How to Hang a Shelf, Part 3: Hanging the Brackets

In the last two posts, you learned what materials to buy for your shelving and how to find the wall studs so that your shelves are secure. Now it's time to actually put in the brackets.

Here you can see where I've put up the brackets for my office. Before I hung the brackets, I drew a vertical line down each wall stud. I used my level to make the line, because I wanted the brackets to line up vertically. When you draw your line, make sure that you make a very light pencil line. Odds are that you will actually end up hanging the shelf a little bit off the line, so it's possible that the pencil line will show.

I also used my level to draw a horizontal line where each shelf would go. (If you don't use a level, you WILL hang it crooked, and then you will get seasick every time you look at your shelf.) Then I screwed each bracket to the wall.

Next I cut the shelves to the right length and set them on top. The brackets have little holes on top to allow you to screw the wood to the bracket, but I skipped that step. It's less safe and sturdy, so don't try that at home; but I knew I'd want to put a lamp on the shelf, so I wanted to be able to slide my shelf out far enough for the cord to go behind it.

Installing the desk was easy: I just set up the filing cabinets and laid the desktop on it. I didn't put any other support under the desk, because the plywood is pretty sturdy, and the edging also adds strength. However, if I had kids in the house, I would probably add a board beneath the desk to support the top, because it's really not made to bear the weight of a person climbing all over it. It probably wouldn't break, but it would sag and look ugly.

I also installed a little extra piece of edging on the right-hand side to hide the plywood, and I sanded the corner to soften it. This takes a little bit of woodworking skill, so if you're not super-handy, you might prefer to use thick, ordinary boards instead of plywood so that you don't need edging.

And here's how it turned out. My Patient Wife styled it with a few favorite books and some decorative boxes. Check out the little brass lamp that she scored from the thrift store! This is a great way to light an office without bring in an electrician.

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In the next post, I'll show you a few alternatives and tricks that I didn't have time to go into here.

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