Floating Shelf DIY

Something is always changing in my home. Since we completed our kitchen renovation in 2014 I have struggled with the open shelves. 

First, they were next to the window. Then, I moved them to the adjacent wall. I took no pictures of that! It didn't last long until....

We painted that wall with chalk paint and removed the brackets. (They were only ornamental.) 

And still I was not thrilled.

I  finally got Mister on board to build a floating shelf. I have to draw it out because he needs a visual. Believe it or not my chicken scratch makes sense to him! 

He built the bracket that will support the shelf. It is anchored into the wall. This shelf will wrap around in an L-shape. 

 

Next up we placed the top and bottom boards to conceal the structural pieces. We used these clamps to get it set before any screws were put in.

Even though I can't see the top of the shelf or under it (unless I look up under) I do not want screw heads showing so Mister used these.

Poor picture but you get the idea.

The face of the shelf, which is really the part that is seen, is the big deal here for me. I don't want to see end cuts or raw edges which means mitered cuts for Mister. Mitered cuts on an old house are always a challenge but since we did make this kitchen from scratch we had an easier time. Again, I don't want to see screws or nails so Mister glued the face pieces on and clamped them in place. The mitered edges were glued together. 

We used painters tape to keep them drawn into place along with the clamps.

It was allowed to dry for 48 hours. Excessive? Maybe but I don't want it popping off. 

Meanwhile I found a combination of stains to match the original wood beam in the kitchen.

And the chalkboard wall got painted. Once that was dry I taped off around the shelf to protect the walls and stained the shelf. After that dried I sealed it. 

I allowed the stain and sealer to dry for over a week. I didn't want anything getting stuck to the top or messing up the finish.

We did this project during the pandemic. It's first season was Autumn.

Here is how it was decorated then. Ready for tea, coffee or a glass of wine with friends and family. Then it got the Christmas touch. 

So, what do you think? Is there a floating shelf in your future? Let me know if you decide to give it try.

 

Thank you for spending time with me today. 

I hope you found some ideas you can use in your own home.

Picturing A New Fall Wreath

After being inspired by different images on the internet I decided my front door would benefit from a new wreath on the front door. 

My goal was to do it as inexpensively as possible, using what I had and what I could find at the Dollar Tree Store. 

I have said this before but I will say it again in case you're new here... Shop Your Stuff. "What does that mean", you ask?  Look around your home. What are you not using? What can be refreshed or used in a different way? I do not throw stuff away often. I will cycle items in and out of use in my home. Sometimes things will sit in a closet or on a shelf for a couple years and then be used somewhere else in a different way. Sometimes, I get tired of looking at something but simply moving it to different room or into a different arrangement makes me love it all over again. 

So, I did look around and found an old picture frame. I had painted it with white chalk paint a few years ago for a gallery wall that has since been dismantled and it sat in my stash. 

It was a little too white for my liking now so I took some sandpaper to it and sanded back to the wood on the high points. 

I spent less than $10 at the dollar store for leaf sprigs, pumpkins, flowers and wire-edged ribbon. (I did not end up using the fall sign here.)

I layed out my leaves and flowers for an idea of where I was headed and then I just jumped in. I began by cutting the excess stem and hot-gluing the leaf sprigs in place. 

Using my wire cutters I clipped the flowers from their bunches.

I made a bow using Nick's method here. He does such a great job that I'll just leave it to him! 

I wired and glued the bow into place and then added the flowers and pumpkin picks around the bow. This really is where you need to just feel your way. I don't want to put too many of these in place before my bow because I don't want the bow to cover them all up. 

And here it is. 

My front porch is the first greeting my guests receive when they come to my home and now it is ready for Autumn! 

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Katherine's Corner

A Guiding Light

Mister and I celebrated our 25th Anniversary this year! In 1996 we spent our honeymoon on Nantucket and it was perfect. There is a beautiful little lighthouse on the island called Brant Point. It is iconic, quintessential New England. But lighthouses, while romantic and beautiful to look at on a beautiful summer day, are vitally important in the storm to mariners who are in dangerous, uncertain waters. 

Totally unrelated (but bear with me),  few years ago I had mister change out the light on our front porch for something more beachy looking. That old fixture became my inspiration piece. The metal was rusty and yucky but I tucked it away because it was telling me to! (Mister had wanted to throw it away!)

With a lot of time on our hands and not much to do during the pandemic we decided to build our own lighthouse as a homage to that memory. 

Planning it out took some conversation. We considered doing it out of wood. The cost of wood is prohibitive, the angles to be cut were mind boggling, and rotting would be a factor considering it was to sit in the garden. So, concrete seemed a reasonable option. 

Using an inverted tomato cage as our shape was part of our plan but that was going to be a LOT of concrete. We purchased a sonotube from Home Depot. Sonotubes are thick cardboard tubes that you fill with concrete to form columns or footings to build upon. We placed it in the center of the tomato cage and filled the space between the cage and the sonotube with concrete- leaving the center hollow. I TOOK NO PICTURES OF THIS! I get caught up in the project-sorry. 

