Wow… that was a hiatus if there ever was one! I have had a couple new projects going on in the last couple months (between work, PhD studying, life in general) and it is about time I shared something new! For a while I was trying to figure out what to do with the wall along the stairs. Having an old house often means narrow hallways – like mine, and it’s not easy to find something that fits. After some serious ‘Pinteresting’ I totally fell for gallery wall shelves. This is a really cheap and easy way to display a lot of different artwork at once without putting a tonne of holes in the wall.
Home-Depot haul of the day! You can see the long 1×2 and 1×3 pieces on the top. Also shown is my new miter box, clamps and gardening supplies!
Forgive the mess :)
I used a variety of different sizes and shapes for the frames and kept them within a black and white theme. Some show off photos that I had printed off and others are images I came across that I liked (most of which I found on Pinterest). These shelves were super easy and cost less than $20. Since this is an old post I don’t have all of the steps laid out but head on over to Shanty 2 Chic’s site to see a great tutorial!
The supplies needed are simple: a 1×2 pieces of the wood of your choice, 2 1×3 pieces of the same wood choice, Paint or stain (if desired), miter box or other saw, Kreg-Jig (optional but totally recommended), wood screws, wood glue, drywall anchors, and stud-finder.
I basically just measured the wall where I wanted the shelves then cut 2 1×3 and 1 1×2 to the length I decided upon. Using a miter box makes cutting really easy and avoids the risk of losing a limb (which I would no doubt do if I had access to a chopsaw). I then glued the front 1×2 to the base (1×3) and clamped them together until the glue had dried. Next, I used my Kreg-Jig (the most amazing tool ever made for easy projects!) to drill counter holes to neatly screw the 2 pieces together. Then I attached the back 1×3 piece as I did the other pieces, clamping with glue then using the Kreg-Jig. The next step is to attach it to the wall – I used a stud finder to find the studs and installed drywall anchors. I then used long wood screws to get the shelves up and into the anchors! Again, follow the link above to see a great tutorial !
You may notice I messed up the shelves and ended up making the top one more narrow than the bottom (you can see from the picture looking end-on) – But I’m glad i did! It doesn’t look bad at all! Sometimes it is good to screw up ;)
What do you think? It’s the cheapest and probably fastest project I’ve done and I love that it’s so temporary! Frames and pictures can be easily swapped out something new at any time! :)
