DIY Pottery Barn Picture Ledge Shelves

Happy Monday!!!  Somehow the weekend came and went in the blink of an eye.  We had a super busy Saturday shopping in Spokane, so the only useful thing we tackled on Sunday was to get those shelves up on the wall.  I am SO excited to FINALLY share this post after so many weeks of talking about it!
 
 

 
 
Since turning our wedding collage picture frame into a giant bulletin board (see picture below), I needed a new way to display some of our pictures.  I bought some barn wood frames a while ago to put the pictures into, but since I wasn’t really sure where to hang them, they’ve sat stacked in the corner of our guest room for months now just waiting to be used.  When I came across this post by Shanty-2-Chic, I knew that some picture ledge shelves would be the perfect way to display our beautiful photos and frames.
 

*My DIY Bulletin Board.

 
 
Here’s what you’ll need for each shelf to make your own:

• 2-1x4s cut to length
• 1-1×2 cut to length
• some screws (I used #6 x 2″ wood screws to put together the shelves and 2″ drywall screws to attach it to the wall)
• some finishing nails
• wood glue

 

I had Brady cut our wood to 3′ lengths and then I stained each piece with Minwax wood stain in Dark Walnut.

 

*Note: The 1x6s shown in this photo were used to make this DIY Art Display Hanger.

 
To attach our 1x4s together, I added a line of glue to bottom edge of one board and then pre-drilled through the back and screwed them together.
 

 

To attach the 1×2, I simply ran a line of glue along the bottom 1×4 (not the the back piece with the screws) and attached the 1×2 with some finishing nails.  That’s it … easy peasy!
 

 
Although my original intention was to leave the beautiful walnut stained wood exposed, in the end, I chose to apply a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White over top of the stain because (1) I didn’t like the way the colour turned out on the 1x2s and (2) I thought the white colour would contrast more with my barn wood frames.  I’ve only just begun experimenting with Chalk Paint, but I’m in love with it already!!!  It’s so easy to see why it’s become so popular … you don’t need to prepare the surface at all (though if you have raw, unfinished wood, you’ll need to shellac or stain it first), you can paint ANYTHING, it dries quickly, distresses easily and just a little paint goes such a long way.

Here’s what the shelves looked like after the first coat of chalk paint.
 

 

And after the second coat.

 

 

I also chose to sand it down a bit to give it more of a distressed, rustic look.  I absolutely love the way the dark stain shows through!

 

 
To hang these babies on the wall, I screwed a couple of 2″ drywall screws through the shelves into the wall studs.  It didn’t really matter to me that the screws into the wall were visible because they would be covered with pictures anyway, but you could always nail some art hooks onto the back if you didn’t want them to be visible.
 

 
Finally, it was time to pile them full of pictures!
 

 
I am so in LOVE with how these turned out!!!
 
 

 
 

Shared with: Sew Crafty Cat, Kleinworth & Co, Craving Some Creativity, Saving 4 Six, No Biggie, Too Much Time on my Hands, DIY Showoff, Pieced Pastimes, The Blissful Bee, It’s Overflowing, Miss Mustard Seed, The Charm of Home, Chic on a Shoestring, My Romantic Home, The Thrifty Groove, French Country Cottage, Craftberry Bush, Liz Marie Blog, Imparting Grace, From My Front Porch to Yours, Green Willow Pond, Maison de Pax, A Stroll Through Life, I Should be Mopping the Floor, Mod Vintage Life and Elizabeth Joan Designs.