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I love to dabble in fun DIY projects and have been trying to think of a fun way to add some interest to the back wall in Harper’s Playroom. I wanted to try my hand at woodworking and came up with the idea of a photo ledge. (make sure you stay tuned for the next post on how to style the shelf!) You can get these pre-made at IKEA but they are much shorter. I knew that they only way to get the size and colour I wanted was to make it myself. It is a great beginner DIY project that can make a big impact in your home decor and I am showing you step-by-step how to build your own.
What you need:
3 boards the length you desire – 2″ wide, 3″ wide & 4″ wide
Sander – a palm sander will make your life easier! (this smaller one would work just as well!)
Sand Paper & Block – 120-180 grit will work well
Wood Glue
Clamps or masking tape
Saw (or get Home Depot to cut your boards to perfect length)
Stain – I used Danish Oil
Drywall screws & Drill
Pick your wood
Home Depot has a pretty good selection of pre-cut wood that will work perfectly for this project. I like to stay away from pine as I find it has too many knots and tends to be more yellow in colour. The wood I chose is called Poplar, but maple would work just as well. All three are readily available! I wanted my ledge to be about 6 ft in length which is perfect because these boards come precept in 4,6 and 8 ft lengths. I grabbed 3 boards in total – 2″x6′, 3″x6′ and 4″x6′.
Sand it down
Sanding by hand take a long time so I used an electric palm sander to help and grabbed two different grits of sandpaper. **TIP** The higher the number on the sandpaper, the finer the grit will be. The 120 worked perfectly for smoothing the boards and removing any imperfections.
Glue it together
With wood glue, you want to glue your boards together. The 4″ piece will act as your bottom that is sandwiched between the 2″ and 3″ boards. Your finished photo ledge will kind of look like an uneven U shape. Place some glue along the edge of your board and clamp them together.
** TIP ** If you don’t have clamps, masking take works well!
Make sure to line up the long edges as best as you can. Don’t worry if they are not all perfect – wood itself isn’t perfect and we can fix any minor edges with the sander later.
Glue two pieces together, let them sit overnight to dry and then glue the 3rd piece on and clamp it. You could probably do them all at the same time but this allowed me to focus on lining up the edges.
Make it straight
Once your photo ledge is glued together you want to make it pretty! Like I said, not all wood is perfect and even though you bought 6′ length boards, they will not all be identical. Because I am a beginner, I didn’t worry too much about the lengths being perfect at the beginning. Instead I took my photo ledge to the saw and cut a clean line down both ends.
Smooth it out
Once the ends are cut clean, take a sanding block to them to smooth them out. Now this step can vary depending on how finished you like your product. A farmhouse style can be left more “undone”. I like a polished look, so I spent some time sanding and used the same block sander to smooth all the corners down. I also took my electric palm sander again and sanded down the bottom of the photo ledge. You could easily see the seams where the boards were glued together and they weren’t perfect. This took time and patience, but is so worth the extra step!
Stain it!
Once you have your shelf sanded to the way you want it, you are ready for stain! I went with a Danish Oil in Medium Walnut. Like I said, I am a beginner so it was a bit of trial and error on how to apply the stain. I started by pouring some stain onto the shelf and spreading it with a foam brush. This worked GREAT but was messy with drips from the can. So I grabbed an old rag and poured the stain onto the rag and then rubbed it into the wood. The great thing about the Danish Oil is that you can’t really mess it up! Just rub it on, wipe off the excess and let it dry.
Find your studs
Before you start to install your photo ledge, take a second to find the studs in your wall. If you can attached the shelf to at least 2 studs, you will have a sturdy place to lean photos and decor without worry of it falling. Measure out where you want your shelf to go on the wall. Use a pencil to make the lines. Then mark where the studs are on the wall. Using the measurements, transfer the stud locations to your shelf back. You want to pre-drill holes in your shelf to match where the studs are. You can countersink your screws by using a drill bit, going down 1/4″. Then you can either buy a plug to fill that hole or just dab some stain inside to match the rest of the shelf.
Install it!
You are ready to hang your photo ledge! Line it up with the markings on your wall and drill into the studs with long wood screws. That’s it! Now the fun part is decorating & styling the ledge. Want to see how I did it? I’ll be sharing my final playroom reveal later this week so many sure to come back.
XO
Katrina Gwen Rose
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