Aw yeah, we’re living on the ledge. We’ve been waiting to hang our postcard shelves from our first house’s office for over two years and we finally found the right spot for them. Ba-dow:
We detailed the whole how-we-made-them process here (you should click that just to see how tiny Clara was) so here’s how we adapted them for this space:
- we measured how wide the dresser that would sit under them was (we thought they’d look top-heavy and odd if they were a foot longer, which they were at first)
- we lopped off the extra length on a miter saw, so they were all 2″ narrower than the dresser that sits under them
- we hung the first one (the lowest one) 16″ above the dresser after holding it up in a few different heights and deciding it looked best there (using a level to be sure it wasn’t wonky)
- we used long-ish screws (2.5″ guys) in three places to hold them nice and securely (anchors would be necessary for shelves with heavy items on them, but for small light shelves that hold small items like postcards, screws can easily do the job). Oh but we already had predrilled holes in the shelves so the screws could go right through them and hold them in place. So for more info on that click here for the full postcard-ledge-hanging rundown.
- there were some high-fives along the way
- we taped a yardstick to the wall (we used a level to be sure it was perpendicular to the floor) so we could use that as a guide to hang the left edge of all of them
- we hung each shelf on the wall with 9″ of space between each one (there was more bean-help and a few more high fives).
- we stepped back and enjoyed the view…
Then I broke out two things I’ve been hoarding saving for a nice long time.
Clara loves both of these boxes of flash cards, so I’ve been waiting not-so-patiently to hang the postcard shelves and rename them as… flash card shelves!
It’s a crazy easy way to add inexpensive art/color/interest plus there are even letters and words on them, so it’s a subtle little learning zone for Clara. She already gets a kick out of counting the number of animals on each shelf, finding specific ones that John or I call out, and even learning the first letter in many of their names (she woke up the other day and said “F is for Flamingo!” loud and proud as I lifted her out of her crib).
One more picture. Because I’m a flash card ledge fiend.
What are you guys cutting/leveling/hanging these days? Do you like to hang things from your first house in a different way or put a new twist on old art/shelves/ledges in a new space? Not gonna lie, it’s pretty fun to tweak something you already have for a whole new room and function. And I’m also pretty proud of myself for not droning on and on for once. 493 words in this post. Wooot! $herdog’s keeping it klassy koncise.
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