3-D Shelves Enliven Any Room

Synopsis: These display boxes are simple to make, and can be arranged in geometric patterns on a wall to create beautiful, modern, functional storage. The challenge is in hanging them so that they are perfectly aligned and the space between them is uniform. Each box hangs on a French cleat, and once you get the box on the wall you no longer have access to it to make adjustments. Chaffin solves this with a mounting box that mates to the wall cleat and allows him to hang the cleat with a single screw, set the mounting box on it, locate and level the box precisely, and then drive in the screws that hold the cleat in place. Once you have this mounting box, hanging the actual display boxes is a piece of cake.

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I first made these simple wall-hung display boxes for my home. Since then, I have made a lot of them for clients, who like the boxes because they can be grouped in geometric patterns to create beautiful, modern, and highly functional storage. Each box hangs on a French cleat, hidden behind the back of the box. The cleat is super-strong, so you can load up the box with books, pottery, and whatever else you want without worrying about it crashing down.

The boxes are simple enough to make. The challenge is hanging a group of them in an accurately spaced pattern, because once you put the box on the wall, you no longer have access to the cleat to make adjustments.

Hang man. To help arrange and hang the boxes on the wall, Chaffin uses a backless box. The box makes it easier to lay out the 3-D shelves and install the French cleats that they mount to.

Fortunately, I have a creative business and shop partner, Matt Frederick. He had the idea to use a “mounting box” to hang the wall cleat. This mounting box is a 3-D template sized to match the outside dimensions of the actual box, but it’s half as deep and has no back—just a cleat that mates to the wall cleat. This backless design allows me to hang the wall cleat with a single screw, set the mounting box on it, locate and level the box precisely, and then drive in the remaining screws that hold the wall cleat in place.

The mounting box is very easy to make (see drawing, p. 68). It’s just butt joints and screws. The cleat is attached with screws driven in through the box sides. I’ll show you how to use it to arrange the display boxes in any pattern.

Installation is easy

After making the mounting box and the wall cleat, you can hang the box. First, figure out where you want it on the wall and mark for the top edge of the wall cleat. To hang an array of boxes, you’ll need to plan more to figure out the spacing between the boxes.

From Fine Woodworking #240

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