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February 20, 2017 Living Spaces

Easy Fireplace Built-In Shelves

Built-in fireplace shelving. Who knew it was so easy? The hardest part of the entire process was convincing my husband that they were necessary. That process took 2 years, but I promise the shelves only took a day 🙂

In his defense, it took me about that long to land on a design, but once I got the go ahead, we went with the most simple option possible. Floating shelves. Compromise.

When we built this fireplace out years ago, we (read, me, and the master plan that was being cooked up) only put stone on the front of the fireplace, leaving two drywalled nooks on either side that were just screaming for some built-ins. We had been utilizing an old yellow cabinet to store our cable box, router, and other not beautiful items for too long! The room didn’t even have any yellow in it besides that so I’m not sure how my decorating OCD let it go on that long… I digress.

After a few measurements, stud finding and painting, we ended up with this!

First we created a “C” shape brace on the wall with 1x2s, and screwed them into the studs. We cut the back piece the exact length of the back wall first, then cut the sides at 10 1/2″.

Next, we cut a 1×12 to the same length as the back wall (the same as the 1×2 that was already cut!) and nailed it done onto the top of the braces. Lastly, we cut a 1×4 to that same length (or a 1×3 if you’d prefer a skinnier shelf!), and nailed that to the front. A couple coats of white paint, and we were done!

My tip for figuring out exactly how many shelves you want and what type of spacing works best is to use painters tape to mimic where the shelves would be on the wall and live with it for a few days to be sure that it’s perfect for you! We ended up with 6 shelves total, and 60 times more storage. M installed a couple of recessed cord plates so we could fish the cords through the side, and I had fun shopping the house to add a little decor.

I couldn’t be happier that we got this project done, and M even agrees that it makes the wall look more finished! Win win 🙂

Categories: Living Spaces

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nikki says

    May 30, 2017 at 8:36 pm

    I am using this photo as my guide for redoing our family room. I am incorporating wood elements with white trim and gray walls. We already have built ins, compliments of the 1990s! Thank you for posting. I hope ours turns out just as great.

    Reply
    • Sypsie says

      May 31, 2017 at 7:23 pm

      That sounds beautiful! I’d love to see how it turns out – best of luck with your project! I’m sure it will be amazing!

      Reply
  2. Heidi Waggoner says

    September 24, 2021 at 8:38 am

    I love this!! Can I ask, What product/kind/color/brand of stone did you use on the fireplace? Is it a veneer? What was the application? We are building a house and this is exactly what I’m looking for.

    Reply

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