Building Shelves Against a Vaulted Ceiling

Decide on the general area where your shelves will hang. While the locations of your wall studs will determine the ultimate placement of your shelves, you should have some idea of where you want to place them.

Locate the studs in the general shelf area with a stud finder. Mark each stud with a 1-inch piece of painter's tape, which is highly visible and will not harm painted walls when it is removed.

Measure from stud to stud to determine where your shelves will hang. Shelves may be two, three or four studs long depending upon your personal needs. You need only measure once unless you plan to make shelves of different lengths.

Cut 1-inch plywood to the length you measured using a table saw.

Cut the plywood to no more than 6 inches wide; a shelf should not be wider than this because the wall may not support it.

Drill holes into each stud that will serve as the endpoint for the shelves. Each hole should be approximately two inches above the spot where you plan to place the first shelf.

Hang shelf standards from each predrilled hole down the stud. Drill drywall screws into the top, bottom and middle of the standards. Shelf standards are long, vertical brackets that will support your wooden shelf boards.

Place shelf brackets onto both shelf standards, using a level to ensure you hang them straight. The triangle-shaped brackets fit right into the preformed slots on the shelf standards and must be used to support the wooden shelf boards.

Place the shelf boards across the brackets to complete the design.