Wall Display Bookshelves

So, this is wild.  I took my son to the library for the very first time a few weeks ago and he loved it.  I decided I wanted a really neat place for him to put his books.  So, I went to my "drawing board" (powerpoint) and drew up a sketch of what I wanted to make.

Here is my sketch:

So that SAME DAY, a few hours later, on Shanty2Chic's Gorilla Glue party, I saw Traci from Beneath My Heart post this!  I couldn't believe how similar the bookshelf that she created was to the one that I had sketched just hours before.

This is why I love the blogging world so much.  I had just sketched this out with plans to go to Home Depot that night and buy materials.  I saw that she used plaques from Hobby Lobby to do hers, and I thought that was Brilliant!  So I altered my boring plans to use scrapwood for the sides and splurged the extra $1.47 for the plaques.

This was a very easy and very inexpensive project that I think turned out really cute.

All you'll need is:

2 1X3's 24 inches long (or however long you want) - $0.50 from Home Depot Scrap section

1 12 inch plaque from Hobby Lobby - $1.47

1 set of wall hangers - $2.29

1 wooden dowel (mine was 7/16") - $0.99

Total Cost:  $5.26!!

Step 1.  Nail your 2 1X3s in an "L" shape

Step 2.

Cut the bottom off of your plaque so that you have a flat bottom. Then put it up against your "L" to see where you need to cut vertically so that it will be flush.

You should be able to get both sides of the shelf out of one plaque

Step 3

Nail the sides onto the "L"

I used my favorite tool for this:

Nope, not the nail gun.  The Tuba Player holding it :-)

Now you should have something that looks like this:

By the way, these pictures are taken in our garage.  We've only lived here a few months, and we haven't tackled cleaning this one out yet.  The old owner had carpet down, which is terrible, but it works out well for all my painting I do out here.

Step 4.

Cut your wooden Dowel Rod and nail this in place too.

Step 5.

Paint them and screw on your wall hanger:

I also wanted to dress them up a little bit, so I bought some letters, painted them brown and polka-dotted every other letter with my wall color and the other letters I modge-podged with my left over invitation paper.

It's all ready to hang on the wall:

The Vision:

Getting even closer to the vision:

I will be posting this on DIY day over at A Soft Place To Land

and Metamorphasis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Pottery Barn inspired picture ledges

I love you Pottery Barn.


Too bad I have never purchased a single item from you - and probably never will, because you're just TOO EXPENSIVE!!!

I am, however, lucky enough to be the recipient of the world's most awesomest diaper bag from Pottery Barn Kids (yes, awesomest is a word) that a dear friend got for me.

Unless any other dear friends want to buy me something from Pottery Barn (which you are more than welcome to), you will never see anything from that store in my home.

Here are two reasons why:

1. You can usually find the same looking stuff at Ross or Marshalls (it may not be the same quality, but at this point in my life I'm not really looking for longevity)

2. You can MAKE the stuff yourself.

Let's explore Reason #2.

Here is Pottery Barn's Modern Ledge

4 ugly picture frames from the Salvation Army bursting with potential: $5

1 6 foot long 1X2 cut in half: $3
1 8 foot long piece of Brick Moulding cut to size and mitered: $10

I gave the poor outdated picture frames a new fresh makeover, and painted all my other materials with some satin finish black spray paint.

Next you take your favorite tool: your handy dandy husband (unless of course, you're Shanty2Chic), to attach the 1X2s to the wall. We (I mean He), just used 3.5 inch long screws and hung them directly into the wall.

So then you end up with your anchors. If I did this over again, I would have gone for the the 1X3 or maybe even 1X4. 2 inches was not nearly as deep as I wanted.

The next step involves power tools, although I'm sure you could do this with a miter box and a really strong arm. We (he) mitered the trim moulding so that the moulding fit together like a box:

Then we (he) took a nail gun and nailed these pieces directly onto our anchors. I did not want it exactly flush on top so that there would be a little lip to rest some frames against. (I still need to touch up and paint over the nails, but I'll get to that when my next 1,000 projects are done).

The final product!  Shield your eyes from the horrible natural wood color blinds. One of my next 1,000 projects is to make a faux roman shade for that window.

The vision:

Getting Closer:

Pottery Barn's Version: $90 WITHOUT frames

My Version: $18 WITH Frames

Crazy Easy Wall Art is Spreading!

While not quite at the same rate as the dreaded Swine Flue, the crazy easy wall art that I posted is spreading!!

I have received tons of comments of people saying that they are going to do this, which makes me so excited to begin with. 

Then, I received a few emails from people WHO HAVE!

This is why I wanted to start a blog a few months ago.  I have gotten so many great ideas from blogs, and my home is a much much nicer place because of it.  I thought I would share with others the ideas that I have either come up with or applied to keep all this "beauty" going.

I can't tell you what it makes me feel inside to know that at least two other people saw my post, inspired them to do their own version, and now have it proudly displayed on their walls.  I receive TONS of compliments on these when people come over, so I know that these pieces will give these ladies a sense of pride when visitors come.

It started with the Lowes Creative Ideas Magazine Article. 

Lowes Version:

My Version:

My Friend's Version:

Elizabeth's Version:

Hannah, from Poppies at Play's Version

As these ladies can attest to, this is by far the easiest project I have ever done.  Paint a canvas, put a rubber doormat over it, spray paint it and hang!  Cheap, big impact, Super easy - just the way I like it!

I would LOVE to see if anyone else has done this art, or anything else from my blog, please send them my way!  I can't tell you how excited this makes me, and inspires me to keep going and post everything I've done!