Floating shelves are a popular, aesthetically appealing way to improve the look of your kitchen, living room, dining room, office, study area, or other living space. Before we jump into the 15 creative ideas, let’s first talk about weight capacity and what you need to know before purchasing a butcher block floating shelf:
Weight Capacity
If you’re in the market to purchase one or more of our crafted floating shelves, you are likely wondering their weight capacity. Our 30″ shelves have been tested to safely hold books, kitchenware, pottery, etc., up to 40lbs. However, installation can make this vary, so it’s important to get it right.
Pro-Tip: It’s important to get a solid connection into 2 studs and to have the weight distributed evenly across the shelf.
Bracket Design
Customers often ask us what sets our brackets apart from the competition. Forever Joint Tops works with a local metal shop that’s been in business for over 50 years to make these brackets. With their expertise, we have created a bracket that’s light weight, yet strong enough to support almost any job. Our floating shelf brackets also angle 1.5 degrees up, so whenever you apply weight, they deflect to be level rather than sag.
Floating Shelf Specs At a Glance:
Here is a quick overview of our floating shelf specs and what to know if you’re considering placing an order with us:
| Feature | Specification |
|---|---|
| Material | 100% Solid White Pine Wood |
| Thickness | Heavy-duty 2 inches |
| Weight Capacity | Up to 40 lbs (requires proper stud installation) |
| Available Lengths | 18″, 24″, 30″, 38″, 48″ |
| Available Depths | 6″ (all lengths) or 8″ (for 24″, 30″, and 38″ lengths) |
| Finish Options | Unfinished, Unfinished with Live Edge, Golden Oak, Walnut, Clear |
In this guide, we’ll discuss 15 creative ways to use your butcher block floating shelves in your home:
Floating Shelves: 15 Ideas to Spruce Up Your Home!
Here are our team’s favorite ideas for styling your butcher block floating shelves in your home, from kitchens and bathrooms, to home offices and study areas:
1. Use in a Contemporary Kitchen
Looking for ways to add more storage to your kitchen? Look no further than a butcher block floating shelf!
Shelves can serve both a practical and a decorative use in your home kitchen. And because they are pretty durable, they will last you for many years and safely hold virtually any kitchenware or decorations you display on them.
Floating shelves are perfect for displaying glasses, ceramics, picture frames, cookbooks, recipe boxes, salt and pepper shakers, and various other kitchenware. The possibilities are endless!
We discuss more about how to style floating shelves in your kitchen in more depth here. If you have further questions, Tony and Isaac will be able to assist you further by contacting us online or by phone at 608-566-5773.
Have questions on how to properly install your floating shelves in your kitchen or other space in your home? Please refer to our floating shelves instruction guide here. Also note that wall studs are mandatory to achieve the 40 lb weight capacity. We also have a bracket system included with your Forever Joint Tops shelf.
From the Shop: When we craft these out of White Pine, we intentionally cut them to a robust 2” thickness. This isn’t just for a bold look; that thickness ensures structural integrity so the shelf won’t twist or warp under kitchen humidity. — Isaac
2. Display a Book Collection
Are you a book collector? One of the most popular reasons why customers opt for a floating shelf for their office, bedroom, or living area, is to store and display their books. Floating book shelves are becoming an increasingly more popular choice for book or movie collectors looking for other creative ways to display their books or media beyond the traditional bookshelf.
If you enjoy a modern, contemporary look, you should check out our White Pine Clear finish shelves. If you’re looking for more of a cabin-style or rustic look, we suggest our Live Edge White Pine Unfinished shelves for your books. We also have a darker finish – our White Pine Dark Walnut finish shelves.
Next to your books, you can also add something meaningful like a family portrait, a photo album, or an heirloom. Bookends or small pottery can also help to support your book collection and keep your books in place.
A common question we get is whether floating shelves are sturdy enough to hold books – and the answer is yes. Because our White Pine shelves support up to 40 lbs when properly mounted to wall studs, you can confidently stack a row of heavy hardcover novels or a full set of folded bath towels without worrying about sagging.
3. Install in the Laundry Room
Have some room above your washer and dryer? Floating shelves can add a cozy feel to a relatively boring area of your home.
