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Thursday, June 9, 2011

How I did my "Floating Shelves Photo Wall"

Two "how-to's" in a row, I'm on a roll!  I first talked about my vision for a photo wall in my living room here

And as I mention in my original post, the first time I knew I wanted to do a floating shelves photo wall in my living room "entry way" was from watching my fave non-reality show, Parenthood.  Then I stumbled across Kristen's floating photo wall she copied from this lovely lady and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. 

It only took me, ohhhhh, 2 months to finally finish, but hey ... it's done, I absolutely LOVE it and that's all that matters.  Not kidding, I kick back on my couch and stare at it every day:

HERE IS HOW I DID IT:


1. Gather Supplies

Priority one was buying the shelves.  I got mine at Garden Ridge for $24.99/shelf and they are 3 feet long in an Espresso color.   I found a very similar shelf at Hobby Lobby for $44.99 half off last week ($22.99/shelf), but I wasn't going to mess with returning and re buying just to save $6.  Although I should have, gas prices are too high and I'm too lazy to mess with that. 

I'm not going to lie to you and tell you the shelves were easy to hang.  They were anything but.  I was sweating and cursing trying to get those biatches hung.  It literally took me 2 days to finish hanging them because I quit half way in.  I needed a break.

Priority 2 was getting everything to put on the shelves. 
While I was at Garden Ridge, I bought 2 picture frames.  One was $2.99 and the other was on clearance for $3.99.  The rest of the picture frames I bought at Burlington Coat Factory of all places.  Super random, I know.  I got them in a package that was 10 frames for $9.99.  They were a hideous gold, but I knew I could easily paint them. 

I already owned the candle + candle sticks (from Target) and 2 of the picture frames that I used (Kohl's).

I bought the round mirror and large "L" at the Hob Lob for $9.99 and $3.50 ish.  They were both half off.

2. Once I got the shelves hung (FML), I "staged" them so I could figure out which frames were going where before I painted them. 

3. Next, I painted the tacky gold frames.
I bought acrylic paint and a paint brush from Michael's.  As y'all saw here, my living room is mostly deep brown with red accents, so that's what I painted the frames.
It's currently around 100 degrees in Dallas, so I just put them on my balcony to dry and it took less than hour to dry even with 3 coats of paint.   

4. The last thing I did was print pictures @ CVS. 
I converted each picture to a Sepia color using Picnik.  I had a hard time deciding if I wanted the photos in color, black and white or sepia, but eventually decided on sepia.  Sepia has a brownish tint to it, and since my living room is mostly browns, I thought it would match best.
I saved this fortune that I got when I was in a really sad place after the break-up with Lucifer.  I've always had it on my fridge, but I decided to mat it (used gold wrapping paper from Christmas) and frame it.  It means something to me because the fortune was so true for me, so I love it.

Once everything was painted and framed, I decorated the shelves.  This is the finished product, I hope this "how-to" helps you if you are looking to recreate something similar!  If you still have questions (I hope I didn't leave anything out), just email  me or comment this post and I will be happy to answer!
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33 comments:

  1. Blogger is being lame and not telling me when you post new stuff, and its annoying me :-(

    Now that that's off my chest, can I just tell you how cute your toes polish is?!! HA!

    I LOVE your floating shelves and I am sooooo recreating this. I'm literally going to pin this! <3 you!!!!

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  2. you are so resourceful for painting those gold frames. i would have just either 1) not bought them or 2) used them as is...b/c i'm lazy. we know this.

    i love it! can't wait to see it in PERSON! :) we'll take a picture of us together to go in one of those frames. who are you going to get rid of? hmmmm...

    and i still think you need to get a monogram for the mirror! :)

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  3. YOU ARE SOOOOO GOING TO DECORATE MY NEXT APARTMENT!!!

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  4. you are so thrifty! seriously - my mind doesn't even work like this. if i dont' see EXACTLY what i'm looking for - it doesn't even cross my mind to whip out a can of spray paint and make it what i want. i think i'm lacking a woman gene somewhere.

