Monday 16 January 2012

floating shelves

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah
zip-a-dee-ay
my oh my what a wonderful day !!!
This is my happy song because I now have two floating shelves in the living-room.
I actually imagined these about 5 years ago, when I moved in with my dear old geezer.
Before blogging, before considering stencilling the walls, I wanted these shelves.
This is the before. This is basically what we looked at for about five years !


And now - after selling our cafe and having more time,
being given a laptop,
discovering blogs on interiors,
following inspirational people,
we have this -


The stencilled alcoves, that I wrote about here with a floating shelf in each
(painted white of course).






To put up these shelves I basically marked a line on the wall with a level.
Drilled six holes for each shelf and put in 4inch screws.
I chiselled out notches on the underside of each piece of wood, in line with
the screw. See below.


Then I filled the holes and painted the shelves with two coats of emulsion.

Apart from the first one, I drilled ALL the holes, with the dreaded HAMMER DRILL.
I needed help putting the screws in ( I need to build more muscle).
The chiselling out was actually fun, I quite enjoyed that bit.

For my 'impossible challenge I need repeat this 10 times in the dining room.
I HAVE to do it all myself.
And I have to have it done by 31st January.
WISH ME LUCK !!!
If you also want to take part, press the button on the left sidebar for details.




zip-a-dee-doo-dah.................................

linking up with
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Tuesdays Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Show me what ya got @ Not Just a Housewife
Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style
Primp Your Stuff Wednesdays @ {Primp}
Open House Party @ No Minimalist Here
Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Inspiration Friday @ At the Picket Fence
Fridays Unfolded @ Stuff and Nonsense

17 comments:

  1. wow this is just beautiful Fiona! I love the stencils too, I missed when you posted about that. I'm loving the floating shelves, all of a sudden I'm looking around thinking where can i put some shelves?!? lol thanks for sharing love, it looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The shelves look great. And, ummm, great way to build that muscle - just use that hammer drill more and more and more and more..........

    ~Bliss~

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Fiona, I absolutely adore what you have done with your floating shelves. Everything on them looks gorgeous too. Now I have the bug, I want to put shelves up but I think I might have to put them up on brackets. I'm a little too chicken to start drilling holes in my apartment walls. Time will tell and if I do, I will eventually post pics on my blog. Thanks so much for sharing. I have recently found your blog and am now following you, and will visit often. Please stop by my blog and perhaps you would like to follow me also. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Chris
    http://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fiona, you did it girl! Bravo! And the shelves fit perfectly there! I'm proud of you!

    ReplyDelete
  5. A little tiny observation... have you ever considered to put one more shelf right above the radiator? I think it would be nice!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Olga - I have the wood already, exactly the same planks to make a shelf over the rads. Then I am going to build cabinets underneath. I couldn't do it for my challenge though as I don't have enough wood, and we have got to cut down on the spending at the moment. But I will definately be doing this in the future. x

      Delete
  6. OK then! You have big plans! Go ahead! :)
    P.S.: check out my blog later today... you've got yourself another award!

    ReplyDelete
  7. LUCK LUCK LUCK -- that's me sending wishes of luck. I thought I might need to shout since you're so far away ...

    Thanks for sending me the link to your update. I'm thinking "impossibility" success!

    Linda
    itallstartedwithpaiint@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. i do adore
    your new floaters

    how pretty and light they look

    i want some for my kitchen

    thanks for sharing at Fridays Unfolded!

    alison

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Fiona, The shelves look wonderful and I love your stenciled alcoves. Best of luck with your dinig room project and thanks for linking to the Open House Party. xo, Sherry

    ReplyDelete
  10. That room is really taking shape! It looks great so far. I'm already dreaming up what I can do with ours! ^__^ Love the floating shelves and that's a great idea for how to do them.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow they look amazing. Thanks for sharing. Cheers SpecialK XoXo

    ReplyDelete

It's always a pleasure to receive your comments. I really enjoy reading them, and a huge thank you if you are following as well !