I have a one story home with an interior wall of my living room measuring 8ft high by 10.5ft wide. This wall does not connect to any outer walls. The other side of the wall is a large bedroom closet. I believe this wall to be a load bearing wall because the down slope of the vaulted ceiling in this room ends at this wall. This wall has 10 studs in it. The center stud and two outer studs consist of 2 studs side by side. I'm told this is for the load bearing purposes. Then there are two single studs spaced 14-16 inches apart on each side of the center studs between the outer studs. What I want to do is cut a 1ft section out of the single stud to the left of the center studs and a 1ft section out of the single stud to the right of the center studs. I then want to install a cubby/shelf into this space (one on each side of the center studs). My question is: Is this safe to do without my house falling apart?

 

This may or may not be a load bearing wall. To know for sure you must go into the attic and see if the ceiling joists rest on this wall. If they do then it basically holds the ceiling up. If it is not a load wall then you can do your cubbies at will. If it is a load bearing wall then you have to install a header. A header is 2 2x10's nailed together at the height of your opening. It is held up by a 2 studs on each end. One shorter stud under the header and one long stud going to the ceiling.

 

"because the down slope of the vaulted ceiling in this room ends at this wall. " --- YES, this is a load bearing wall. Post a picture of the rafters/trusses above the future openings.
Be safe, Gary

 

It sure sounds like it is load bearing. If you are willing to sacrifice placement and size of your cubbies, it would be much easier to place them between the current studs then modifying the whole wall. Thus, they could be up to 14.5" wide with normal 16" OC spacing.