Shanty 2 Chic Floating Shelves

Back in 2013 when I first found Pinterest, I came across this amazing Pottery Barn inspired plan for this DIY Wall Art. I had just started dating my boyfriend and that was when he would still help me with my projects, even though he did mostly everything. He was so nice and cut all the wood for this project with no miter saw and it came out amazing. I think the only part I did was stain. Oh how things have changed, along with my picture taking abilities. Here is a picture of it in his home.

I then came across Shanty 2 Chic's floating shelves and fell in love. I just never had all the tools and confidence to build something like that on my own. I bought Ryobi's air compressor and nail gun kit when they had it on special at Home Depot around the holidays last winter in December 2014. If you are in the market for any of these tools, I would highly recommend waiting a few more months if you can to purchase this kit. I got the air compressor, brad nailer, finish nailer and crown stapler all for $150. The compressor alone is currently listed for $160. Then in 2015, I have slowly acquired a Kreg Jig and sliding compound miter saw.

With all these tools to finally build these shelves, I finally took it upon myself to do so. My condo came with a cheap chrome towel bar right across my toilet, that sits too low for it to be useful. So my plan was to build three shelves there. I brought the plans with me to Home Depot and they were nice enough to make most cuts in the wood that I needed. Next, I then brought everything home and finished cutting everything myself with the miter saw. It was very intimidating at first with how loud and big it is. But after the first cut, I felt invincible with it. As you can probably tell from this picture below:

This saw worked great and made all the cutting very easy to finish, especially with the ability to cut up to 12 inches with one of the boards to the top of the shelves being 10 inches in depth. With everything cut, I started to assemble the frame. I learned that I wouldn't be able to put the first shelf as low as I was hoping, so I could only put two shelves in my space. I was able to line up the frame and find the studs (after a few attempts) and drilled them in.

Then I used my brad nailer and air compressor and started assembling the rest of the shelves. The brad nailer and air compressor were intimidating as well after reading the instructions and seeing how loud both were. The noise and facts in the manual (about using the gun as a weapon and having the tank possibly blow up) are still scary, but I just went with it. I also had to patch up the holes from my chrome towel bar as well.

 

I then used my frog tape to tape off my walls. Sanding was the next step, I did this with both loose sand paper and a sanding block. Then next was the stain, I was debating between the Minwax Jacobean and the Minwax Dark Walnut . There were some extra pieces of wood leftover so I tested it out on both. Jacobean was the ultimate decision as I liked the color and how it brought the grain out in the wood. My bathroom is very light colored so I want to bring in some dark colors and I thought the Jacobean stain did this well. I made sure to cover all the area beneath the shelves with old towels and a drop cloth and started applying the stain with a lint free cloth and gloves.

The smell was fairly strong after applying the stain so I made sure to run my fan in my bathroom and keep my condo well ventilated for about a week. I think it finally went away or I am just used to the smell by now. Either way, I am very happy with how they turned out. I finally got them decorated last night with decor I found from Home Goods. Still looking to add a few more things as I find them.

Hope everyone is having a great week and thanks for reading!

Shayla

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