Sunday, November 25, 2012

Gallery Shelves: DIY + 3 others

Have you seen these gallery shelves on Pinterest under the heading: DIY?

Pinned Image

Well, I did. A friend had pinned it; I took note of the idea - but didn't pin it. I should have paid closer attention to the picture AND searched for the pin - because my project could have been a lot easier. Alas, shoulda-woulda-coulda. Instead, this project turned into a bonding experience, what could be better than that?

For some reason, I thought they used moulding. According to the picture above, they used 1x2s and 1x4s. At any rate, Dan and I headed to Home Depot (it's close to us), picked out some molding that has at least a 1" flat spot, a lip on the edge and pretty decorative backing. We cut out 3, 3' pieces and kept the 17" remaining. (Who can't use a shelf, right?)

We bought Kona Brown, high gloss spray paint. I spray painted all of the shelves. I was UBER excited to get this project completed before our in-laws came. We bought sawtooth hangers to afix the shelves to the wall.

The next weekend, Dan was out of town and I afixed the sawtooth hangers. I hammered in 2 nails. I put the shelf on the nails. ...and it hung at 45-degree angle...not ideal for putting any picture or figurine onto.

I did what any girl would do; I called my dad. It was rather difficult to explain the problem - and understand (on my part) possible solutions. The next day (the Sunday before the in-laws arrived 4 days later), I went to Home Depot and bought (and cut) 3, 3' L-shaped moulding pieces - and kept the remaining 12" for the spare 17" piece from above. I sprayed these with the Kona brown - and bought wood screws.

Then, I chickened out. My dad had explained ways to afix the L by drilling a hole, then screwing in the woodscrew. Truth is, I've only used a drill once. I wanted these to work, so I really didn't want to screw these up. So, I waited until Dan got home (the day before his parents came) - and there wasn't time in that day to finish these up.

Therefore, the first weekend that Dean and Linda were here, Dean and Dan set to work to finish these shelves. The result? Awesomeness. They drilled 3 woodscrews through the L-shape into the top piece of moulding. Then, they drilled the shelf into the wall through the lower L.




After such a great bonding experience, Dan felt the need to crawl up in his daddy's lap. Dean was...thrilled....


 

This picture was my birthday present from my mom (and dad).  This picture and shelf is now located in our "tv" cubby hole.

1 comment:

PJ Colando said...

Love the Mich-gander and Mother Goose monikers and wish I'd read this post before they came so we could tease them...
The project looks fantastic and was a great shared experience/