I was working on a game room where I had a 9-ft. section of wall on which I wanted to place shelving. I was doing the room in Early American so I wanted to use 2×8 material to achieve a massive look. I didn’t want any visible bracing that would interrupt clean lines. The solution: I drilled 1/2-in. holes into the wall studs to a depth of 3 in. plus the thickness of the wall covering, on the centerline of each shelf and the center of each stud. I then drilled 5/8-in. holes 5 in. into the shelves, to correspond with the holes in the wall. I drove 8-in. by 1/2-in. dia. steel rods into the wall studs and then slid the shelves onto the protruding steel rods. The holes are larger than the rods so the shelf can be removed for painting. The resulting shelving is strong enough to sit on, yet still has clean unbroken lines.
—Stan Morgan, Mapleton Depot, PA
Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #4
