Hey guys!  Happy Friday!  Have you started decorating for the holidays yet?  I feel like I’m the last person I know to get a tree, but we’re heading out this afternoon to get one.  Can’t wait!  I’ll be making this delicious looking cocktail via Smitten Kitchen to sip as I deck the halls this evening.

Anyway, I wanted to share a simple DIY solution for small spaces.  This is an easy enough project that you could do it in a day as you’re prepping for guests this season.  I know impending visitors always motivate me to check off DIY to-dos.  If you have a small or narrow living room, a “floating” credenza (attached to the wall) can be an excellent solution to visually and functionally create more space. There are lots of variations of this look (with doors/drawers, with matching bins/baskets, stacked books inside, etc).  I wanted to quickly and inexpensively put something together, and I figured out how to do so.

DISCLAIMER: This post is meant to inspire you.  This is not a full step-by-step tutorial. I am not a carpenter.  Please use your best judgement should you choose to create something similar.  When in doubt, hire a professional.  🙂

One of my all-time favorite designer/bloggers is Jenny Komenda.  I have been so inspired by her over the years, and fell in love with her floating credenzas when I first saw them.  She utilizes cabinets from Ikea to build hers.

The trouble is, I didn’t have time to drive the 2+ hours to our closest Ikea.  When I realized Target had similar cubbies, this is what I came up with:

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First I picked up three of these cube organizers from Target.  You could just use one 2-cubby piece, or connect two or more together.  I attached the three of them together with screws to create one long piece with six openings.  I also screwed a 2×4 (painted white) along the bottom to help bridge them all together and keep them on the same plane.  PRO TIP:  these organizers are inexpensive (obvs) and lightweight.  They are mostly hollow behind the white “walls”.  When you screw into them, be sure to do so near the edges or seams.  This is where they are reinforced and the screws will actually have something to hold onto.

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I got shelf brackets like these from Home Depot, one for each stud along the width of the credenza.  There were 6 studs along the width of mine.   These white braces went under the bottom of the boxes to support the entire weight of the piece (look closely in my pics and you can see them under the credenza).  Be sure these brackets are screwed into studs in the wall.

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These small metal corner braces I used on the inside of each cubby to connect the inside top edge of the cubbies to the wall.  As I mentioned, the weight of the big piece sits on the white brackets.  These simply reinforce the piece and keep it snug against the wall.

It’s as simple as that!  You can stop right there if you’d like.  Or, you can attach thin wood strips to the tops and sides like I did.  This helped unify the piece and create one smooth top, covering the seams between the three units. First I cut the top pieces of wood, then the side pieces.  I used a finish nail gun (like the one to the right) to attach them to the piece.  We had some old scrap wood from a demo we did, so I happily used that.  I love the character and patina it provides!

I also used a kit to feed the TV cables through the wall and down to an outlet below.