Aksel LED Floating Shelves
Way to see in the dark.
Shelf out your office in style.
Shelves that work *almost* as hard as you do.
Ditch the desk clutter with shelves designed to handle the load. Make every square inch count, because your office is more than just a workspace—it’s a showcase.
Precision at its finest.
We’re design and engineering geeks with a decade of delivering thousands (and thousands) of impeccable quality, thoughtfully designed products for our customers. Just like you, we work hard to deliver our very best, most-precise display solutions for our customers.
Creative juice.
Crunching numbers or building strategies, whatever your brain is mastering, make sure your office inspires and gets the creative juices flowing. Add a pop of color with our 30+ powder coat paints and set the mood for your productivity.
Day or night.
Whether your an early bird or a night owl, sometimes work gets done in the dark. Add LED lighting to your shelf to keep the productivity flowing at those wee-hours.
Proof our customers have major shelf game.
Modern Home Office Furniture by Shelfology: We Do Desks Now
You may know us for the floating shelves above the desk. These days we make the desk, too: the Arlo, a wall-mounted desk in walnut, white oak, or Baltic birch, held to the wall on a hidden cleat and steadied by slim steel legs. On top, the Woz monitor stand and Scranton desk tray keep the work surface clear, and around it, floating shelves for a home office, magnet boards, and modular shelving cover the wall and the floor. The same woods and steel colors run through the whole line, so the desk, the shelves above it, and the board beside it can match, and the room reads as one design.
How to Plan a Home Office Layout
Plan the desk first, because its length and height set the layout for everything around it. Measure the wall and find the studs, since the desk and shelves fasten into the framing. Choose a desk deep enough for a keyboard in front of the screen, then leave some open wall above the monitor. A common design guideline puts the first shelf 22″ to 24″ above the desktop, but measure your monitor on its stand before you mark the wall. Finally, fill in around the desk with a board for notes and modular shelving where you need more storage.
Two Installation Options: Wall-Mounted and Floating Desks
There are two ways to get a floating desk from us: a finished desk, or steel brackets for a wood slab that you supply. Either way, it fastens into the wall studs.
Wall-Mounted Desk in Walnut, White Oak, or Baltic Birch
The Arlo is a wall-mounted desk with a thick top in solid walnut, solid white oak, or Baltic birch hardwood plywood. A hidden cleat holds the back edge to the wall while adjustable steel legs support the front, so the desk feels planted rather than perched. It’s deep enough for a monitor at the back with a keyboard and notebook in front, and the leg length you choose sets it at a child’s homework height or a full desk height, so the Arlo belongs as easily in a home office as in a kids’ room.
Floating Desk Brackets: Just Add Wood!
If you’ve got a gorgeous slab of wood you’ve been saving for just the right project, you’re planning a built-in desk that spans the wall, or you need über-custom depths, floating desk brackets are the way to go. The Yuri FM runs a single steel back bar under long desktops, and the Yuri XD uses individual brackets to carry extra-deep tops. Both fasten into the studs and sit beneath the desktop, so the surface appears to float straight off the wall.
Monitor Stands and Desk Trays: Clear Desk, Clear Head
On the desk, the Woz, a wood monitor stand, lifts your screen on a solid walnut or white oak shelf over a powder-coated steel frame, then gives you somewhere to stash the keyboard when the workday’s done. It comes in lengths for one monitor or two. Beside it, the Scranton, a wood desk tray milled from solid walnut or white oak, catches the keys and glasses that would otherwise end up scattered across the desk, and its Assistant version adds a parking spot for every pen.
Floating Shelves Above the Desk
The wall above a desk is storage within arm’s reach, and a full run of hardcovers and binders weighs more than it looks. Aksel, a solid wood floating shelf in walnut, white oak, and other hardwoods, is built for that load: its Aksel HD bracket fastens into the studs, and every steel rod hidden inside the shelf is rated for 80 pounds, with more rods on longer shelves. The Aksel LED adds a hardwired LED strip, so plan the wiring with an electrician. For a slimmer line, the Tromso, an all-steel floating shelf, installs with its mounting plate recessed behind the drywall, a detail best planned during a renovation. Finish your office bookshelves with bookends like the steel-and-wood Ellie or the magnetic Maggie. On the desk, a Book Wedgie book rest holds a reference book open while you work.
Magnet Boards and Pegboards: Put the Plan on the Wall
The wall around the desk can hold your plans as well as your books. The Mosey, a magnetic board for a home office, is a steel panel sized by the inch to fit your wall. The Mosey Dry Erase Board takes a marker for lists and deadlines, the Mosey Ledge adds a slim steel ledge for a phone or a small print, and Mosey Shapes, from circles to hexagons, suit a homework nook. For supplies, the Morgan, a magnetic pegboard, sets a birch face over a powder-coated steel backer. Color shows through every hole, and the hooks, cup holder, and shelves snap into place with embedded magnets. As a design suggestion, hang a board beside the monitor at eye level rather than behind it, where the screen would block it.
Picture Ledges, Art, and Magazine Displays
Art, prints, and a few favorite covers make an office feel like your own room. The Fat Lippie is no shy shelf: it’s a picture ledge in 11-gauge steel with a lip that keeps frames from sliding off, made to the length of your wall in loud or quiet powder-coat colors. For magazines and books you’d rather show off than shelve spine-out, The Edit displays them face out on a powder-coated steel shelf paired with a solid walnut or white oak wall wedge, and its all-steel sibling, Issue, does the same job as a wall-mounted magazine rack. For more ways to dress the wall, browse our other picture ledges, frameless print hanging, and the A-Side record display.
