Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Ballard Designs Shelf Redo!

SO...I've been reading about all the fun and thrifty ideas Sarah at the thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com has, and this Ballard Design shelf copy wowed me! On her blog she told how to redo the shelves, including cutting, trim, and more. Below is the actual picture from Ballard Designs.

Here are mine. I took the magazine with the dimensions into Home Depot on a slow Saturday night and batted my helpless eyes at some nice men who explained to me which moulding was used to wrap the shelves. Then I found Brian the nice lumber guy who willingly cut everything to the correct dimensions!! That sure saved some work. I think it always interests them when women, especially women with strollers, kids and a lot of lumber come into their store!? Anyway, they were very nice and helpful!

I decided to get a huge piece of MDF 3/4" and have the men slice it up into 10" deep, 5ft, 4ft, and 3ft wide shelves. Again, copying the dimensions, because copying is what I do best! I probably could have used 1/2" MDF, or pre-cut boards, but I wanted extra MDF for some other projects. I then found the moulding and corbels.

Because of feeding this little guy for 7 months, I've had a lot of time to sit at the computer and find this wonderful world of DIY bloggers. I have a large list of all the projects I plan to do!

Now... I had all this cut wood and wasn't confident enough to put it together...so I took my crazy idea over to my sister Nicole, expert wood cutter. We are like Yin and Yang. Our brains think alike, but Nicole is much more capable than I, she being my older sister. She enables me and I depend on her to help me finish my projects!

Nicole helped me cut and miter the corners with her miter saw! It's all about good tools. You can really do anything! She then helped me glue and nail gun them together. Definitely need two sets of hands!

Up next is filling in the gaps. I used wood putty, or you can use caulking. After patiently waiting for it to dry, I sanded away.

I then used spray paint primer first, and finished with several coats of semi-gloss trim paint. If I were really doing it right I would have used a paint sprayer. I didn't want to harass my sister again, so I just bought cans of spray paint.

Now, this hanging part scares me. With four boys in the house, I was nervous that things would fall down. I carefully found all the studs in the wall and marked them, and then with blue tape marked where the shelves belong. I stared at and arranged them many, many, times.

I then used a level as I hung them. VERY important!! It actually wasn't too bad, and I believe they are in there solid with wood screws into the studs.


Not so bad, if I say so myself! If we can do it, you can too!

 

28 comments:

  1. I am so glad you tackled that job. I was TOTALLY interested in those shelves too. Now I am not so scared, but I am not as savvy as you are. Maybe I can bat my eyes at my husband for some help.

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  2. Those look great!!! I love to go Home Depot. Now where can I put some shelves?

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  3. I would never know that they weren't ballard designs :) Great job! Mind if I copy?

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  4. Wow, this is great. You two did a really awesome job.

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  5. These look amazing, I've only seen the black ones copied, but I love yours in white too. Great job.

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  6. Those shelves look like a million bucks! Great job!

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  7. Wow! Your work is incredible. My wife has two sets of twins and 2-month-old triplets. She would really like to copy your work but sawed off three fingers on her right hand two years ago and needs the other two to take care of our babies. If I had only known how simple these projects appear to be, I would have helped her instead of watch football!

    Brenda in Meridian

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  8. Wow, Brent....I mean Brenda, you have a LOT of kids! That must be hard with only TWO fingers!

    Pretty funny DAD! That's our dad, clever isn't he? I shouldn't have given him our blog address! That made me laugh!

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  9. Looks great! I found your blog thru Thrifty Decor Chic. Love the window? you have on the top shelf....working on hanging a window myself.
    Thanks for sharing!
    Tamera@doubledelight

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  10. Amazing, can't say it enough! Want to do some for me?? Haha! Great work

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  11. Wow, you did a great job! I love that you marked the studs and where the shelves would be with tape. I have a tendency to just hammer nails in and hope for the best! A level?! Genius! :)

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  12. They look amazing - I love that they cut it for you!

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  13. LOVE THESE! You did a great job!
    pk @ Room Remix

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  14. Those look fantastic. I also have those shelves on my project list. You did a great job! I love your hanging technique as well.

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  15. Sweet, that could be a photo in Ballard Designs for sure!

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  16. You did an awesome job! The shelves look amazing!

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  17. VERY cute! Thanks for the tutorial.....I might have to try that :)

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  18. You did a great job... I'm putting this on my list of to-do's!

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  19. super job! I like the painter's tape! cool beans.
    gail

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  20. They look so great. Good idea to use the painters tape to get them exactly where you want them. Great visual. Thanks for sharing.

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  21. Beautiful, beautiful! What a great project. Don't you just love Home Depot? I was just there tonight and the guys cut all of my wood for me. Yay!

    XOXO
    Jen

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  22. jenjen~that's great you used Home Depot to cut your wood. Let them do all the big cutting and leave the easier stuff for home! It makes the projects so much easier when you don't have a lot of tools!

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  23. k, so I read Brent's comment about the 2 sets of twins AND triplets?! I have 1 set of twins and a 3 yr old, how the heck does your wife have time to do ANYTHING! WOW! impressive
    But back to your shelving... LOVE IT! How much did the whle thing cost? It looks totally amazing. Thanks for sharing

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  24. Mikael~
    Brent's our Dad, isn't he funny? I'm sorry that hit close to home with your set of twins and three-year old! Good for you conquering projects on top of that! I just hope nobody reading has sawed a couple of fingers off doing projects!!!
    Anyway....The chair moulding to wrap the shelves was about $18.00 and the corbels were about $7.00 a piece, and I bought a HUGE piece of MDF for $30.00 and had it sliced up for several other projects.
    If you want to spend less(maybe), buy the pre-cut shelving boards. I hope this is helpful! Good luck!

    Candace:)

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  25. You did a great job, they look amazing. I am getting ready to do shelves in my daughters room and this inspires me. THANKS FOR SHARING AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

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  26. I love the shelves! You did a great job, I am making a set for myself.

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  27. Love these shelves & the accesories you chose to put on them.

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