Wednesday, February 22, 2012

On the ledge

Yesterday, I showed you some free art that I created for the empty corner in our master bedroom. You also got a glimpse of the picture ledges that I hung to display some other frames. I had a special request (Thanks Kris!) to show those shelves head on.  Well, your wish is my command!





As I mentioned yesterday, I found the shelves at Lowe's. While I thought they were a bit expensive, they were the exact look I was going for. Plus, I knew that I wasn't going to spend a lot of money to fill them. Wow, I'm good at justifying spending money!

The ledges are only a few inches deep, so I knew I would need frames that just leaned against the wall.  I went into my frame cemetery craft room to find some frames to fit the bill. Several months ago I bought a few cheap black frames at JoAnn's. Like $3 cheap. For an 8 by 10 frame with a mat. I was excited. I also had a few frames leftover from college and my first apartment. I always knew it was a good idea to hang on to these things.

The only new piece that I bought for the shelves was the large Moroccan-style print. I found that at Home Goods, another favorite place of mine. Bill suggested that I use some velcro on the back of that frame to really hold it onto the wall. I heeded his advice since I did not want to be cleaning up glass if the frame ever did come crashing down.

When it came to actually putting the frames on the shelves, I just played around until I found an arrangement that I liked. Some of the frames overlap and I really like the look of that. I also like that the prints are all different, but they are tied together since they are all black and white. One of the frames is filled with leftover fabric from some pillows that I made for the bed. There are really no rules about what you can put on display!

 
 Before I bought the shelves, I had already hung that large bronze clock. I like the clock, but I'm not sure I like it in that spot.  Any opinions? By the way, the paint color in our bedroom is Valspar's City Storm. In real life, the color is a lot more gray than it photographs. I had the paint color-matched to the Olympic low VOC paint. It was my first time using the low VOC paint and it was ah-mazing. There were no fumes. At all. And it's cheaper than the normal Valspar paint. I'm in love.

What do you think of the picture ledges? Have you tried overlapping your frames and just leaning them against the wall? Is anyone else paranoid that they could all come crashing down at any second? By the by, if this isn't your thing, I'll be back later today with another option for displaying a great variety of frames.

Thanks for reading,
Kathleen

2 comments:

  1. Love the ledges. I had them in our former home and am waiting to print and frame replacement photos before I put them up in our new house. I overlapped the photos and used small decorative items to accent them, similar to what you did with the words. I've done both the photo wall(which took a lot of planning and time) and the shelves. I like the shelves so much more.
    PS. If you have ideas of where to purchase the shelves, please post. A year or two ago you could find these just about anywhere. I've been looking around in local stores and online and they are difficult to find. Tried Lowes, but I need the espresso color.
    I'm looking into making photo shelves using molding. I picked some up in HD yesterday, now to get the hubby to get the saw and nail gun going.

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  2. Thanks Tracy! It thrills me to no end to know that anyone is reading this and the comments are just spectacular!

    I love the ledges, but I agree that they were hard to find. I looked at several places before agreeing to pay over $40 for each one. I really like the idea of making your own from molding. You could get the exact look and size that you wanted.

    My only other suggestion would be to buy the white ones and then spray paint them the color that you want them to be. I've spray painted several things recently and the results have been good.

    Good luck!

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I really love hearing your feedback! Its a great feeling to get a comment and realize that people are actually reading this blog. Thanks for taking the time :)