OH Design Co.: DIY

Restoration Hardware Chalkboard Knockoff

Friday, September 11, 2015

DIY Book Legdes

Thursday, September 10, 2015

(Repost from my old blog)

I'm back to show just how I made the book ledges.

Every since pinning some inspiration pictures like the ones you see below, I knew I wanted to add book ledges somewhere in the playroom. One, it's easy for a child to see their books. And two, I wanted to encourage reading and add more functionality to the space.

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As I mentioned yesterday, I found this tutorial by Kristine over at The Painted Hive, and I just tweaked it a bit. Since the playroom is fairly narrow at less than 10 feet wide, the wall that they ended up on needed slim storage. I have tried putting a bookcase on it, but it blocked the natural light and the view out of the bay window.

How To Make and Mount Narrow Floating Shelves | The Painted Hive

I started by going to buy wood. I knew that I wanted my shelves to be a little deeper than the ones in the tutorial, plus mine were going on an open wall, so I had the space for it. I wanted them deep enough to allow books to lean against the wall, but shallow enough that I could screw through the depth of the wood, and into the wall, thus having floating shelves. I chose 1x3's for my actual ledge.

I also needed a thin piece of wood to form the lip of the shelf (as seen in the picture above) and hold the books on the shelf. I couldn't find trim that matched the dimensions in the tutorial. So I was searching the shelves and saw a trim called 'base cap molding' next to the baseboard molding. It was only 1 1/8" in height, which was perfect to create a lip for the shelves, and it came in solid pine. It had the profile of crown moulding but was flat on the back like 1x2. And that's when I had an epiphany! Instead of just going across the face of the shelf, as seen above, I could wrap the trim around all three sides to the wall! (I'm probably the only one who got excited about that, but hey!) I nearly skipped my way out the store.

Base Cap Molding

I decided to make my four shelves 42" long each. So I needed:

2ct 8' 1x3's mine are pine (which are actually 2 1/2 wide), $7ea x 2 = $14

3ct 8' lengths of the base cap moulding, also solid pine $7ea x 3 = $21

8ct" 3 3/4" wood screws $ 4

3/16" drill bit to predrill holes $ 3

1/2" countersink bit (on hand) $ 0

Total Project Cost: $42

I also had stain and polyurethane on hand from previous projects. Of course, it could be a little more or less, depending on what you have on hand. I should also say that the base cap molding comes in 10' lengths, so if I were to repeat this project, I would just buy two of those instead.

Several things to do before starting:

1.) I marked in advance, using a stud finder, the position of my studs so that I could screw directly into them to mount the shelves. This meant that I didn't need anchors. But the screws were going thru the 1x3's, plus at least 1/2" of drywall, plus another 1/2" to 3/4" depth into the actual stud. That's at least 3 1/2", so I needed to countersink the screws to secure the shelves to the studs.

2.) After marking the stud location, I decided how far up the wall I wanted to start the shelves, and also settled on a 15" distance between each shelf. Then marked a horizontal line, with stud locations noted, to show where to mount each shelf. Then, to make sure each ledge was evenly spaced from the wall edge, I also made a mark 6" from the wall edge.

3.) I also pre-stained all of my wood and just stained the cut edges as I went along. I sealed the entire shelf at the end, with Wipe-On Polyurethane. I used the same stain and poly as I used on the chalkboard project.

Next I assembled my tools, as seen below, plus a miter saw and a nail gun.

I began by pre-drilling into the stud. Next, I cut the 1x3 down to 42" using the miter saw. Using my pre-marked line that was 6" in from the wall edge, I held the 1x3 ledge up to it, and marked the stud location on it. Using the stud location, I drilled holes in the 1x3 for the screws, then drilled a countersink hole about 1/2" deep. After the holes were drilled and countersunk, I held the 1x3 ledge up to the wall, then screwed through it, into the two studs.

With the basic ledge up on the wall, it was time for the fun part, adding the trim. This involved cutting the 'base cap molding' the same lengths as each edge of the ledge but cutting the corners at 45 degree angles. I used a nail gun to mount the trim to the book ledges. As in the tutorial I linked above, I didn't glue the face trim to the ledge so that I could easily remove it in the future if I needed to. I couldn't get a good photo, but to me, this created a beautiful profile for the book ledges.

As I said earlier, I finished the wood using two coats of Wipe-On Polyurethane in Satin, to protect it, and give it a nice sheen.

It feels good to have this project crossed off the list. My woodworking skills aren't perfect, but it does the job!

DIY

The Playroom Makeover-DIY Book Ledges

Thursday, September 10, 2015

chalkboard

The Playroom Makeover-The Chalkboard

Thursday, September 10, 2015

(Repost from my old blog)

Chalk it up to getting motivated. The chalkboard is finally up and this chunk of empty wall space has finally been put to good use!

Prior to this chalkboard, we had a folding one from Ikea. I like it because it folds up, doesn't take up a lot of space, and it holds paper. (Actually we still have it, and use it for 'plein-air' painting, aka splatter painting, which is too messy for indoors.) But I thought it would be neat to have a full-length chalkboard that was versatile enough to also be used in a dining room to list out a menu, or in an office to list out the week's tasks or schedules.

I did build it for the playroom, but it's been hanging out against this wall for months, out of the way of foot traffic. (This is the wall I've planned to put up the book ledges on.) I wanted to finally seal the wood to protect it from chalk dust and water, and hang it on the wall, so there would be no chance of the little people knocking it over. They move pretty fast!

I opted for a satin wipe-on polyurethane, taped off the edges, and applied three coats with a soft cloth. This gave it a nice sheen and should protect the wood trim over time.

To hang it up, I first needed to install D-hooks on the back.

I screwed one hook into the frame, eyeballing that it was about six inches from the top. Then used the level to mark that the other hook was the same distance down from the top. Marking the holes, I predrilled, then screwed the D-hooks in.

Then I held the chalkboard up to the wall to see how high I wanted to mount it, coming down six inches to account for where the hardware was on the back.

The easy part is the wall anchors that I used. There's no drilling and no plastic anchors to plug in. You just screw these directly into the drywall. They live up to their packaging! And they can hold up to 40lbs each.

Once these were screwed in, I hung the chalkboard up by the attached D-hooks. Unfortunately it was crooked, or it looked slightly crooked. The chalkboard was hung level, but the door frame wasn't quite plumb, I suppose. The bottom of the chalkboard was about 1/4"closer to the door frame than the top was.

REALLY? It's just not possible that something would go perfectly smooth I guess.

To remedy this, I removed both screws and drew another level line about 1 1/2" up from the previous one. With these anchors, I couldn't screw in directly beside the previous hole. Then I screwed the left screw in about a quarter of an inch above the level line this time to account for whatever wasn't plumb there. And then rehung the chalkboard.

I am loving this corner of the room now! We keep the chalk and eraser in the little black box on the table next to the sofa for easy access. Although the Bub's favorite thing is to put wet hand prints on it. Go figure.

But...I am having second thoughts about which wall it should be on. Looking back at the picture with it leaning against the wall, I really like it there, plus there's an outlet behind there so I could put a picture light above it! Plus, it's next to the desk in the room.

So what's your opinion? Should I leave it here or mount it to the other wall next to the curtains? Just for reference, the current wall is visible from the front door, whereas the other wall is tucked out of sight. Whatever is on this wall, you'll see when you first walk in. And if I move the chalkboard, the book ledges will go here...loaded with kids books. My husband says leave it. Let me know what you think.

If you're interested in building your own chalkboard, check out this post from last year. I'm off to patch a couple of holes...well maybe I should wait.

Linking up with Kim's Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style.