Many customers contact us looking for several specially crafted floating shelves that can add beauty to their laundry room area. In fact, floating shelves are an aesthetically appealing way to display décor, baskets, laundry soap, or any other items in your home. At Forever Joint Tops, Tony, Isaac, and the team craft unique, one-of-a-kind floating shelves which can complement any rustic, contemporary, minimalist, or cottage-core aesthetic in your laundry room space.
4. Use for Bathroom Storage
Need another shelf to hold towels, laundry baskets, and décor? You can install several floating shelves in a stacked, vertical fashion or in a staggered formation right next to your sink, shower, or bathtub for easy access.
You can store towels, hair brushes and accessories, toilet paper, or anything you need in a convenient, easy-to-grab location in your bathroom.
The shelves can also serve as more of a decorative choice for displaying items. Take a look at an example shown here, of a customer of our who was interested in decorating their bathroom with two of our Dark Walnut finish floating shelves. They used the shelves to display decorative items above their toilet. We are happy to be just a small part of their interior design project!
A series of floating shelves adds a great contemporary look! It’s also a great, creative way to manage the overflow of any toiletries you have.
A Word on Moisture Resistance: Our floating shelves are finished with a hand rubbed finish. This is great for our textured shelves, since it rubs off and evenly finishes and protects the entire product.
5. Add Between Existing Cabinets
“Bridge the gap” between existing cabinets in your kitchen, dining room, or home bar! This is a great way to fill in gaps on the wall that leaves your kitchen and dining area looking more fun and creative than if you just left it blank.
Floating shelves that are installed neatly between two adjacent cabinets don’t just look cool – they can also serve a practical purpose. Pots, pans, mason jars, coffee mugs, cookie jars, plants – there is no end to the items that you can add to spruce up your home.
For example, if you have white walls in your kitchen, you can store or display colorful ceramic dishes or mugs you may have so that they are conveniently within reach! This adds a “splash of color” that provides both an asethetic and practical purpose.
In terms of dimensions, our 18″ or 24″ lengths are perfect for standard tight-squeeze kitchen nooks, while the 6″ depth ensures your floating shelf won’t awkwardly protrude into cooking spaces.
6. Play With Negative Space
Similarly, butcher block floating shelves offer homeowners an opportunity to “play with negative space” in their home. If your kitchen, dining room, office, or other area of your home is looking a little bland or you’ve been meaning to spruce up that white wall, now is the time to invest in a floating shelf!
For example, side-by-side walnut floating shelves are a perfect contrast to any stark white wall in your home!
Invest in a stack of two or four and you’ll be surprised at the number of decoration opportunities you’ll find. If you have questions, Tony, Isaac, and the team are happy to help!
7. Decorate Your Bedroom or Office
Get, one, two, three, and even four floating shelves for your bedroom! Whether it’s for storage next to your office desk, or stacked in a vertical fashion to show off collectibles or décor, a butcher block floating shelf will add personality and pizazz to your bedroom!
For those who work from home, you may be wondering how you can keep your office space both functional and looking neat while you work. Butcher block floating shelves are great for storing and displaying books and planners, office supplies, decorative items, and more.
At Forever Joint Tops, we also craft butcher block table and desk surfaces. Contact us for more information to see how we can make your bedroom or office work space more complete!
8. Show off Statement Pieces & Collectibles
If you love collecting and displaying artwork such as small sculptures, figurines, or vases, a butcher block floating shelf can add more opportunities for displaying them! Our floating shelves are perfect for the collecting enthusiast, artist, musician, gamer, or hobbyist who enjoys collecting and displaying treasured items on their wall.
Four to six short floating shelves staggered along your living room or office wall, each securely displaying a statement piece is sure to be a great conversation starter! The natural, organic edge of our Unfinished Live Edge White Pine shelf acts as a piece of art itself, elevating whatever is placed on it.
With a Forever Joint Tops shelf, you can cleverly arrange each piece and show off your art or collectible items with pride!
*Please note that our floating shelves have a capacity weight of around 40 pounds, so keep that in mind when displaying items on your floating shelves.
9. Bookend Your Room
You can purchase two or four matching butcher block floating shelves to complement each other on opposite sides of the room. Then, fill them with books, vases, a globe, or small figurines to add personality to your living space.
