Tuesday, March 8, 2011

DIY Crown Molding Shelf

I took this random light that we had in our house - it was homemade from the previous owners and in our kitchen with florescent lights - and turned it into crown molding shelves!


Here is how I did it.  After a few meltdowns (including, not being able to figure out how to move my miter saw - looking at the hand held miter saw with the saw covered in glue so it wouldn't work, being angry I couldn't find the extension cord and plug in the garage) - I stumbled upon this lighting contraption that has been sitting in our garage waiting to be thrown out.  See - everything happens for a reason!

I took out the electrical feature of the light - so I was left with a crown molding box.

Then I got thinking - I need to find something to sit on top - what do I have...what do I have...Do you remember the dress-up center I made for my daughters birthday - I made it from my kids armour.  Well this is one of the drawers that was left over.  I had two of them!
And it fit perfectly on the top!!!
So then I marked a fair amount over from what I needed - and made two cuts - one on each side with our miter saw.

Then I marked where I actually needed it - and cut it again.
See - it's starting to take shape!
Here is another view - you can see how the original piece was constructed - in case you want to make it from scratch.  The white piece with the screws though was used to secure the electric part.
Then I needed something to have on the bottom - because you don't want to see up into the guts of the shelf - right.  So - you know those cheap flimsy bottoms to drawers.  They are white and cheap is the best way to describe them - I had one left over from the dresser and I cut it to fit - it works great - I just glued and clamped it in - because gravity would really take care of the rest.
My husband and I had a debate over which way the top should go - up or down - he won - it looked more like an additional piece of crown with the drawer facing down. 
Then we glued and nailed it down.
It's starting to take shape!
Then - how do we hang this awesomeness to the wall????
We took a 2x4 (probably heavier than it needed to be), glued and nailed it to the top of the shelf - so we could use anchors and anchor it to the wall. (side note of an opps - make sure it's where you want it before you nail and glue it - mine was out to far - and wouldn't sit on the wall.  We took a jig saw to it to try and trim it - well it was nice enough to pop off!  So we moved it back - then glued it and nailed it where it should have been - lesson learned)
Then we have to fill all those silly holes - and sand sand sand...
Here is just another view of the inside.  Then prime and paint everything.  One coat of prime - and then about 3-4 coats of white flat paint (there were a lot of imperfections - we didn't want to draw attention to!)

And Tada.....Our decorated shelves - that were FREE!!!!  I love that price - we had everything on hand!  Except the decorations - we decided to actually buy something to put on them!  Fancy that idea - right!
Another shot.
I just love that picture of my girls running - brings in the color's of the room.
OK - now for a secret - see on the bottom of the shelf - there are these circle shapes - yup - they are circle shapes....Time for my confession....When we attached the 2x4 and the anchors to the wall - the shelf tilted down - a lot!!!!  So we put in these wood circles I had in the basement - it was the perfect amount to tilt the bottom out - to make the shelf flat.
See - you can see it a little better here.
See how nice that bottom turned out with that flimsy material.
We need to do a little more finish work - filling in the wholes with some caulk - but - we wanted to get them up in the worst way!
One more picture - I was trying to not use my flash - playing with my photography skills.

As a side note - and another "opps" that bottom shelf fell :(  My husband was taking it down to do some finish work - and we couldn't get the anchors to work right.  Good thing it fell on him and not our kids.  We are going to re-evaluate how to attach to the wall....Needs to be sturdy with three little crazy kids running around - this is their room....Keep you posted on how we net out.



Linking to these parties

23 comments:

  1. This looks great! Very creative, and it looks really great!


    I am stopping by from Tea Rose Home's Linky Party, please stop by and check out my project, too :)
    http://xsurvivingmotherhoodx.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-made-it-zippered-make-up-bags.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great idea. Good job. I'm your newest follower. Mind following me back www.southerwhim.blogspot.com. Hopefully we can share some ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is so creative. I could use some on my walls. What a neat idea. You did awesome they look wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is awesome! I love them they are so pretty I would actually like to make some for my bedroom. Thank you for sharing. I am visiting from All Thingz Related link party.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You have a way with wood. {meltdowns are always apart of any construction project, right??}

    Thanks for linking to Creative Juice Thursday!

    ReplyDelete
  6. They look amazing. Thank you for the tutorial.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm very impressed that you made these out of scraps, basically! I just bought a set of three of these yesterday at Kohl's for 40% off and thought I was clever...wish I was handy with tools...

    ReplyDelete
  8. so clever!

    I am having 2 giveaways on my blog.

    $38 store credit + free shipping to select a cute backpack from Busy little hands
    http://houseonashwelllane.blogspot.com/2011/03/38-store-credit-free-shipping-giveaway.html

    $15 store credit + free shipping from hair candy for girls.pettiskirts, xipper flower clips, hair accessories and more
    http://houseonashwelllane.blogspot.com/2011/03/15-store-credit-giveaway-from-hair.html

    All you have to do to win is leave a comment.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Super cool idea! Your shelves look fabulous. I love trash-to-treasure transformations. Just imagine all the junk we DIYers are keepin' out of the landfills with our projects. ;)

    Thanks for linking to the party. I would love to have you join me for Funny Faux Pas Follies, as well.

    Blessings
    Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
    http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a great redo!

    I am having an antique auction on my blog. All sorts of lovely and romantic finds looking for a new home. I hope you'll stop by.

    Have a wonderful weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow! That was quite amazing. This is a FANTASTIC project. Great job! I would be delighted if you would link this to my VIP party today! http://designergarden.blogspot.com/2011/03/vip-party-6.html

    Cheers!
    Sommer

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love these. Getting shelves attatched to the wall is always the trickiest part!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Gotta love free shelves.. and snazzy looking ones, at that! Well done, they look great!

    ReplyDelete
  14. great job! Great step by step as well. Love, Me www.youaretalkingtoomuch.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow- that is super creative! Your shelves look great~ thanks for sharing at FNF! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. These look so great! Thanks for linking them up to Inspiration Friday!
    Vanessa

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow! I admire my fellow sisters who can think "outside" of the m-a-l-e box:)

    Cookie

    ReplyDelete
  18. This is one of the best tutorials I've read on how to do moldings. Thanks so much! What you've done is beautiful!I loved the very clear directions.I will be giving that a try.



    Fiberglass Columns

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for sharing the information regarding the Crown Molding.Visit Cut crown molding to know more about this.

    ReplyDelete