Gallery Wall Pt 3 - Wall Shelves

Check out our Gallery Wall Shelves! I decided that we needed to jump on the wall shelf bandwagon since I loved the idea of being able to swap art work in and out at will.  Plus, the reality is that I was being too pokey about figuring out the layout to actually hang the art and this seemed like a way to actually get something on the wall before 2013.

You can see that the coin art and the sea biscuit shadowbox are included in the mix.  I also added some family photos, a silhouette of me from kindergarden, a rubbing from a church in London and some state love art (tute coming for that soon).

I used Ana White's Ten Dollar Ledges as the start for my project. Though I modified it to fit our needs.  

Our ledges are 5 feet in length and I used 1x4's, 1x3's and 1x2's.  While I used cheaper wood for the 1x4's and 1x3's, I splurged on 1st quality 1x2's so I wouldn't need to worry about knots.

 
I used our Kreg jig so I could hide the fasteners making the finishing that much easier.

  
Some wood glue, screws and caulk - and I had 2 gallery wall shelves. (it is the table that is wonky crooked, not the shelves)

I gave them each several coats of white semi-gloss paint and then they were ready to hang. 

Some help from D to get a couple of long wood screws into the studs and we were ready to go. 

 It fills up the space perfectly.

We hung it high enough so that we can put chairs, a bar or a small bookcase underneath without any problem.  There is space on either side soany pieces that need to be hung, like shadowboxes, can easily added.