Top shelf

A major project was completed this weekend...

I have living room shelves!

Why is this worthy of a blog post, you might ask? If you have been trying to get shelves hung for as long as I have you would know how momentous of an occasion this is!

I decided back in...I don't know...November? that I wanted old, weathered - even better if it was rotten - barn wood for my shelves. How cool, huh?

I thought so, except where do you get rotten, weathered barn wood aside from pulling it off an old barn itself? I asked around and finally found some at an antique store in town for super cheap!

I bought a board of it and it sat in my living room until last weekend. Getting them hung took a while for a few reasons.

First of all, I had to search for the perfect brackets. I wanted something that would match the weathered wood - like rusty iron. Turns out places like Home Depot and Lowe's only carry NEW stuff. Huh. But the antiques places around here didn't have anything I liked either.

Someone suggested Hobby Lobby. I don't have many crafty hobbies, so this place rarely pops to mind first. Lo and behold my dream brackets were there! But they only had one. I had to wait until a week later when they restocked.

Then there was the question of tools. I've got your average everyday tools like a hammer, screwdrivers and such. I don't have a drill or a stud finder, or drywall nails or a saw to make my barn board into the two shelves I wanted.

Then there was much debate between parties on how to hang them. Do I need to hang them from studs?? What about those plastic hole strengtheners to steady them??

Holy cow! I didn't want a project worthy of a freaking home improvement show - I wanted simple shelves.

All the decision-making and debate was worth it though because they are magical. Beautiful. JUST what I envisioned. I can't stop admiring them! I love sitting on my couch under them. They just add SO much to my living room! And the feeling of finally completing a project I wanted done by the time my family visited for Christmas is pretty nice too.

After they were up, Brandon, who helped put them up, joked about how I should have a shelf party.

I told him no joke - I just might throw a "top" shelf party this weekend. I'm already considering what top shelf liquors to serve...


One up close. Ain't it a beaut...?


You can imagine how bare the walls looked before! Wonderful...