No one ever accused us of not having enough projects going at the same time. This past weekend we worked on the deck, planted the garden, planted the flower pots, dug and sprayed dandelions, shopped for patio furniture, purchased bushes for the backyard, played with a baby, and built the picture shelves.
After pretty much running all weekend I made the following observation: Either we need additional days in the weekend or we need fewer projects.
One of those things we can control.
We didn't control the projects well this past weekend.
Easy DIY Picture Shelves
Link to project start posting here
Project Rankings
Difficulty - Easy
Frustration Level - Low
Makeability - 100% Worth It
Materials
Crown Molding (Note: You want to have 2 flat surfaces on the crown. You can make the shelves as beefy as you want depending on the size of crown you get. We wanted the shelf to be fairly skinny so we went for a small crown)
MDF Board (Note: The width of the board will be the width of your shelf. You probably don't want to go too big here unless your crown is really thick and beefy. If you get too big of a shelf and put weight out on the front it may not be able to support it all. We stuck with a 3 1/2 inch width. That easily works for the frame width and even allows some small decor items.)
Thin board for the shelf lip (we used lattice board)
Paint (If you want to do a stain you will need to switch out the MDF for a wood board instead)
Step #1:
Determine the length of your shelf/shelves. You will want to cut your boards (all the same length) before you paint. I didn't actually do this so I ended up having to do some touch up painting when the shelf was up on the wall.
Step #2
Paint all shelving pieces. Make sure you paint all sides of the MDF board as well as the lattice board. You will see all of the edges of these 2 pieces. You will not need to paint one of the flat sides of the crown as it will be against the wall.
Step #3
Deterimine the location for your shelf/shelves. If you are doing multiple shelves on top of each other, like we did, you will need to make sure that you have sufficient spacing between them to get your frames on the shelf. Locate your studs in the wall. Frames get heavy. You will want to make sure that you go into a few studs. Using a nail gun (if you have one...if you don't you should they are awesome) nail your crown molding piece to the wall.
Step #4
Next position the MDF board flush on the crown molding and nail it down into the top of the crown.
Step #5
Position the lattice board on the front of the MDF board, creating a lip for your shelf, and nail into place.
Step #6
You will probably want to fill in any nail holes and do some touch up on the paint.
There you have it. Now comes the hard part...at least for me! What frames and pictures to select.
FYI after looking at a ton of different picture frames I did end up getting all of my frames from IKEA. I was going for a bit cleaner/simpler look so I choose simple frames in a couple similar styles. I do like the look of a bunch of different styles of frames...but not for me.
Add a few small decor items if you want and call it a day. The beauty of this project is that you can easily switch out photographs, frames, etc. No drilling and hanging frames on the wall.
Before
Concept
After
I am really happy with how this project came out. I even like the red color!
I may hate the paint color I picked for the picture shelves.
I broke one of my own cardnial rules...ALWAYS get a paint tester and try out a few shades before making a final selection.
I didn't get a tester, I just made a selection.
I may have messed up.
It may be too red.
I may have to repaint.
My plan is to do a final color check with the boards inside the house later today once everything is completely dry.
I may be painting again tomorrow.
I knew it was going to be a problem.
I have so many pictures of baby girl that I am a bit overwhelmed. How do I pick just a few to print and display? Where do I put them?
As I have posted in the past I am not really good at hanging things on my walls. I over think. Now with all of the cute baby pictures I need to get my act together and get displaying.
Have I mentioned how much I like Pinterest? I have...well I am mentioning it again.
I knew I wanted some sort of wall display that I could easily switch out pictures. With her growing so much everyday my favorite pictures change quickly. I also want to be able to change the orientation of the frames from landscape to portrait and back again. I hate being stuck with a specific direction needed for a specific frame as I don't like to think about what direction I need the picture when I am taking it. I want to be able to shoot the picture in the direction that I think looks good in the moment.
Bottom line is that I wanted maximum flexibility.