Opposing butcher block floating shelves will add aesthetic appeal and will make your room look welcoming for family and guests alike!
10. Spruce Up the Bar in Your Kitchen
If you often invite your friends over for drinks and board games, why not add beautiful, contemporary floating shelves to your kitchen and bar? You can display shot, wine, or beer glasses proudly to add a sleek, modern look to your kitchen. You can add one, two, or more for a stacked look. Or stagger the shelves too using two, three, or more shelves.
If your bar has a more rustic or cabin look, you may want to choose our Live Edge or Unfinished (great for DIY projects!) floating shelves for a more rustic-looking White Pine edge. If your home bar is more sleek and contemporary, you can opt for our Dark Walnut, Golden Oak, or Clear finish options, which help to seal the pine against occasional moisture or spills from drinkware.
11. Enhance Your Coffee Area
We all love coffee – but have you ever thought about enhancing the look and functionality of your home’s coffee bar? Simply install one or two butcher block floating shelves above your coffee maker. These shelves will add a clean and modern shelving display for you to showcase your mugs, coffee beans, sugar, creamers, utensils, and other supplies.
If you’re looking for warm tones for your kitchen or dining area’s coffee bar, our Gold Oak finish or Dark Walnut finish will make the perfect additions!
12. Style Up Your Hallways
Hallways don’t have to be boring. Sometimes all it takes is installing one or two beautiful butcher block floating shelves and displaying some of your favorite souvenir items, books, figures, etc. to improve your home’s interior design.
Especially if you have blank, white walls, a floating shelf will not only be functional, but will make a great conversation starter! If you have questions or need ideas for how to style your hallways, our butcher block experts can help.
13. Brighten Up the Nursery
Whether you’re welcoming a new baby or have a toddler – several floating shelves will add personality and many different ways to creatively spice up the nursery!
Some of our suggestions for decorating the nursery/children’s room include adding children’s books, stuffed animals, picture frames, or other décor to stacked or staggered floating shelves.
If your child’s room has a theme, such as dinosaurs or airplanes, a floating shelf will also help to add a lot more personality!
We suggest buying the Unfinished option if you want to paint your floating shelves a custom pastel color using low-VOC paint, or Golden Oak finish for a warm, cozy vibe.
14. Add Unique Bedside Tables
Skip the bedside desk and create something more unique – a floating shelf bedside table! Simply add your desk lamp, alarm clock, and a cozy book you like to read and you’re all set! You can use the 8″ depth option (available for our 24″ – 48″ length options) to easily fit a lamp, your phone, or a pair of glasses and still have plenty of space.
The dimensions of your butcher block shelf might be a bit shorter and more square, but our experts can help craft the unique shelf you’re looking for.
15. Maximize Every Empty Space in Your Home!
If you have any empty space in your home, don’t let it go to waste! It’s amazing what butcher block floating shelves can do to add life to a small empty area between doors, on an empty wall. Align them neatly to create a mini bar, stagger them along a wall, or order long ones to stretch from one side of the room to the other! There are many different options for your floating shelves.
If you have any questions on how to maximize the empty space in your home, office, hallways, bedrooms, bathrooms, or kitchen/dining area, Tony and Isaac can assist. Please contact us online or by phone at 608-566-5773 to discuss more about your floating shelf project and to get a quote.
Read More: Floating Wall Shelves: The Ultimate Buying Guide
Finishing/Staining
We currently have 5 options available for our Floating Shelf products. Each are easy to customize by length based on your preferences (18″, 24″, 30″, 38″, and 48″). These are our standard sizes. Longer custom shelves will require a more thought out bracket/mounting solution to ensure a strong and stable mount.
Depth is available in 6″ and 8″ options, and the standard thickness is 2″.
If you are planning on finishing the wood yourself, or you just want the unfinished look, we suggest either our Unfinished or Live Edge Unfinished option (see below). Otherwise, our team can finish the shelves for you. We have the Golden Oak, Dark Walnut, and Clear finish available for those who want a more finished look.
Pro-Tip: If you are planning to finish your butcher block floating shelf DIY-style, don’t rush to get it done quickly! The finishing step is very important and is usually the last step before installation. Rushing through this last step often leads to minor but noticeable imperfections in the finish. Generally they aren’t noticeable unless you’re really looking for them but we always advise people to take their time. It’s much quicker to finish it slowly and once rather than quickly and having to redo it in the future.
