How To Build Floating Shelves Out Of Barn Wood

I'm excited to show you the floating barn wood shelves Hubs made me for my Christmas present this year.

It started out as some barnwood Hubs found along the side of the road. Piles of old barn wood don't come along very often so you'd better snatch them when you find them.

He borrowed a rip saw from a friend at church and cut the wood down into narrow boards.

He also cut down an old piece of wood from our barn to make cleats to hang the shelves on. Here are the cleats screwed into studs in the wall.

He made the shelves using two 4 inch boards and one 2 1/2 inch board. The 4 inch boards form the top and bottom of the shelf and the 2 1/2 inch board is the strip you see in the front. There are also 2 small pieces on each end that measure 2 1/2 x 3 1/2. One shelf is 4 feet long and one is 6 feet long.

Here's another view. The right facing side is the front of the shelf. The back of the shelf is open.

Waiting to be hung up in the house.

The shelves are fitted over the cleat and screwed in from the top. Hubs pre-drilled the holes in the shelves so the old wood wouldn't split.

The top piece of wood on this shelf had to have a fresh cut so we had to distress it to make it match the other wood. I used a mixture of baking soda and warm water, brushed on the wood, to age the color. Then I used hammers, screwdrivers, and awls to distress and dent the wood. It was a fun way to get some aggression out. I used the baking soda/water mixture a few more times to deepen the wood color. I also added a little bit of diluted brown paint to vary the grain color.