After looking around at a ton of options I was really drawn to picture shelves. Not only could I rotate the frames and switch out the pictures easily I could even potentially include a couple small decor items to add some additional interest.
Which wall to choose?
I immediately knew I wanted to put the shelf/shelves on one of the walls in the main living room. After all I wanted everyone to be able to ooh and aah at baby girl (can't hide those away in an obscure hallway).
The wall I picked out is a main wall that is against the stairs. The problem was that it had a light switch and thermostat on it. The husband did not think this wall would work. I begged to differ.
Visualization works well for both of use when we are trying to sell a project plan to one another.
So I took a picture of the blank wall. Uploaded it to my favorite photo editing site PicMonkey. Added in some shelves and then did another one where I did a quick mock up of some frames.
It really helped the husband to see how it would work around the light switch and the thermostat. Doing the mock up also helped me get an idea of how many and what sized frames I wanted. I highly recommend doing some sort of visualization either by putting paper up on the wall or by photo shop, especially if you are wall art impaired like me.
The plan is to build a simple shelf using a piece of crown molding.
So in the midst of all of the deck shenanigans I will be working on the shelving project. Wood has been selected...
...I'm off to paint.
I like to consider myself an amateur photographer. Emphasis on the amateur part. So I of course had grand delusions of taking my own newborn photographs. Up until now my photographs have mostly been limited to macro photos of inanimate objects or the occasional child of a friend that I manage to wrangle for a few minutes. I don't typically do posed photos I tend to focus more on candid shots. Just capturing small moments.
So of course now that I have my own child and unlimited access to her I decided to try my hand at doing some posing. And what is more cute and sweet then a sleeping naked baby?
There is a reason that professional newborn photographers exist. After spending a couple of days trying to get some decent shots I have determined the following things.
1) Babies do not like to be naked.
2) Babies really do not like to be naked in a ceramic bowl.
3) Naked babies will take any and all opportunities to pee or poop on you when naked (especially if they are in a ceramic bowl.)
4) Babies do not like to stay in the position you have placed them.
5) Babies to not adjust their feeding schedules so that you can use the natural light coming through your living room. They instead sleep through all of the good light so you are reduced to scrambling around your house to round up any floor lamps you can find. Only to have the baby be ready for the next feeding by the time you are finally ready to start taking pictures.
6) Babies will squint, squirm, and spit up just when you finally get them positioned correctly.
7) Babies do not like to be naked...they will poop on you. (Yes this is a repeat but I feel it needs to be stated more than once as it happened more than once.)
8) Babies will let you know when the photo shoot is over.
Bottom line. If I want posed naked newborn pictures I am going to have to find someone else to take them...
...however if I stick to a mix of clothed poses and candid shots I will be okay.
Sprinkles and hearts and jigglers oh my!
Many years ago the husband gave the wife a camera. I had cameras before but never really fell in
love with photography until that particular camera.
I recently upgraded to a DSLR but I still hold a special place
in my heart for the Olympus the husband gave me. I am in no way a professional photographer. I
am not even a good photographer as far as working the camera
goes. I do however think I manage to
capture a few good shots here and there….probably mostly by accident and thanks to the
advantage of having a ton of digital space to take a bunch of crappy shots to
get one keeper.
We have a wall in our reading nook that contains a
hodge-podge collage (that’s a mouth-full) of cheap frames that I painted dark
brown. I recently started to change
out the photos seasonally. When I went
to select Valentine’s Day photos I realized it was slim pickings.
Picture time
My favorite type of photos are macro/close-up. So after a bit of digging around my cupboards and closets I had a the makings of a photo shoot.
With Valentine's Day just around the corner you may not be able to incorporate your photos into this year's decor but by golly you will be ready for next year!
Ideas:
*Sprinkles
*Cookie Cutters (hearts, X,O,love)
*Make Jello Jigglers
*Scrabble letters
*Draw a heart with a Crayon
*Flower pictures especially roses that you may have taken in past years
*Red/Pink confetti or glitter
*Valentine's candies/chocolates
*Hit up Pinterest for a million more!
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