Finishing a new home seems to be a continuous series of baby steps. There have been major “ah-ha” moments, like when we finished the shed or the dining room wainscoting, but for the most part, our DIY projects have been minor in scope and fairly frequent. Our to-do list never seems to end. One of my pet peeves after having lived in our current home for a couple years now is the lack of general decor. We keep it simple. There are still a handful of rooms in the house that literally haven’t been “improved” upon since we moved in, including our master bedroom and bath (more on those very soon). Nothing on the walls, no paint yet, zip, nada. Since Lisa is in charge of what goes on the walls (she picks it, I hang it), I’ve been bugging her to come up with some more decor and interest for our spaces. This week she bought a couple floating shelves from Target. Big fan.
Even bigger fan of the hardware that came with it. I have a love/hate relationship with molly bolts… no, it’s mostly hate. I hate them. Molly bolts that come with most commercial items are almost always a crappy plastic piece that a.) spin in the drywall and never fasten down b.) refuse to accept the screws that came with them c.) pull right out of the drywall even after you’ve gotten them “right.” /end rant.
These shelves came with my favorite type of drywall fastener, the white oversized screw type (see below). You just push on them until they pierce the wall and then you just screw them down tight.
I’m also a big fan of how the shelves attach to the wall. They have a two piece metal bracket. I also fully endorse Ikea’s floating shelf brackets, same basic concept.
Once the bracket is mounted, the shelf just clips onto it.
They’ve got a sweet coved edge on three sides. We’re showing the photo above to give you an idea of how far they stick out from the wall. Not too bad.
With both shelves mounted, you can see how they add some needed Christmas cheer to our wall. We actually had to think about how far “in” the top shelf needed to be. Too close to the wall edge and a tall person could accidentally walk right into it.
It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye walking into a Target floating shelf. How many times have we heard that childhood tale?
That’s our tinsel reindeer. You’re going to be seeing a lot of him. We throw him into nearly all of our Christmas photos. He’s got a 3 year, 12 post contract. He’s pretty much the Charleston Heston of tinsel reindeer. He’s kind of a big deal around here.
How are you adding interest to your spaces?