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  5. This is incredible! I may need to steal this idea for the plain wall in my bedroom. I've been looking for some cheap ideas and haven't been able to come up with anything. This could definitely work. Thanks for sharing! :)

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  6. Looooooove it! It turned out amazing!!
    This Lucifer talk gets me curious. Im such a nosy nancy! ahahha!
    xoxo Inna :)

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  7. It's funny how a little paint cant change the entire look of the frames. :)

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  8. cute cute cuuuute!!!
    you did a great job.
    now you have me inspired!
    :)
    KATY

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  9. Great job! Love the photos/candles combo :)

    K.

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  10. Wtf is bloggers problem in not telling me when u update. Whatevsssss.

    I think this idea is wayyy cute and I wanna carry it with me when I move (because we all know my boyfriends giving me decorating rights and not himself). I love that u used picnik to change up the photos. Anddd I love that u spent so much time on it! The effort really shows and I loveee it.

    Fav part? The beautiful feet in pic 1. No doubt.

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  11. You did a great job!!! I love the shelves even now, months later!! Youll love them too!!! :)

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  12. I'm in the process of moving into my new house at school and I just may have to use this idea... I love it! :) Thanks for posting!

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  13. I love love love it! I think it looks great! So pretty!

    Love your HOW-TO's!!

    XOXO

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  14. I feel like I can never do anything cool like this. Thank you for showing how easy it truly can be. I would have been done at gold frames. They would have either stayed that way or caused to the project to never be completed. I knew you could paint frames..but it always seemed like something I most likely would screw up. I think I could probably handle a paint brush and some newspaper. Easy=Love.

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  15. Cool place to stay/////?

    Here it is

    http://vinothcraig.blogspot.com

    If you like it drop a comment, if you don't like follow the blog

    regds
    vijay
    Cool Blogs

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  16. this is so great.....ugh, makes me wish we didn't move every three months so I could actually do things like this! jealous!

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  17. Thanks for the tutorial! I found shelves at Target for $24.99 but I was hoping to find cheaper...I love how you repainted the frames! I'm planning to go all "TLC" and re-purpose items from our house, although I may have to add some new touches. Thanks again!

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  18. LOVE THIS! I'm totally going to start painting frames now mah lady! and that fortune in a frame? LOVE THAT IDEA! I always save mine for awhile and then throw away... weird? maybe... :)

    and was your ex's name really lucifer? or is that his nickname? either way... hilarious! :)

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  19. Oh my gosh - I love that you saved the fortune and framed it. When I was going through a really awful time about 5 or so years ago, I saved a fortune that said, "Time heels all wounds. Keep your chin up" and framed it! Still have it on my nightstand to remind me how blessed I am... love that you did the same!

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  20. I LOVE that you refer to your ex as "Lucifer" mine are "He Who Shall Not Be Named" LOL

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  21. I swear I commented. I know I read it. Maybe I was too drunk to comment. anyway, I am going to send you a picture of me so you can put it on your shelving right there ok? seriously. I am. You need a pic of me right where you can see me everyday. If I send you a pic will you put it up there? DO you want it of like, me and my kids so it doesnt seem TOTALLY creepy?? will you??

    Little Reesy in those pics. Adorable. Why they have to grow so big??

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  22. amazing DIY....love the gold frames

    http://www.etsy.com/people/Rosabellebyvasu

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  23. i'm a little late in catching up, but i LOVE this!!! i am definitely going to save it -- i want to do this! Looks AWESOME GIRL!

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  24. I know I already told you, but it looks SO GOOD!! LOooove the cruise pic and our model shot from the wedding! Can't wait till I have a house and you can decorate it! ;)

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  25. Um, how did I miss this post? I have been waiting for this...Kinda having second thoughts about having it in my bedroom, but I still want one some where in my house, well my parents house, whatever...I love the Sepia effect! & baby nephew, so cute! I don't have any cute photos with my nephews, boo on that! The fortune cookie fortune framed thing, love that!

    xo $ARMIN

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  26. Thank you so much for sharing this. I know that it was from a long time ago but this is exactly what I've been wanting to do in my house on a particular wall that I just painted. Thank you so much.

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  27. They are wonderful looking shelves. So simple to make and very effective in terms of space creation. Great Job! I have floating shelves pretty much anywhere i can put them in my house. My next project is to build floating shelves around the tv on my living room wall. Going to be a tough project i think. I got the idea from Top9Home.com Wish me luck!!

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