Built-in shelves or floating shelves for a living room nook?

I'm redoing this weird alcove in my house near Spokane, and I'm stuck between building floor-to-ceiling built-in shelves or going with a set of heavy-duty floating shelves. The built-ins would cost about 400 bucks in lumber and take a full weekend, but the floating shelves would be half the price and done in one afternoon. Anyone here tried both and got an opinion on which holds up better with heavy books and clutter?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_logan27d ago

You mention that built-ins would take "a full weekend" - are you factoring in the time for scribing and cutting to fit that alcove perfectly? In my experience, floating shelves look great at first but sag over time unless you hit studs dead center, and that's not always possible in a weird nook. I'd lean toward the built-ins for heavy books because once they're secured to the framing, they're basically part of the house and won't budge.

jason7327d ago

Wait, hold on. You're saying you've actually had floating shelves sag on you? I've never even seen that happen in person, I always figured that was just something people worried about online.