DIY Pipe Corner Shelf For Under Your Mounted TV
Have you ever wondered how to design your living room once your TV is corner-mounted? Well, that was our problem so, of course, we were looking for a DIY project to help us. Learn how to build a DIY corner shelf to for your living room.
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Our Living Room
We recently wanted to update the corner space after our amazing porch addition happened. Our living room slowing has been getting a facelift, from a newly painted fireplace mantel to simply moving some furniture around.
After searching for corner shelf ideas, there just wasn’t anything I thought was worth buying. Either I loved the look, but didn’t want to pay the price. There really was just not a shelf for our corner spaces.
We absolutely love our DIY pipes shelves we did our small bathroom makeover with a herringbone wall, we knew we wanted to repeat the same look but for a floating shelf under our tv.
Read more: 40 Of The Best DIY Shelves For More Shelving Ideas
Before You Begin
If you are putting this corner shelf under a mounted television, you will need to consider outlets and wires. If just building a corner shelf you can skip our TV tips.
How to hide your cable box and other cords when your tv is mounted?
In addition to having the electrical outlet moved, we also had our television cable moved up so that the cable jack would be 6 inches below the tv and where we would need to put our corner shelf under our television. This was so that the cable wire would come right out of the wall and directly into the cable box.
We probably could have done this ourselves, but we had workers and an electrician already at our house for other projects so it just made sense for them to complete this for us.
Run Cords Through Bypass
This was a little difficult to do, but I love that all the wires were sent there and hidden out of view.
Here is an example of the bypass we used to help hide the power cord and HDMI cord.
And by a little difficult, I mean it was a total pain to awkwardly be behind your corner mounted tv hoping wires don’t get all mixed up in your wall!
Tips For Hiding Wires
- Keep a sturdy metal wire in the bypass and wiggle it around to help you get the cords from the top to the bottom.
- You can pull out the wire once you have gotten all of your cords through.
- You have to drop the cords down, don’t try to push them up through the bypass.
- You may also want to consider buying a shorter HDMI cord, depending on much space you have to cover. I had to use a twisty tie in the back of my cable box to hide the extra cable cords.
Considerations For A Corner Mounted TV
- What is the layout of the room? Our room has windows, sliding doors and a large fireplace. Mounting in the TV and DIY shelf in the corner was our best use of space.
- What type of TV mount will you get? We bought this heavy-duty mount and had an electrician move our electrical outlet so that it would be behind the TV.
- What height will your television bet at? The standard height to put a TV outlet is 6 feet. I swear I thought it was too high, but then once the TV was mounted and tilted a little forward it didn’t matter.
- Do you need to hide the cords?
- What do you need next to your TV? Cable box? DVD players? Gaming systems?
Corner Shelf Ideas
Here are a few corner shelves that I looked at purchasing, but I just couldn’t bring myself to purchase them since I knew we could make one ourselves.
Recommend Supplies
- Wood-The original piece of wood we used was a 10 foot long 1″ x 8″ piece of poplar. We used leftover pieces from this to create our shelf.
- Miter Saw
- Cordless Drill
- Pipe Fittings or other shelf brackets: The pack we have listed comes in a set of four so you could make another shelf somewhere else.
- Drywall Anchors
- Tape Measurer
- Pencil
- Clamps
- Wood Glue
- Wax Paper
- Speed Square
- Sandpaper 80 and 120 grit
- 4′ Level
- Stain
- Polyurethane
- Stain Brush
DIY Corner Wall Shelf Tutorial
Step 1: Cut Wood To Form Triangular Piece
- Cut 1 x 8 into two parts. The wood boards can be different sizes as you see in the diagram.
- Use a speed square to mark a triangle on both boards. The corner will be 90 degrees.
- Use a miter saw to cut 45-degree angles on boards. The angle carries through two (2) pieces of wood in our case to make appx. a 20″ wide shelf. Depending on the thickness and the width of the wood the number of cuts will vary.
Step 2: Glue Wood and Clamp Together
Glue triangle pieces of wood together with wood glue. My husband recommended this brand of wood glue. After gluing, clamp the wood together using C clamps.
Pro Tip: Put wax paper between the bottom of the clamp and the bottom of the C clamp so it will stop excess glue from sticking to the clamp.
Step 3: Sand Edges
Sand corner shelf using 80 and 120 grit sandpaper.
Step 4: Wipe Clean and Stain Wood
Stain DIY corner shelf after sanding. We used our favorite stain color! I love the richness and depth of this color.
Optional Step: Polyurethane The Wood
Step 5: Install Drywall Supports Where Flanges Will Go
When installing the shelves, make sure you attach the flanges to studs if you plan on placing anything heavy on the corner shelf. You can use a stud finder to help mark and plan your shelf location.
Because our studs were not exactly where we want the shelf, we used drywall support first. Use a level to make sure our measurements were correct and in the right place before adding drywall anchors.
