A Kenwood homeowner had two empty alcoves on either side of a dining room wall and wanted them to look like original built-ins. The plan was simple: white base cabinets with doors, a pull-out drawer for linens and thick wood floating shelves above.
We built four floating shelves from solid pine, stained them a warm walnut tone to match the floors, and mounted them on a hidden cleat system screwed into the studs on three sides of each alcove. The base cabinets received soft-close hinges and a full-extension pull-out tray.
Project goals
Every shelf needed to hold heavy serving dishes and books without sagging, and the wood tone had to match the original heart pine floor.
hidden cleat mounting
Three-sided cleats into framing let each shelf carry dishes and books with no visible brackets.
pull-out storage
A full-extension drawer behind cabinet doors makes the deep base cabinet usable.
Project challenges
Old plaster walls are rarely flat or square, so each shelf had to be scribed to the alcove walls to avoid visible gaps.
- out-of-square plaster alcoves
- matching stain to original heart pine floors
- locating studs behind lath and plaster
- fitting a pull-out tray in an existing base
The result
The alcoves now read as original features of the house and hold the homeowner's full set of dinnerware. The job took three days including finish drying time. Planning something similar? Read more about our Cabinet Repair & Shelving service or request a free estimate.
