

The floating shelf bracket

The answer turned out to be a heavy-duty floating shelf bracket: a threaded rod that screws into the wall, with the shelf simply pushed onto it. It sounded too easy, so I put it to the test.

Making the shelves from scrap wood

The shelves are offcuts of scrap timber, cut to length on the mitre saw (a hand saw works just as well). Each one needs two holes drilled into the back edge for the rods. I used a square to keep them straight; a pillar drill makes this easier if you have one.

I probably picked the worst possible wood, as it was full of deep knots. Paint over those and you seal in every lump and bump, so I filled them with standard wall filler, sanded back flush, and brushed on knotting solution to stop resin bleeding through and leaving brown rings in white paint later. The finish is my usual combination of a water-based primer/undercoat and a water-based white top coat, which cleans up under the tap.

Drilling into a solid brick wall

Getting the brackets into the wall was the hard part. My masonry bit turned out to be bent, and on a previous attempt at this wall I'd burnt out two bits, one so badly that the red-hot tip fell out and burnt a hole in the carpet. A few days later, armed with a new DeWalt 10 mm bit and a mains drill with more power than a cordless, the holes went in much more easily. The kit includes a wall plug, a washer and the threaded rod, which has flats for a spanner. The rod is slightly off-centre, so you can rotate it to fine-tune the level.

After one small adjustment the shelves slid on and were rock solid. I couldn't pull them off if I tried. The unsung hero was the drill bit: a decent, sharp masonry bit makes a big hole in a brick wall a far easier job.

Quick steps

1. Cut the shelf to length from solid timber.
2. Drill two holes into the back edge to match the bracket rods, keeping them square.
3. Fill any knots, seal them with knotting solution, then prime and paint.
4. Mark the rod positions on the wall with a spirit level and drill with a sharp masonry bit.
5. Fit the wall plugs, washers and threaded rods, tightening them with a spanner.
6. Turn the off-centre rods to fine-tune the level, then push the shelf on.