Coffee Bar Glow-Up with DIY Floating Shelves

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Thinking about adding floating shelves but not sure where to begin?
I’m sharing exactly how I DIY’d mine—complete with a step-by-step video, cost breakdown, and all the links you’ll need!

Price Breakdown

Some items you may already own, but here is everything you’ll need 🙂
Brackets (4-pack, 7.25″ = $15.95)
Lint-free rags for wiping excess stain (7pack = $9.98)
Foam Brushes for applying stain (20pack = $8.99)
Latex Gloves (100pack = $9.99)
Polycrylic Topcoat (8oz, Clear Satin = $12.98)
1″x8″x8ft Select Pine Board (1 board = $25.92, cut into two 40″ pieces with a little leftover!)
Pre-Stain Conditioner (8oz = $9.98)
Dark Walnut Stain (8oz = $7.98)
(Shop from my LTK)

Grand Total = $101.71

You may have most of these items already – So the total would only be about $42 for the brackets and wood!

How to make your floating shelves:

Floating shelves are surprisingly easy to put together—and they don’t take much time either. So let’s jump right in!

First things first: measure your space and customize it to fit your area. If you’re planning on using longer boards, just keep in mind that you might need a few extra brackets for support!

I personally went with shorter-style brackets because I love how they blend in better than some of the chunkier ones. They came with everything I needed to hang them—screws and drywall anchors included. Once I had all my materials, I measured exactly where I wanted the boards to go on the wall. Pro tip: measure from the ceiling down instead of from the floor up, since floors aren’t always level!

After figuring out the height, I marked where I wanted the brackets to sit in relation to the board. I placed mine inward a bit so I’d have about 3 inches of overhang on each side. Once everything was marked, I grabbed my drill and got to work!

I started by drilling pilot holes for the anchors. A tip here: make the pilot holes just slightly smaller than the anchors so they fit snug. Then I tapped in the drywall anchors using a hammer. Some went in smoothly, others needed a couple tries (they can bend and get a little finicky). If yours start bending a lot, it might help to make your pilot hole slightly wider—just take the same drill bit and gently widen the hole by running it around inside a bit.

Next up—make sure your boards are level! This step is super important because you definitely want your shelves to look even with one another. Once I had everything leveled and the placement just right, it was time to move on to the fun part: staining the wood! 😊

Before staining, it’s best to start with a pre-stain or wood conditioner. This helps prep the wood and gives you a more even, smooth finish. In the photo below, you can see what the wood looked like after I applied the pre-stain—I used a simple foam brush for this step (you can catch more of that in the video at the end of the post!).

When it’s time to stain, I always throw on some latex gloves—and if I’m not in a well-ventilated area, I definitely wear a face mask. The stain can have a strong smell, so trust me, the mask helps!

After letting the pre-stain sit for the recommended amount of time (check your product’s directions), I grabbed my stain, foam brush, gloves, and mask, and got started. When you’re applying the stain, a little goes a long way. Just make sure you brush in the direction of the grain for the best results! You can adjust the color depending on how dark or light you want it. For a richer tone, I let the stain sit on the wood for about 3–5 minutes before wiping off the excess.

Make sure to follow the recommended wait time between coats based on your specific stain—I always go by the directions on the can. For these shelves, I ended up doing three coats of the Dark Walnut stain and loved how it turned out!

Once the stain was fully dry, I finished it off with a top coat. I used Polycrylic and brushed on one even coat over the entire surface. It adds a nice protective layer and gives the wood a finished look without making it too glossy.

After all of that, I let everything dry overnight. The next day, I popped the shelves onto the brackets and voilà—ready to decorate! If you want ideas for styling your shelves, check out my other post: How to Style your Coffee Bar And of course, feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Watch my how to on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8twGmLR/