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!