How to Mount a Shelf when there’s No Stud

You know how it is, right? You want something mounted on the wall that’s heavy and going to need proper stud support, but the stud isn’t in the exact spot you need it.

And why would it be, really… studs are basically every 16″ inside the wall so the odds will not be in your favor to have one exactly where you need it. Ah, but there is a solution… probably a couple of solutions, but here’s what I did myself for this problem…

This very charming antique coffee grinder is what started it all:

I found it for sale on Marketplace for only $10. OK, so it does look a little rough and dirty and you may be thinking you’d pay someone $10 just to get rid of it… But I could see a bit of charm in it and wanted to add it to my little coffee collection in the kitchen. I know once it would be cleaned up, it’ is’d be kind of charming.

But alas, there wasn’t room on the wall where I envisioned displaying it.

I needed to move some things around on that wall.

In doing so, I decided the best thing would be to move the coffee maker up to the level of the outlet and off the antique stove. (click here to see the restoration of this antique stove… it looked pretty rough in the before)

By moving the coffee maker up off the stove, it’d free up the (non working) stovetop a bit, and it would also cover up the outlet that is kind of high on the wall and an unwanted focal point!

I’ve had these antique iron shelf brackets for years… like over 20 or 25 years! There’s something about the simple shape of them and that old chippy white and gray finish with bits of green showing up that I just love.

After a quick text to a carpenter asking him to cut a simple wood shelf to sit on the brackets for me…

I cleared everything off the wall, except the vintage dutchmill coffee grinder. I knew that was going to stay right there. Next to it I planned to add the 2nd grinder I found. Then to the left of the growing group of grinders, and covering that outlet, I wanted to add the coffee maker sitting on a shelf that I needed to mount on the wall.

That was my plan…

If you don’t have a stud finder, HERE’S a link for a great one! I keep mine in my toolbox.

Unfortunately, this time, there wasn’t a stud even remotely close to where I wanted to mount the brackets on the wall to support the shelf. Dang-it! What to do???

I actually had to think a bit about this… I didn’t feel that any type of hollow wall support I knew of would be strong enough to hold the heavy coffee maker and shelf.

I wasn’t willing to compromise on shelf placement… I needed the water filler part of the coffee maker accessible.

Then it dawned on me, I can do this… You see, of course, there are studs holding up the wall, they’re just not in the exact place where I needed them for the bracket placement.

So, here’s what I did:

After I determined the exact height where I wanted the shelf and shelf brackets, I penciled on the wall where the mounting holes in the brackets would be on the wall.

(HERE IS a small torpedo level to order too. Again, good to have it handy in your toolbox)

After dry-fitting one board, and marking the wall for level.

Then I used the stud finder and located and marked on the wall 3 studs in the wall that spanned across the length of the board.

Next, I screwed the boards to the wall with screws long enough to go through this board, the sheetrock and firmly into those studs that I found in the wall. They still will give strong support to the brackets, even though not in the right place, because these horizontal boards will be super firmly mounted to them.

(I’ve had my Bosch cordless drill for over 10 years. I love it! and use it all the time. HERE IS a similar style, I don’t think the one I have is made anymore, it lasted that long! LOL)

I decided that it would look the best for these mounting boards to span all the way from the doorway trim on the left across to the sink cabinet on the other side. That way too I was able to use the 3 studs in the wall to secure them to as well.

Not wanting the horizontal mounting boards to be a feature, I primed the boards with this primer, and painted 2 coats of paint that matched the wall.

Once everything was dry, you can see below how the boards line up just where I need them for the brackets:

The brackets now will have the proper support they need for the weight of the shelf, and I get the shelf mounted exactly where I wanted it!

Next, after my carpenter got the shelf done, it was time to mount that to the brackets.

I didn’t want to just set the shelf on the brackets, I was a little concerned it could too easily flip off.

I drilled a pilot hole where the bracket had a hole on the horizontal support. Ever so carefully so that the drill bit didn’t go all the way through the top of the shelf. (I’ve done that more times than I care to admit!) I actually learned from an old carpenter one way to control the drill from grabbing too much is to reverse the turning on the drill. Even though it’s going backwards, you can still get it to drill in a little bit.

And one last little trick up my sleeve:

The screw head was just a wee bit too small for the large hole in the brackets under the shelf, so I added a fender washer.

There’s room for everything and the stud location didn’t hamper my design goal for this shelf.

My tip for you to take away from this? (Besides the obvious solution to creating support with horizontal boards) is this:

Sometimes when you have a design goal, but it doesn’t seem possible to bring it about… give yourself a little time and thought. There is almost always a way to accomplish it, just maybe not the traditional way, but a way, none the less! 🙂

Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate you reading along.

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