Picture Ledges

http://sugarnspiceinthelandofballsnsticks.blogspot.com/2011/04/diy-picture-ledges.html

Remember that sneak peek I gave you a couple of days ago?

Well, they're up!

Let's rewind a bit. I started a gallery wall when we first moved into this house 10 years ago. I added to it as family members were added on, and new memories were made.

Not only was it time for a change because 10 years is a long time to have any decor item stay the same, but also because we acquired a piano. Ideally upright pianos should sit on an interior wall of a home. This was really one of the only appropriate walls for it, and it covered up the bottom row of pictures. So I took the gallery wall down, patched, sanded, primed, and painted. I drew up some picture ledges, and Computer Genius built them.

These floating shelves are made with 1x2s and 1/4 inch plywood. CG cut the 1x2s to length.

And butt jointed the returns(the sides). He glued & nailed them.

He ripped 1x2s in half to create the wall cleat and the internal spacer.

He glued the spacer into place,

using a scrap piece of plywood to keep it properly spaced, and nailed it.

He glued & nailed spacers to the sides also.

CG cut the plywood to fit, and glued & nailed it to the bottom

& top. Notice the lip that is formed at the top. This'll keep my pictures from tumbling off the shelves.

He used a nail set to set the nails below the surface of the wood. I love that my hubs is a Computer Genius, a woodworker, and still can wear Hello Kitty bandaids.

He filled the set nail holes with wood putty,

and sanded them smooth.

The mercury finally hit 50, so I took these outside and spray primed and painted them. Ignore the snow. I painted these last week, it's all melted away now.

The cleats were mounted to the wall first.

Then the ledges just slipped right over them. Obviously I still need to work on what's going on them. But that's for another day. Today is for saying hurrah for this guy.

Thanks for popping in and DIYing with CG & painting with me. I'm linking up to Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday, and Just a Girl's Show and Share Day.

Here's our Picture Ledge Gallery Wall as it stands today.