A Note on Cleaning Your Floating Shelves
We highly recommend that you steer clear of chemically harsh cleaners (anything that is highly acidic or basic has a tendency to slowly eat away at the finish – and you don’t want that). Also, wearing abrasive cleaning pads can also affect the sheen of the finish. It’s important to wear normal cleaning clothes, as well as use cleaning agents that aren’t chemically harsh for the best results.
Why Do We Use White Pine for Our Floating Shelves?
Forever Joint Tops specially crafted floating shelves are all uniquely made with White Pine wood. Thanks to this wood type being very easy to work with, Isaac, Tony, and the team prefer it over other species. In addition, White Pine is easily one of the best wood species to build shelves from due to being more light weight than other comparable woods. White Pine is also cost effective and easily sourced here in the United States.
White Pine takes stains and finishes well so that it can match almost any color required. This is key for when you want to use your floating shelves for creative decorative purposes.
Benefits of Finger Joints
Finger joints are an excellent construction choice for this type of product since they are the strongest joint available. They are a cost effective, yet stable material for most projects. Our finger joints allow for almost 3-5x more surface contact than a standard butt joint, making them significantly stronger when compared with the competition.
Floating Shelf FAQs
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions we get about our floating shelves:
When properly installed directly into wall studs using our heavy-duty hidden bracket system, a Forever Joint Tops 2-inch White Pine floating shelf can reliably support up to 40 pounds. Because we craft our shelves at a robust 2-inch thickness from 100% solid White Pine wood, they offer exceptional structural integrity. However, to safely hit that 40-pound capacity and prevent any future sagging, securing the mounting brackets to your wall’s wood studs is mandatory—drywall anchors alone will not suffice for heavy-duty butcher block storage.
The ideal dimensions for a kitchen floating shelf depend on what you plan to store, but a depth of 6 inches to 8 inches and a heavy-duty thickness of 2 inches is the industry sweet spot.
• For tight spaces and glassware (6″ Depth): Our 6-inch depth (available in lengths from 18″ to 48″) is perfect for holding standard coffee mugs, spice jars, and cocktail glasses without protruding too far into your kitchen walkways.
• For dinner plates and mixing bowls (8″ Depth): If you are storing full-sized dinner plates, you will need a bit more clearance. Our 8-inch depth option (available in 24″, 30″, and 38″ lengths) comfortably accommodates larger dishware.
• The Perfect Length: Choosing 18″ or 24″ lengths allows you to tuck shelves neatly between existing upper cabinets, while our 38″ or 48″ lengths create beautiful, expansive open-shelving focal points over a kitchen island or coffee bar.
Yes, absolutely! Our Unfinished and Unfinished with Live Edge White Pine floating shelves are meticulously sanded and completely bare, making them the perfect canvas for custom DIY finishes.
• If you want to stain: Solid White Pine features a beautiful, prominent wood grain that absorbs wood stains beautifully. If you want a rich, dark look, you can match our factory Walnut finish, or choose a warmer hue similar to our Golden Oak. We highly recommend applying a pre-stain wood conditioner first to ensure an even, blotch-free finish on pine.
• If you want to paint: White Pine is excellent for painting if you want to match your kitchen cabinets or add a pop of color to a nursery. Simply apply a high-quality, stain-blocking primer first to seal any natural wood resins, followed by your choice of latex or oil-based paint.
Prefer a ready-to-hang option? If you want the natural beauty of the wood protected without any extra work, choose our Clear finish option, which seals and protects the raw pine right out of the box.
Why Choose Forever Joint Tops?
Floating shelves are our specialty! At Forever Joint Tops, Tony, Isaac, and the team have more than five decades of experience working with lumber. In more recent years, we have perfected our craft to also include butcher block floating shelves, which are crafted from White Pine wood and come in Unfinished, Clear, Dark Walnut, and Golden Oak finish options.
All our products are made in the USA and we are 100% green! In addition, our team focuses on providing as quick as possible communication, typically reaching out to our clients within a 24-hour period. Contact us for beautiful floating shelves and other butcher block products.
