Monday, September 9, 2013

DIY Plate Shelves




I've been wanting to do something in my dining room but I didn't know what.  In the 3 years we've lived here, all we've done is put a table and a hutch in there, nothing on the walls.  So I decided to make a plate wall originally.  I got together some cool plates that I already had, and went to a couple thrift shops to get the other plates.  Then I scattered them all over the dining room table, like so:











I started counting all of the plates and realized that I needed A TON of plate hangers.  Well guess what, turns out they are kind of expensive.  Like... they cost quite a bit more than what I got all of these plates for. So... I started looking at other less expensive options, and that's when I came up with making some plate shelves.

These shelves were really easy to make, the whole project took me about 4 hours total (With a little help from the husband).

I decided to make 3 shelves total.  First I went to the store and picked up the following items:

3 - 2"x1"
6 - 2"x4"

Wood Glue



I already had nails, sand paper, white paint and paint brushes.

I used wood glue to glue 2 of the 2"x4"s and 1 of the 2"x1"s together (see picture)

I did this two more times to make a total of 3 shelves.

Then I reinforced the glue by pounding nails in every 6-8 inches down the shelf.









As you can see I am not a pro when it comes to trying to hammer a nail in straight..



After the shelves were put together, we put 2 coats of white paint on them.









They dried overnight, and then we hung them up in the dining room and I put all of my plates on.











I'm going to hang a few blue and white plates above this shelf but haven't gotten to that point quite yet.


Quick, easy, and inexpensive project!  That's the kind I like!