Being better and trying for more beautiful things create a sense of life, motivation and in fact the sign of maturity. After one’s own looks the next thing is the style of living. Interior designing or home decoration is as much old as the human itself. In the discussion of home décor glass and mirror products never let themselves put behind.
From the last few decades, glass products have become more popular due to the unique quality of glass products. Who can beat glass when it came to creating more widely and fresh looks? Other than decorations glass is the best option for storage. Glass products used for storage include glass tables, glass cabinets, glass shelves, and many more.
Do you remember any house without glass shelves? The answer is no. Because glass shelves are the most versatile products in order to add storage without creating an extra mess. If you are looking to add shelves to your home or office let me tell you some important points before you buy the actual shelf.
Glass shelves are widely used over wooden or any other material due to many reasons like they happily fit almost every décor style and show off the stored object in an unrestricted way.
Before you order your product ask some question to yourself first. What will be placed on the shelf? Do remember for heavy material book shelving should never be used. How often will you access the stuff placed on the shelf? Who is more likely to access the shelf? Are you going to place crockery or books regularly accessible? Who is going to use the stuff actually placed on the shelf?
Once you have answers to all these questions now consider some more points regarding the selecting of the best place for the shelf.
In a living room, glass shelves are used to display stuff. Place your favorite art piece on it and let it centralized the part of the room. To use glass shelves for the living room you must pay extra attention to the support for the shelf. If you are going to place heavy stuff on it use load-proof glass, like the tempered glass is necessary. It’s also necessary to place the shelf where it makes sense and does not disturb other furniture.
Bedrooms are the best option for glass shelves, place your favorite photographs on shelves, and can be used to display other beautiful objects. Make a shelf to place your most frequently used objects to ensure to take them with you every time.
Use glass shelves to complement your glassware in the kitchen. In this way, you can not only make your kitchen modern but also add an airy sense to it. It’s necessary to use toughened to support the weight of glassware and crockery.
In a smaller bathroom glass shelves and cabinets can increase the sense of space. This small effort can add style to your bathroom easily.
Glass shelves can also be used for hallways but make sure they properly fit the space and must not cause any unwanted conditions.
Once the place of the shelf is decided let’s make our own homemade glass shelf.
The things we will be using are:
- A toughened glass also called tempered glass
- Straightedges
- Anchors
- Drywall
- Level
- Screws
- Cutting oil
- Measuring tape
- Brackets
- Stud finder
- Gloves
- A cloth
- Drill
- Glass cutter
- Tapper
Step 1: Plan The Shelf
We have almost planned our shelf earlier. After selecting the appropriate place for the shelf plan the type of glass we are going to use for the shelf for that particular place. As I mentioned above we are using tempered glass for our shelf. Now decide the shape of shelf, shapes of shelves available in the market are countless. You may end up choosing a rectangle glass shelf, oval, or floating glass shelf.
Step 2: Take the measurement
Throughout the whole process taking the exact measurements is most crucial. Take the measurements of the place to write down each and every point clearly. Use a measuring tape to mark exact positions where to exactly place the shelf. If you missed any point to measure you may end up with the worst design.
Step 3: Cut the glass for the shelf
Now it’s time to cut the glass to make the self. If working with glass ever threatens you, you can order a custom-cut glass according to your measurements. But if you are ready to cut the glass by yourself make sure to follow the necessary instructions.
To start the process find a place large enough to place the glass. Now mark the glass according to the measurement we took earlier with the glass marker. Now place straightedges according to the measurements and cut the glass with a glass cutter. You may use duct tape to mark the positions of glass and then use a wall lubricated glass cuter to mark the edges. Then place the glass on a table and snap the part of glass you marked unnecessary.
Step 4: Install glass holder or shelf brackets
We are defiantly going to hang our shelf on a holder or specially design shelf brackets. These brackets are easily available at home improvement stores or glass specialized stores.
Different types of brackets are used to hang the shelves. Two common types are mentioned below.
- Fixed Brackets- These are conventional brackets that support the shelves and allow a greater load to be placed on the shelf supported by them
- Floating Brackets – These are brackets floating against the wall. In fact, they are attached to the wall supporting shelves directly. Many people think they are not safe to use but the fact is it just requires carefully selected fixing to work properly.
Fixing brackets to the wall may seem painful or unsecured but it can be made secure by paying little attention to the instruction. First of all, we need to select the proper type of nails to be used for the shelf then select anchors according to the structure of your wall. If your walls are drywall then metal anchors will be better than plastic anchors.
When drilling holes for the glass shelf some people do not consider of exact measurements necessary. Drilling holes without analysis and proper marking can make the process complex and painful. When marking the positions try covering the place with tape then mark the tape and drill holes.
In order to level the points marked by you for the holes, I will recommend using a laser level. If you don’t have the laser level borrow it and use it to eliminate the overhead of conventional levels.
And the final point is always triple-check the weight and installation instructions before started to work on the product.
Now come back to our point, we need to drill holes into the wall to fix the brackets. If you have drywall then use a stud finder to find the studs. After that drill pilot holes and place anchors. If they don’t best fit the holes use some hard material like hummer to push them inside. Once anchors are fixed into the wall screw the shelf brackets into it.
Step 5: Install the shelf
When you are satisfied about brackets are securely fit into the holes place the glass we cut for our shelf. Triple check, did everything worked according to the plan? If yes, Wow, your beautiful glass shelf is ready to be decorated.
