Frank Roop DIY floating Shelves/Boxes

I was searching for a good bookshelf option for our office and I knew I had to build something like it when I found this picture of Frank Roop's shelves.

Aren’t they gorgeous? I loved the illusion they gave of not having any support!

Time to start the DIY!

Jon taught me how to use the table saw and after cutting, gluing, screwing and nailing the 6 boxes were ready to paint!

I set up a little workshop in our unfurnished/un-finished guest bedroom and primed with some drywall paint then put 3 coats of Behr Ultra Pure White Premium Plus, Hi-gloss enamel interior/exterior paint.

 I was a little disappointed with the Behr paint because after 3 coats and drying for over 5 weeks they still felt sticky.  I had to touch up once after setting the shelves on a stack of papers and have ink from a brochure come off on the shelf that had been drying for weeks!! I contacted Behr and they told me they would refund my money but that I should try and wipe them down with soap and water. I did what they suggested but it didn’t decrease the stickiness (sad face). I thought I would have to recoat them with something else like a polyacrylic but Jon suggested we test to see if simply putting objects on the shelves caused any damage. So far no ink has come off on the shelves so we decided that as long as the books were not lying down in huge stacks we should be okay!

In order to hide they way the boxes are supported on the wall we purchased some luan and painted it the same color as the office walls (when I say we here I mean my husband Jon).

We even added some laquer to each one to give is more of a shine but really, you can’t even tell we did that. I wanted to have the acrylic glossy look like Frank Roop but with acrylic costing close to $100 bucks a sheet it was defiantly out of the running. O’ well we got as close to Frank Roop’s look as we could!

Here are some pictures of the hanging process. Sorry for the messy desk and window sill!

After measuring and leveling each box was hung by the 1x2’s into 2 studs each.

We then took the painted luan and attached it to the 1x2’s with brad nails (now you can't see how they are mounted)! Here is the finished product!

 So the luan didn’t fit as perfectly into the boxes as I had hoped but the boxes weren’t perfect either. I loved how they looked regardless of the flaws so away Jon and I flew to pull out our box of books and start shelving! 

Jon and I love books and we are so happy to finally have shelves to put them on!