Step 6: Add Flanges
Screw in both flanges and metal pipes. Check they are level before attaching the stained triangular wood shelf.
Notice in the picture how you can see the cord bypass below the TV. The HDMI cord and power cord were just taped out of the way until we could get the cable box set up.
Step 7: Add Pipes
Screw the pipe fittings into flanges and add extra flanges to attach the shelf. Place 4′ level on pipe fittings to make sure your shelf will be level.
Step 8: Attach Wood Triangular Shelf
Make sure pipe fittings are level before attaching the brackets to the bottom of the shelf using the small screws provided. We just love the end result and how we now have extra storage.
Related Posts Using Same Stain Color
- 7 Amazing DIY Wood Projects Using Red Mahogany (who would have thought we would have been able to use the same color on so many different projects).
- DIY Wooden Floating Desk
- DIY Pallet Crate On Wheels
Enjoy this DIY corner shelf idea under your corner-mounted TV!
Tutorial FAQs
You can paint a small piece of PVC pipe the same color as our wall (SW Livable Green). However, there is also this product that fits nicely in the corner that probably would work well with a corner-mounted tv and corner shelf. The corner shelf really does hide a lot!
Yes, you can purchase other brackets or your own pipe fittings to create a corner shelf. If you don’t want a diy industrial corner shelf then you could consider other brackets that may work.
While cutting the wood first worked out well for us, there is a higher chance of pieces not matching up. If we were to do this again we would glue the two pieces together and then cut the triangular shelf out after the wood glue had dried.
Our living room really opened up and seemed a lot bigger once we added our own touches. What is your favorite DIY project? We would love to hear about it!
The DIY Project Challenge
Each month, we get together with other DIYers to complete a challenge around a theme. This month we needed to use extra wood we already had. This DIY corner shelf for under our television was perfect to add to the challenge.
My Past Challenges
- DIY Marbled Flower Pots: one of our favorite and easy DIY projects
- Midcentury Modern Dresser Makeover: DIY organization challenge
- DIY Canvas Art: Challenge using wood and one other material
Let’s check out some of the amazing things my blogging friends created for their projects. I just can’t wait to see the DIYs!
- Kippi at Home: Decor Display Riser
- 1905 Farmhouse: Scrap Wood Skeletons
- Mama Dares to DIY: DIY Rustic Centerpiece Box
- Olivia Ohren: Scrap Wood and Resin Charcuterie Board
DIY Corner Wall Shelf Idea
Equipment
- Miter saw
- Cordless Drill
- 4′ Level
- Drywall Anchors
- Tape Measurer
- Pencil
- Clamps
- Wax Paper
- Stain brush
- Sandpaper 80 and 120 grit
Supplies
- 1 x 8 Piece of Wood ours was leftover Poplar
- Pipe Fittings or other shelf brackets
- Stain
- Polyurethane
Instructions
- Cut wood to create triangular shelf. See our diagram for how to use miter saw to create your wood shelf.
- Glue wood together with wood glue. After gluing, clamp the wood together using C clamps.
- Let glue dry overnight.
- Sand edges of shelf with 80 grit sandpaper followed by 120 grit sandpaper.
- Wipe clean and stain wood. Optional: Add polyurethane after stain has dreied.
- Either find studs or add drywall anchors at equal distance away from the corner for the flanges.
- Screw in pipe flanges.
- Add pipes and flanges for shelf brackets. Check they are level by placing a 4' level on top of pipe fittings before attaching the shelf.
- Attach the wood shelf using the small screws provided.
Notes
- Use a speed square to mark a triangle on both boards. The corner will be 90 degrees.
- Use a miter saw to cut 45-degree angles on boards. The angle carries through two (2) pieces of wood in our case to make appx. a 20″ wide shelf. Depending on the thickness and the width of the wood the number of cuts will vary.
- If possible, you would want to attach flanges to studs and not have to use drywall anchors.
- You could also glue the boards together first to make the cutting triangular piece easier.
Your shelf turned out perfect. I love the industrial look and it really hide those ugly cords! I am going to make one of these too!
Happy Fall,
Kippi
Thanks, Kippi! I love that I cannot see the cords from our corner-mounted TV! I loved being in this DIY challenge again. Such a great group of DIY bloggers!
Your shelf turned out great! I really dig those pipes and those cords are so well hidden. Good job!
Thanks Olivia! I am so happy I got to do this DIY challenge with you. So great to see the amazing DIY projects we all made!
This is such a cute idea for a corner shelf! You would not believe how hard it is to find flanges here! I searched and searched when I was wanting to make a barn door and could not find them anywhere, sigh. Love the 3-speed brushless impact I just got one for my birthday! Eek!
The shelf looks great, and I’ll exactly where to come when it’s time to mount one myself. Highlight for me: “How to hide your cable box and other cords?” I don’t like the look of untidy cords adorning a space.