There are all kinds of ways to build floating shelves. The objective behind these shelves was two-fold. One to have a contemporary feel to them. With that in mind, I designed the shelves to have a contemporary modern look to them by muttering all edges of the endcaps so no end grain was showing. I used veneer on the box’s top and bottom pieces instead of solid wood to prevent wood movement. Wood moves across its width more so than its length, so if I were to use solid wood on the top and bottom, the movement would pull the wood apart at the corners. Since the center band/front of the shelf grain is all going in the same direction, it was safe to say that those pieces would all move together.
I used a traditional cleat screwed to the wall to hang the shelf, which the shelf was then attached to with a few strategically placed trim screws.
