How to hang shelves using painters tape {tutorial}

I wanted to show you how I hung the shelves in our recent dining room makeover. This tip on hanging shelves may seem obvious and I am surely not the first to do this but just in case there are some of you who stink at measuring those little brackets already on the back of shelves and then getting them lined up properly with your hooks, this tip is for you! My dad is a stickler for a measuring tape, using percentages, splitting the difference and doing all kinds of things that make my brain hurt when it comes to anything “carpentry” and measurement related. Who does that in real life? Certainly not me. So I have a little method I use to hang things that don’t require a degree in math!

Here is what the wall looked like before,

How to hang floating shelves {easy}

I added a piece of MDF 3/4 high to add a little interest to the wall along with the shelves. Sorry, the quality of some of these pictures are not the best as my camera was giving me issues.

How to hang floating shelves {easy}

Next, take your shelf and find the brackets. If there are no brackets, you will need to add some as seen below.

How to hang floating shelves {easy}

Next, I placed a piece of painters tape from one end of the bracket to the other and marked the bracket hole with a marker.

How to hang floating shelves {easy}

Place your tape (with the spots for your hole marked)  on the wall and use a level to ensure the tape is straight.

How to hang floating shelves {easy}

Nail a hole where you marked your spots and then remove the tape. Make sure your tape is level though, otherwise, your shelf will be crooked. Next, I screwed a dry wall screw in each hole that I made where my spots were marked. I left about 1/4″ of the screw  remaining so I could hang the shelf. If your shelf doesn’t hang tightly against the wall, you need to screw the “screw” in a little more. That was a mouth full!!! You know what I mean right?

How to hang floating shelves {easy}

Add a coat of paint and Viola, you have a display wall. I decided to frame some of the kids art work and add my son’s latest lego project.

How to hange shelves using painters tape

If you would like to see more pictures of this room, be sure to check out our dining room makeover post as well as our board and batten tutorial on how to add MDF as a wall treatment.

How to hange shelves using painters tape

Learning how to hang shelves using painters tape is easy, quick and it works! Be sure to use a level and you should be fine. The addition of floating shelves in our dining room has been a great display area for handmade crafts and pictures. Do you have a wall where you could add inexpensive floating shelves? Try our (my) hanging method, I bet you will like it! If you prefer something a bit more modern with glass shelving, be sure to check out our how to hang glass shelves using “bingo brackets” or our DIY shelf mantel tutorial.