I'm pretty sure it will be, but ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdguari...7639547178715/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdguari...7639547178715/

My wife would like a long (essentially wall-to wall) shelf to put some
seldom-used but decorative serving pieces on. This should free up some
space in the cabinets too. I originally planned on a simple shelf with
wrought-iron brackets, but decided instead to make supports that could
hold coffee mugs as well. The unit would straddle a window.

The above design (or something like it a few iterations back) has passed
muster with my wife. Now I'm wondering about the "engineering". This
shelf unit would be mounted on a wall which is plaster laminated on
brick. I've drawn in some anchors in their approximate position (let's
leave aside how I would hide them for now) in the "backs" of the supports.

The backs would be inset and screwed into the top shelf and the curved
sides - probably screwed in straight through from the top (the top shelf
of the unit will be about 7' up, and thus will never be seen by anyone
likely to enter my house) and with pocket screws from the back into the
side pieces. And glue.

So I have two questions:

1. Does that sound like solid enough fastening between the "backs" (the
only part directly attached to the wall) and the rest of the unit?

2. Does the "trigonometry" work? Meaning, an 8" high "bracket" for a 12"
deep shelf? I don't want to drag the anchors out of the wall.

P.S.: The keen observer may notice that I have been drawing a great many
different things without actually getting on with building any of them.
My "shop", such as it is, is less accessible than usual the last few
weeks. Persistent snow piles on our street have made it difficult to
move a certain large four-wheeled obstacle out of the way in order to work.