Wall Storage for Small Home Offices: Built-In Capacity, No Contractor
When books and binders outgrow a few shelves, modular wall storage gives a small office the capacity of home office built-ins without the contractor. The Deco, a modular shelving system, sets solid walnut or white oak shelves on slim steel uprights in bays that stand on the floor and secure to the wall. For lighter display, the Bender, an all-steel wall shelf, is sized for framed photos and plants. If the room has built-in cabinets or a credenza, cabinet pulls like the Rem, Wave, Bubble, and Peek come in the same powder-coat colors as the steel shelving.
Guest Room Offices, Nooks, and Homework Stations: Same Room, Different Shift
Most home offices share the room with something else: a guest bed, a reading chair, or a kid with fractions due Thursday. A wall-mounted desk with shelves above it keeps the floor clear, so you can host the in-laws on Saturday and take Monday’s Zoom call from the same room (just angle the camera away from the guest bed). Our guest room and bedroom ideas cover the sleeping side of the room. Short on spare rooms altogether? Try a cloffice: a desk across the back wall of a reach-in closet with a shelf or two above it. It’s the shortest commute in the house, and if the closet is deep enough for the desk, closing the doors puts you officially off the clock.
For homework, the Moxie, a wall-mounted peninsula table, gives kids a desk of their own: a thick walnut, white oak, or Baltic birch top on a hidden cleat and one adjustable steel leg, with an optional pop of powder-coated color inlaid in the top. Two siblings, one wall? A longer Arlo has room for both side by side, close enough to share markers and far enough apart to (mostly) keep the peace. Find more homework station furniture in our kids’ collection.
Materials and Finishes: Solid Hardwood, Baltic Birch, and Powder-Coated Steel
The desks and desktop pieces are solid hardwood, Baltic birch plywood, or powder-coated steel, with no veneer, particleboard, or MDF anywhere in the line; Baltic birch’s cross-laminated plies keep a long desktop flat. The furniture, the Morgan pegboard, and wall displays like The Edit currently come in six steel colors: White Matte, Black Matte, Army Brat (an olive green), Steely Blue (a muted light blue), Honey Mustard (a warm golden yellow), and Claymore (a warm coral). Metal shelving, picture ledges, and desk brackets offer about 28 powder-coat colors, those six among them, so the desk, the shelves above it, and the board beside it can all match. Every furniture piece is made to order, right here in America.
Explore the Home Office Collection
- Wall-Mounted Desks
- Floating Desk Brackets
- Woz Monitor Stand
- Scranton Office Tray
- Floating Shelves
- Floating Bookshelves
- Mosey Magnet Board
- Morgan Magnetic Pegboard
- Fat Lippie Picture Ledge
- The Edit Book + Magazine Display
- Deco Modular Shelving System
- Bookends
- Kids Furniture
- The Ultimate Guide to Floating Shelves
- Related rooms: Bedroom · Kids Room
Home Office FAQ
Are floating desks safe?
Yes, a floating desk is safe when its cleat or brackets are fastened into wall studs and it’s rated for the load you’ll put on it.
How much weight can a floating desk hold?
A floating desk on the Yuri FM bracket holds 330–550 pounds, depending on the length of the desk and the number of support rods, with the back bar fastened into studs.
What’s the difference between a floating desk and floating desk brackets?
A floating desk like the Arlo arrives finished, top and legs included, while floating desk brackets like the Yuri carry a desktop you supply.
Can I mount a floating desk without studs?
No, a floating desk needs wall studs. A face-mounted bracket like the Yuri FM carries the desk’s full load through its fasteners, and in drywall alone it will rip right out of the wall. With studs anywhere from 16″ to 24″ apart, wood or metal, the Arlo is wide enough to anchor into 2–6 studs every time.
How deep should a home office desk be?
A home office desk should fit a keyboard in front of the monitor at a comfortable viewing distance, which OSHA puts at 20″ to 40″. The Arlo is 22″ deep; Yuri brackets support desktops 12″ to 30″ deep.
How long should a desk be for two monitors?
For two monitors, choose a desk longer than your monitor stand. The Woz comes in lengths up to 48″ for two screens, and the Arlo runs 48″ to 96″.
Do I need a monitor stand?
A monitor stand isn’t required, but it raises the screen toward eye level, as OSHA recommends, and frees desk space underneath for a keyboard or notebook.
How high should shelves be above a desk?
As a general design guideline, hang the first shelf about 22″ to 24″ above the desk, or closer to 30″ under high ceilings. Measure your monitor on its stand first so the shelf clears it.
What floating shelf holds heavy books?
An Aksel floating shelf on the Aksel HD bracket is built for books: each steel rod inside it is rated for 80 pounds, and longer shelves get more rods, so a 3-foot shelf carries 160 pounds and a 7-foot shelf up to 400, mounted into studs. See how floating shelf load ratings work.
Should I choose floating shelves or a desk hutch?
Floating shelves keep the desktop clear and can run longer than the desk, while a hutch adds enclosed storage at the cost of desktop space.
How do I fit a home office into a guest room or closet?
To fit a home office into a guest room or closet, mount the desk and shelves on the wall so the floor stays clear; in a “cloffice” (closet office folks, we see you!), the desk spans the closet’s back wall.
What colors do Shelfology desks and shelves come in?
Shelfology furniture currently comes in six steel colors (White Matte, Black Matte, Army Brat, Steely Blue, Honey Mustard, and Claymore), and metal shelving, picture ledges, and desk brackets come in about 28 powder-coat colors, including those six. And we can do just about any color you like via a custom order.