apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

This is such a clean beautiful look.

I like chicken.

So do I.

Brilliant!

My 4' x 2' (W x D) closet is waiting for an application like this.

The convenience of a 4' width and 8' height is that it will take a full sheet of ply.

My dilemma, up til this point, was how to make the actual shelving brackets attractive. I was intending to use the bracket system from the container store but the problem is that the brackets would have to be mounted to the face of the ply making it not so attractive.

So, are the brackets that you used designed to fit into a routed channel in the ply? Or do they have a 3/4" gap to allow for panels of ply on either side?

Such a seamless look! I'm glad I waited to start my project!

"So, are the brackets that you used designed to fit into a routed channel in the ply? Or do they have a 3/4" gap to allow for panels of ply on either side?"

First you put a strip of ply the thickness of the channel at the far end of the wall, then install a channel next to that, then another strip, then a channel, then a strip...

Thanks bepsf!

Any idea of cost just for the shelving hardware?

thanks... the rakks standards come in a max length of 8-feet, but since our wall was 10-feet high, we used 6- and 4-foot lengths and the seam is hidden by the shelf itself. the E-style brackets are designed to be inset in 5/8in material or have 5/8in material abutted to each side which is what we did (we used 3/8in sheetrock and 1/4in paneling). since we couldn't mount to studs because of spacing (and stud funkiness), we flushed-out the wall with 3/4in plywood as an foundation for mounting then cut the infill material to abut to the standards, so it's not "inset" as much as "built-out", truly. many folks could simply flood the wall with the plywood underlayment, but we had a very limited depth and could not sacrifice the space (so we inset the ply into the stud cavities). we have LOTS of elfa shelving (the container store system you mentioned) elsewhere and would trust it with a much greater weight load. while the design of the rakks is pristine, it's a bit more delicate (aluminum v. steel if nothing else)... in fact, we have elfa in the closet of the same room which carries all the really heavy stuff... but i agree, the rakks system is much more aesthetically pleasing.

oh, and rakks has a good online store: http://store.rakks.com/

hmmm...bummer. You probably wouldn't recommend in an office with lots of heavy books.

I guess I'm back to the Elfa!

I wonder now if I should mount the brackets to thy plywood or in between panels of plywood--kind of like above.

rakks does have some heavy-duty shelf brackets which are "taller" and distribute the weight load better on the standard... check with rakks about weight loads (they're very responsive). but simple material-qualities make steel a stronger choice... but then again, rakks might be strong enough (books are a static load, so a simple weight calculation should work). in our case (1) i'm paranoid and (2) we had other spots in the room to house heavier items. you could mount the elfa standards to the wall with screws (as opposed to the track), but you'd need to be very careful with your geometry (width and height) as the elfa system is not an infinitely adjustable one. plus, there would not be a flange on the side of the standard to cover the panel's edge. it could work, but not without more workarounds. i'd suggest taking to rakks about weight and do some calculations.

Beautiful. I'm headed over to your blog to see more.