This project took about 10 bags of quick setting concrete. We mixed one bag at a time and packed it into place. Use thick gloves or this stuff will destroy your manicure! Because this is quick setting product time is important. You cannot stop, take a call, or go to pick up the kids in between. 

Once everything was packed well another bag was mixed a little soup-ier (loose). Mister used this as a smoothing coat over everything.

The metal prongs that would normally be pushed into the ground on the tomato cage were still sticking up past that first circular ring. He cut them off with wire snips. Level out the top where your base and light fixture will sit.

I attempted to make a concrete disk to sit on the top using a plant tray, the kind that catches water under a potted plant. Without rebar it broke apart. 

Plan B. We purchased two round, wood disks at Home Depot, a can of black spray paint and solar lights (we bought 2; one for backup) used to light up walkways, doweling, small eye hooks and black chain all for less than $35, I think.

Mister glued and screwed the two wood discs together. He then drilled holes around the outer edge to accept doweling. I cut the dowels to length, glued and inserted them into the holes. After the glue dried, eye hooks were screwed into the tops of each dowel.  

We had some pvc board and mister cut and mitered pieces into a hexagonal shape to elevate our light fixture as it just sat too low and looked wimpy. That was screwed into the round discs. We did cut a large hole  through the center of the wood discs to allow water to pass.

Very little sanding happened (because that was my job)

I painted it black. When that dried we added the chain through the eye hooks.  The base got a few coats of exterior white paint.

A little deconstruction of the original light fixture, a little black spray paint and the insertion of our deconstructed solar light and we have a mighty fine (or at least functional) lighting mechanism. 

Mister used silicon to attach the disc to the top of the concrete structure. Also, lesson learned during a storm, that a dab of silicon to secure the solar light was necessary. Good thing we bought 2! 

On hot nights we sat on our porch watching the light from the summer sun retreat. Just as the last bit of sun goes out the lighthouse shines bright!  25 years of marriage... wow. 

In all the craziness of the past 2 years I am most thankful that when 

I am with my husband I am in a safe harbor. 

God has blessed us both in this marriage.

 And, though these times are dangerous and uncertain He has been our guiding light. 

t

Spring Basket

It's been a while since I have posted. For me, and maybe for you, the political and civil unrest in our country has just had my mind preoccupied. I have found that my peace is easily affected by what I allow to come in. More time in prayer and in the Word always serves me well. Too much time on social media or watching the television and I get discouraged. So the obvious answer is to spend more time with Jesus and less time with all the other stuff, right? A simple "I'll just check Fakebook" turns into a wasted hour and more stories and images and "I-can't-believe-that"s than I ever wanted in my day. I know I am not alone and just wanted to let you know that if that is how things have been for you, you are not alone.

I need to refocus! Spring is here and I decided I could use a change. For now I will concentrate on my arrangement for the front door. I thought I would show you what I had up the past two Spring seasons but apparently I only shared it on IG. 

Armed with a coupon and a small budget I went off to my local Michael's store. Their spring florals were 50% off. I found some ribbon in the discount section that went well with the sprays I picked out. Because everything was on sale I didn't even need to use the coupon and I spent about $20!           

I have a Longaberger basket that I have used for arrangements in years past and I always have some sort of floral foam hiding in my stash. Any basket would do. I just used what I have.

I put the floral foam into the basket. 

My basket is about 10" tall so I want my arrangement to extend about the 10" above the rim of the basket. (A good rule of thumb is to make your arrangements 1 1/2- 2 times the size of your container height.)

I left the main flowers, peonies, in the cluster they were purchased in and just moved the wired stems around. I shoved that whole stem right into the foam! The first time I inserted I realized my arrangement would be too tall so I moved them to the back side of the foam block and adjusted the blooms.

I used wire cutters to separate the cosmos and purple flowers from their bunches to allow for individual placement.

You can dip these in hot glue as you are placing them in. I tend to use and reuse and didn't want to make them so permanent so just stabbing them into the floral foam was enough for me. 

To keep the whole thing from blowing out of the basket on a windy day I crisscross floral wire through the flowers, securing the ends to the top of the basket rim. 

Lastly, I fashioned a bow. I started with one small center loop and two larger loops on either side, adding long tails. I tied the whole thing together with floral wire. For $3 worth of ribbon I am happy with the outcome. I attached it to the basket with the floral wire. 

For now it is hanging indoors but will be moved to the front door once St. Patrick's Day has passed and my wooden shamrock makes it's way back into storage for the year. 

Are you working on any springtime projects? I would love to see them. You can share them with me on either Instagram or Facebook.

Thanks for visiting! 

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Shabby Art Boutique, Blue Sky At Home, Our Hopeful Home, Grammy's Grid, Katherine's Corner, Common Ground