I would not put books on the IKEA shelves. I have pottery on some IKEA shelves and they seem to be holding up well -- but they also don't get the contact, on-and-off action that a bookshelf would get. But this photo will give you an idea of whether they (or other shelves of their thickness) look substantial enough for your needs. \ I don't know that there are many floating shelves that "off the rack" can support the weight of books. You may have to look at getting something custom-made. I saw some interesting metal shelves once in dwell. Very thin steel metal was fabricated in an "L" shape with one leg of the "L" fastened directly to the studs of the wall, and the other leg sticking out horizontally to form the shelf. Then the drywall was applied BETWEEN the shelves. You could then attach a chunky shelf to it. But that would entail tearing your house apart! Barring that, I'm not sure how to do it. There are these from PB that have up to a 100# weight limit. (I think IKEA's are only something like 15-25#). Here is a link that might be useful: PB floating shelves

Thanks for that, Digit! I will now be posting pics again—even if they only look like ugly links! I have SO many things blooming in my yard already I’ve been WANTING to post some pics! But have more I need to download/upload (never have figured out which is which!) into the computer first—that I hadn’t bothered since I “couldn’t” post them anyway! Will do it in the next couple days! I don’t have a google+ page! And I don’t intend to ever have one! If I sign up for google+ my WebAlbums will be TOTALLY messed up—as I discovered when I tried to help somebody, last fall, try to figure out how to use Picasa and WebAlbums! It’s a total mess in WebAlbums in “+”, and as near as I can tell, once you sign up for it it’s TOO LATE, and the “new and improved” version (NOT!) is all you have access to anymore. As a matter of fact, if some of your pics really did “disappear,” I wonder if that had something to do with it! I haven’t “updated” Picasa for a couple years either (I just keep telling it NO when it pleads with me to update it!) ‘cause I’m afraid that’ll somehow get me into the google+ version—and I won’t be able to opt out of it again! I REALLY don’t understand why these companies keep trying to “improve” something that’s already working really, really well! (google maps REALLY screwed up their “maps” too, IMO! But I still have a link to Olde Google Maps—that still works! If they ever discontinue the olde maps, I don’t have a CLUE what I’ll use for maps! Bing, IMO, is at least as bad as the “new” google maps! HELLO out there! STOP “fixing” things that don’t need fixing!!!) (And my avatar on FB, which I haven’t signed into for a year!, is an airplane! And that’s the only place I have an avatar at all!!!) I don’t know why you didn’t “need to” change your setting to “enable” PMing, but maybe that’s something else they’ve changed recently—like putting in the ability to enter your zone (tho I’m gonna leave mine in as my “last name!”) When I went to that page I had to change the settings to get them right to enable PMing. Maybe now it’s the default when GW folks get into the houzz site. But there is SOMETHING that needs to be “fixed” for David, because there’s no “message box” visible on His Page, and until that’s there, nobody can PM him. I’m sure it’ll all get straightened out! We are, gradually, getting back to “our old GW!” Never would have believed that when I showed up here the first day and went—SAY WHAT????? I’m really impressed with the admins and all they’ve done! As for me! Maybe I’ll take some more pics tomorrow! Skybird

https://www.cb2.com/3-piece-floating-large-matte-black-shelf-set/s247100

I would suggest you go to cabinet shop in your area first to see if they can help. There are lots on google but don’t seem to be any with samples to see color.