Holy crap-on-a-bun, I’m tired. Spent the weekend working – on actual work stuff as well as on this home improvement thing for the apartment – but as usual, my “super fab, super easy” idea ended up taking way longer than expected.

Basically, I wanted to build these wall-mounted shelfy things. Sort of like picture rails. Just slim, wall-mounted floating shelves for displaying stuff. They sell them at Pottery Barn, which just happens to be right down the street from my house, but what can I say? I’m cheap. I didn’t want to buy the shelfy things for $160 when I knew I could make them myself for less than $20.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

To make a long story short, and sweeter than it probably was, the shelfy things are up. And they look good. And they cost less than $20 bucks. Even better, I used the nail gun again and still have full use of both my eyes.

I’m calling the whole thing a success.

Victor and author of history,
Jen

P.S. 2018-05-21: These days, options for picture rails and slim floating shelves abound, but if you want to make your own like I did in 2005, the process was simple. I bought wood at Home Depot (two-by-fours are fine, two-by-twos also work – just pick whatever you feel is deep enough for your purposes). I tend to use whitewood studs, because they’re generally cheap and available. They’ll do free cuts for you at all the big box stores that carry lumber, so ask them to make the cuts to leave you with lengths that are to your liking. Purchase decorative trim (like the kind you’d use to make basic crown moulding), and cut it yourself at home with a handsaw and a miter box. Use a nail gun and glue to attach the moulding with the mitered corners to your main wood pieces. Tidy up any cracks with caulk or putty, paint. Then drill holes in the main wood shelf bit to attach a bolt, and bolt to the wall with anchors, or use a French cleat if you expect to put heavy things on the shelf. Done and done. That said, since there are so many cheap options now, I’d probably go with one of those instead of bothering with a project like this again. One option I love is getting inexpensive Ikea spice racks and using those for wall shelving. Especially in a kid’s room. Google this and you’ll find approximately one billion inspiration images, so go forth and DIY.

Project by Gemma of The Sweetest Digs.

Ikea’s BEKVÄM Spice rack, birch

Ikea’s BEKVÄM Spice rack, birch