The Baeza Blog: Rustic Shelf

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Rustic Shelf

I could not be more thrilled!!! It is not very often that something comes together even better than you planned! Today it did!

I bought this old worn down window -without glass- for $8 at Paris Flea Market a week ago. I had this old piece of wood in the garage for awhile now too. I thought, wouldn't it be cool if I made my own rustic shelf?

I went to Home Depot and bought two solid wood corbels for $11 each. I spray painted them Rustoleum's Heirloom White. After they were dry I roughed them up with my 3m sanding block. Next up I used Valspar Antiquing Glaze to weather them a bit. I applied it with a foam brush and then wiped off immediately with a paper towel. Want it darker? Add more. Want it lighter? Use a lighter coat. I love this stuff!

This is what they looked like when I was done. Now I have the base to my shelf. They come with screws and there is a groove for it on the back so they sit flush with the wall.

After cutting my wood board, I had raw edges that didn't match the worn look of the rest of the board. I just added some glaze to these too, just lightly, and wiped off. The glaze grabs to the raw parts of wood a lot more, so you have to be careful with that.

I used my stud finder to locate the wood in the walls. Then I installed the corbels, making sure they were level. Next I laid my board across it, leaving just a tiny lip on each side of the board. It just so happened that's where it ended up with where the studs were in the wall and I like it that way! Then I screwed in a screw from the top of the board on each end of the shelf, drilling it into the corbel. Voila! Done!

I could not POSSIBLY love it more!!! I realize I am showing you a picture and I haven't bought a candle yet for the candle holder, but I was too excited!