diy picture ledges.

on thursday i talked about how i had contemplated scrapping the board and batten idea in our family room for a wall of picture ledges.  and then i talked myself down from that because i thought picture ledges with small children would be a disaster.  but on friday i started thinking more about it and on saturday charlie went to the gym and came back to this:

they're crooked and i didn't even attempt to center them but at this point i was convinced that building some ledges would be a lot easier than board and batten and still satisfy my need for something substantial on that wall.  i should mention that charlie was never on board with the board and batten (ha!) idea, so he was pretty open to any alternative.  at first he wasn't thrilled about building these.  we're really not diy people, but when i told him we could buy something similar at ikea he said 'no, that would make us really lazy'.  so apparently in an effort not to be lazy we decided to build these.  

i looked at a few tutorials and sort of followed a mixture of the ones i read.  we used (2) 1x4 boards and (1) 1x2.  the bottom shelf is 8 feet long and the top shelf is 6 feet long.  we used wood glue to glue the 1x4s together and then drilled holes a foot apart along the board, and then drilled the screws in.  we then used the wood glue for the 1x2 (the lip) and used finishing nails to secure that to rest of the boards.  i put three coats of white, semi-gloss on the shelves.  i didn't prime (i know, i know) but the paint i used was paint and primer in one so i figure that sort of counts.  when we mounted them in the wall we just made sure we drilled directly into the studs so we could avoid drywall anchors.  i hate drywall anchors.  

here's a close-up of the shelves.  i'd be lying if i said i wasn't impressed that we successfully built something.  i just threw some pictures up there and i'm sure they'll change as we figure out what we really want on them.  i'd actually really like to use them for family pictures.

and here's what is looks like from a distance.  if we stay in this house long enough i can see a desk under those shelves for a computer.  one day i'll actually get a picture of the whole room, but until i switch the lens out on the camera that won't happen.  avery actually really likes them and it's nice to have pictures on the wall where i can point people out to her.  

and now, i'm ready for fall.  we still have a lot to do but for some reason those shelves make this room feel so much more like 'home'.  probably because we've lived here for 4 months and had yet to hang anything on them.  i also like that nothing's actually permanent so i can move things around as much as i want.