Upcycled Marble Floating Shelf

I will be taking you through the steps of the floating shelf I made out of the left over carrara marble tile from my bathroom renovation. We recently refinished a bathroom in our house. We used some really nice carrara marble, to tile a portion of a wall. As it goes with tile projects, we had a lot of large off cuts and extra tile. I really didn't want to throw away the off cuts, especially the larger ones. So I came up with a project where I was able to upcycle the off cuts into something visually interesting and useful. Don't forget to check out the youtube it always helps to see things moving.

Hardwood up to a 1.25" thick (I used walnut scraps I had laying around)

3/8" aluminium rod stock 12"

Marble Tile (tile supply stores often give samples of really nice marble tiles for free)

Makers brand oil finish

The first step of making the shelf is to make the walnut base. The dimensions are 3.75" wide 1.25" tall and 6.25" long. Once cut to those dimensions I notched the base for the space where the marble tile will go. And another notch for where the wall bracket will go.

I planed down a walnut board to 3/8". Then cut the 4 pieces needed to create the shape for the wall bracket on the table saw. I included a drawing with all the measurements in the gallery. After all the pieces are cut, beveled, and notched I used the tape method for the glue up. When the glue was dry I combined the base and the wall bracket by drilling two holes on the bottom of the wall bracket and screwing the two parts together. I then glued glued the cap piece to the base.

I took a piece of walnut 1 1/2" thick, 3" wide and 4" long. Traced the diameter of a small plant pot at the the end of the shape. I then sketched an interesting geometric shape directly on the block of walnut, that I will shape the block to in a later step. I used my cnc router to cut the indentation for the the plant pot, but you could easliy make a template and use a hand held router. Once the shape for the pot was cut, I notched a slot for the marble tile to fit at the opposite end of the block. The slot was cut to a depth 1 1/2" to offset the block over the edge of the tile when attached.

I used 3/8" aluminum rod stock as a support. That runs from the base to the planter block. Measure down a quarter inch from the tile slot on the base and and drill a hole a couple inches in with a 3/8" forstner bit. Carry out the same procedure on the planter block. I cut the rod stock with an angle grinder to around 9 inches or so. To put the planter block a little more than half way past the mid point of the marble tile, when inserted in both holes. I painted the rod flat black then installed in both blocks with glue.

At this point I cut all the angles into the base and the planter block. I didn't really measure I just used a mitre saw and a discerning eye. Making sure to leave enough material for the marble tile to nest in. Yet taking away enough wood to lighten the shape visually. I took the opportunity to cut two shadow lines on the table saw, along the seam where the base meets the wall bracket. Then sanded to 120 grit and applied Makers brand finishing oil.

Pretty straight forward installation. Level the base, mark the two holes and add drywall anchors. Once the bracket is attached to the wall. Then slide in the base to the bracket. Now all that is left to do is place the marble tile in the slots of the base and planter respectively.