DIY Corbel Shelves
Hello! 👋🏻 We are in the process of updating our bathroom a bit with a new counter, sink and fixtures. My husband found an old medicine cabinet in a house they were tearing down at work that I thought would be perfect on one side of our sink, which left the other side empty for shelves!
How cute is this thing!? 😍
So, for my shelves, I used 1”x6” boards. I had these scrap pieces cut to 22” that I used.
I wanted the 1”x6” boards to sit on corbels, so I sketched out a quick corbel on another 1”x6” board and cut 6 of them with my jigsaw.
I gave everything a good sanding with my orbital sander and then stained all the pieces Minwax Special Walnut.
Once my pieces dried, I held the boards up to my wall and used my stud finder to mark where the studs were on the wall and the boards. Then I used my Kreg Jig to drill pocket holes in my boards where I marked. I used 1.5” screws to attach them to the wall through my pocket holes. I attached the corbels to the bottom of my shelves with my nail gun. The corbels don’t serve any structural purpose at this point since the 1”x6” is attached to a wall stud.
That’s it! Follow me here for more projects!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Hi Brooke, Your shelves came out very nicely. I am wondering if you know that the holes that pocket machines make have plugs that you just slide in? You didn't mention how you filled the holes that your machine made and not sure by the pictures if you did fill in. Another way to fill in pocket holes is to make a dry paste of wood glue and sawdust.
pocket hole plugs
Hi Brooke, I did not see in your tutorial how you attached the corbels. I am thinking you used a construction glue? Have you tested the shelves for load weight? I like the fact that you used pocket hole screws to secure them. Another way to make floating shelves if they will hold weight.