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Most likely, you have come across these modern and sleek looking shelves, floating against walls, carrying a variety of everyday items. These are floating shelves, and they can be a great addition to any workspace. Being versatile, they can be built as a long desk against a wall, a corner desk, or multiple small shelves hosting your gadgets, accessories, and decorative objects. Floating shelves are a good idea, as they provide many ways to customise a small room to your needs. Floating shelves offer extra desk and storage space while adding a visual appeal. As wall shelves, they are space-saving by letting you maximise floor space and unused corners in your home office. Yet, floating shelves carry disadvantages you should know about. They usually require more maintenance than enclosed surfaces in your drawers or cabinets. Otherwise, they can result in dust and visible clutter in your home office. Further, you will need to install floating shelves correctly, or you will have to troubleshoot issues that may arise. Let’s go into these pros and cons, so that you can make a more informed decision on whether to add floating shelves to your home office. Pros of Having Floating Shelves in Your Home Office Floating shelves are popular additions to modern workspaces, especially as custom solutions for a small room. There are many options and ways to use floating shelves. Here are some of the benefits that come along with them. More Desk Space Your home office may not have space for a bulky large desk. Instead, you may have empty, unused space on the walls. In some cases, you might not need a conventional desk - a floating desk can work just fine. A floating desk can hold at least 30 pounds, so it can be strong and sturdy as a working desk. (A laptop typically weighs 6 pounds or less). How much weight a floating desk can hold depends on the material of the shelf, size, and other factors such as how deep the shelf will be. A larger shelf that lines up against an entire wall can hold more weight, and thus have greater practicality. It likely comes with drawers and compartments. In comparison, thinner shelves are lightweight and thus look more stylish, casual, and sleek. You can customise your selection of shelves according to how much desk surface area you need. Perhaps, you must decide if you value aesthetics over practicality. Besides, you can use a floating shelf as a standing desk. Simply, the height which it is installed on the wall will determine whether it serves as a sitting or standing desk. However, please understand that before you fix a floating shelf in place, you would need to make measurements to ensure that the ergonomics are right. This means that you want to prevent having a shelf that is either too low, or too high, to function as a comfortable working desk. Make sure that when the shelf is fixed in place (whether as a sitting or standing desk), the top line of your laptop will be at or just below eye level. Ideally, your elbows will be at 90 degrees when typing on the desk, with your arms parallel to the floor. Saves Space (Maximises Unused Corners, Floor Space) A floating shelf maximises an unused corner in your home office. It turns that unused corner into a standing corner desk, or a charging or storage platform for your everyday gadgets. Because a floating shelf attached to a wall has no “legs”, you could place a separate platform under it. For example, you could place a cabinet with drawers as an additional platform under your floating shelf. This is simply not possible with a larger, standard desk with legs that take up all the floor space - it might even be too big to be placed in a corner. With a floating shelf, you can transform an unused corner into a functional space with extra storage capacities. Improves Organization If you open up any drawer in your office or home, you may find a mess of things which are conveniently chucked into it. Even if your drawers are neatly organized, some items may be meant for everyday usage. Such everyday items can be more easily accessed if they are not hidden from sight, but lined up in a visible and orderly manner that you are personally used to. Floating shelves can improve organization in a home office, as they allow easy access to everyday use items. Examples of such items are your cables, electronic gadgets, stationery, and chargers. You can even line up snacks and storage boxes on floating shelves, if this somehow helps with organization. Besides, consider the type of work that you do. Some artists and entrepreneurs require easy access to their everyday working tools and supplies, so wall shelves suit their needs perfectly. Adds Aesthetics, Fun, and Personality The home office can be a stagnant, confining place, where you feel the “need” to be productive and get your ergonomics right. Floating shelves add a different element. They can offer a fun display, wherein you can add plants, additional lighting, and colors to express yourself; they can form a creative zone, alternative to your main desk. Therefore, floating shelves can add a different visual appeal to your space, in contrast to what you already have (such as bulky tables, cabinets, and larger pieces of furniture). However, this different visual appeal is subjective - not everyone appreciates the look of these shelves. You may also need to balance between adding practicality or aesthetics. While smaller wall shelves are better suited for decorative, aesthetic purposes, larger wall shelves with multiple built-in compartments add more practicality, and serve great as desks. Cons of Having Floating Shelves in Your Home Office Not every home design blog wants to admit this, but floating shelves - despite their modern and sleek appeal - can also hurt the appeal of your workspace. Can Result in a Messy Home Office Floating shelves can improve organization. However, understand that floating shelves can either create a clutter-free environment, or its opposite. If you are not an organized person and decide to install many floating shelves, you could end up filling your shelves with too much personal clutter which are neither ordered nor neatly spaced out. Hide the items that you do not need frequent access to, instead of displaying them on floating shelves. This means that some people - who own fewer items - may not need floating shelves (unless they are using it as a second desk). Too many items being displayed can also result in visual clutter, which can affect focus, mood, and cause fatigue. Others, on the other hand, may prefer to use a wall organizer to organize everyday items and devices, such as a pegboard. If you decide to have floating shelves, be sure to keep them organized, and mainly display the items you need frequent access to. Dust Gathers on Open Shelving Fun fact: Floating shelves require some level of maintenance, as dust gathers on open shelving. Run your fingers on the unused surfaces in your home, and you will instantly understand what this means. Some surfaces in your home are simply a trap for dust. If you do not frequently use or clean your floating shelves, or install too many of them, they may result in an unclean - and perhaps even unsightly - working environment. Be sure to understand what your needs are. How much surface area do you really need? What purposes will your shelves be used for? The good thing about floating shelves is their versatility. This means that the same floating desk used for working (with a laptop and other devices) can be transformed into a different space after work. After work, remove your items and turn your shelf into a creative space with plants, decorative objects, and personal souvenirs. One shelf can be used frequently for different purposes. If you are willing to be creative in this manner, you may not need that many shelves - maintenance work will be easier. DIY Skills Needed to Install Floating Shelves (and Fix Issues!) DIY work is not for everyone. There are some DIY skills you need for installing a floating shelf. Before you start hanging a shelf, you will need to shop for the right materials, consider the material and weight of the shelf, and the weight of each item which you intend to place on the shelf. Then, you will have to decide the spot on the wall that is best suited to install the shelf, and tools such as a stud finder may be needed - as mentioned in this tutorial. As mentioned, using a floating shelf as a desk will require you to make some measurements. You want to get the ergonomics right, so that you can work comfortably and avoid posture issues, pain, and health risks. While wall-mounted shelves can hold a good amount of weight, some users comment that their shelves bend and sag over time. Perhaps, everything works fine, until you decide to place a plant and you find that the shelf starts sagging - and the plant comes sliding down. If this happens, it will require you to spend the necessary effort to resolve the issue of sagging shelves. A well-built floating shelf can hold a ton of weight and last a long time. The point is that you must be prepared to build it (or maintain it) correctly. Anyway, acquiring such home improvement skills are useful and will come in handy from time to time. Conclusion If you are an organized person who functions in a tiny home office and needs more space for practical or creative reasons, go ahead with floating shelves. Know exactly what you are using them for, and be prepared to maintain them well!

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