Floating Bookshelves Tutorial

Floating bookshelves are the new rage. You can make them at home for as cheap as you wish. This is about the same as my floating DVDs tutorial, only with books, and I actually made these when we first moved in because it was so simple and I needed to get started on decorating. I just haven't gotten around to posting here.



You'll need some hefty, hardback books that you don't mind cutting into and gluing, scissors, short self-tapping screws, and two L brackets per book.











Measure and place the L brackets at equal distances.











Trace the L brackets and cut away just enough pages to have them sit flush when the book is closed.









You might have to cut into the cover itself to let the book sit flat against the wall when hung.










Screw the L brackets to the pages and then glue around the edges and glue the covers shut.











Let it all dry.

Then hang! Now you have homemade floating bookshelves.

Photo Transfers to Canvas Tutorial

I found this tutorial on A la Mode Stuff a while back and planned to use it on some products. But then it just became a home project for my dining room wall. Here's how I did it with photos of the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and Big Ben.


Print out the photos you want. If they have words or something recognizable (like the Statue of Liberty's right hand) make sure and flip them. (I didn't, but we're a left-handed family so a left-handed Statue of Liberty is fine with me.)








You'll need canvas, the print-outs, mod podge, and a sponge brush. Glue the print-outs to the canvas ink down with the mod podge.










Smooth the wrinkles out and cover the pictures with something heavy. Let them dry.










Then slightly dampen the paper and pull it off.












You'll need to rub most of the paper off with your finger. I left some of the paper, and even scraped some of the ink off, to make them look old.










The three with the paper scraped off. It makes quite a mess.











I rubbed a wet black teabag around the edges and in the holes. It made them look like old oil paintings. It doesn't really match my other decor, and I wish I had left them white. Maybe I'll do them again at some point.

Turning Old Crates into Shelves

Here is how I turned some old crates into shelves. First off, buy or find some old crates. Usually you can find them pretty cheap in antique stores. I found mine on a garage sale website.

Then I took some tissue paper that I just loved, make sure and buy really big sheets depending on the size of your crates. I cut the paper to fit the boxes and lined the backs. Having tissue paper is nice because it bends and molds without ripping. I just attached it with double-sided tape, but you could use about anything that will adhere it to the wood. They haven't fallen out yet!

My lovely husband put them on the wall. In Germany the walls are pretty much made out of concrete, so you can just drill holes and hang wherever. He put screws through the wood on the top two corners and then into the wall. They are flat-head screws so the paper lining covers them up. You might have to do something different depending on your wall set up. Ask someone handy, I'm not exactly that.

And then decorate! Because of how strong our walls are I had no worries with weight. But still, don't pile your entire set of encyclopedias on there, you don't need them falling off and leaving gouges in your wall.

What do you think?

My Apartment and the Design Inside

I think our apartment is finally good enough to show here. I'm still lost on what to paint. I'm thinking a light gray in the living room, but I like everything as it is so I'm just leaving it for now. Click here to see the photos on my album with it empty and then designed.

The main room. Behind me is the entry and to the right is the kitchen. To my left is a hallway that leads to two bedrooms and the bathroom. Outside the big windows is our balcony. Above this area is the entertainment area and the third bedroom directly above my head. The two chairs with brown plaid...yea...I'm looking forward to changing that fabric to match the rest of the decor. And the wall behind the couch is the one I want to paint gray. I did a tutorial on how I painted the small white table in the bottom left corner.

The reading nook. I'll post tutorials on how I made the floating books and the crates. That's our parakeet, Moe, in the cage. And that chair I found in the trash, it just needed a good cleaning. Awesome, right?

The entertainment area in the loft. The third bedroom is behind me. We were sleeping in there until it got crazy hot this summer. I did a tutorial on the floating DVDs on the back wall back in January.

A closer look at the wall that should be gray.

 My office. I did a tutorial on how I painted the writing on the wall, just click here to see it. As well as a tutorial on how I made the storage boxes in the bookcase.

Let me know what you think, or what I can improve upon. I don't advertise that I'm a designer of any sort, but I love to do it. My apartment is constantly a blank canvas for me to go crazy with.

The Writing on the Wall - Home Painting Project

Back in high school my two best friends and I had a painting business. We called it The Writing on the Wall and we even had business cards. We only worked for friends and family, but it was a lot of fun. We designed and painted rooms and typically we wrote a bible verse or some lovely saying in big letters on the focal wall. I've grown to love having words on the wall. And when I saw a rug that was like an old letter, I got my inspiration to paint on the wall again. So in my office I have a big wall that is just over my bookcase. Here is the recipe for painting words on a wall.

Ingredients:

A blank wall.

Paint and a calligraphy brush.

A cup of tea and your favorite quote. Of course my hero is Jane Austen so we're going for some pieces of Pride and Prejudice. It helps to put the quote in a font you like on the computer so you have something to refer to.

Some twine or other way to keep the lines straight and the letters the same size. It's like a big rule book back in kindergarten when you were learning to write.

And voila! You have a lovely, hand-painted letter on your wall. I have Mr. Darcy's proposal, Elizabeth's refusal, her first glimpse of his wonderful house, and the first time they meet after their fight. In this situation I wanted to fill the whole wall so I picked a lot of words. With my friends we usually just did one line at the top of the wall. Although with one room we did one line all the way around the top of four walls. And another we did a long bible verse above someone's bed. Easy weekend project, and simple way to spruce up a boring room.

Make an Old Table Like New

I found an older table through a yard sale website. It was solid oak, and actually quite beautiful. But the spot it was meant for is decorated in white, black, and red. So I painted it. I really wish I had like five of these so I could do different things to it. I wanted for a while to make this my desk, but it's so beautiful I have to leave it out where people can see it. Here is my process...

 The original table and the first coat of Alt Weiss, Old White. I considered stopping after one coat with the wood showing through, and again I wish I had another table just like it. But I stuck with my original idea and kept painting.

 

The second and third coats. On the third coat I went the opposite direction I had been going, just to get everything truly covered.

 

The fourth coat finished it off. I used part of a stencil to paint a design in one corner in red. I still can't decide if simple is better or if I should paint more red. What do you think?

Easy Storage Tutorial

One of the shocks of getting an apartment in Germany was the fact that they come bare. I mean really bare. No light fixtures, no closets, no storage of any kind. It was funny to compare to some friends of ours back in the states who had just gotten an apartment there and said they had a closet in every single room...that's five closets. Some apartments in Germany don't even come with kitchens, luckily we found one with a built in. I'm still trying to find a suitable cabinet to use as a pantry.

Because of that I have gotten creative with storage. Our closets are made from bookshelves from Ikea and a home-made hanging rack that is attached to the book cases. Believe it or not, even though the apartments come without this stuff, they are really expensive. So we improvised.

My family found the easiest way to ship stuff to us (both our things and Oreos, which are also way expensive here), was with flat-rate boxes. I think at one point I had about ten of these empty boxes sitting around. So I got some wrapping paper and wrapped a few of them up and made myself some drawers.

You don't really have to make the inside pretty because there'll be stuff inside covering that up. But I covered the inside so at least there's not nasty brown sticking through.

Simple and easy, as well as re-using something that I just would have recycled anyways.

They fit perfectly in this bookcase from Ikea. So it sits in my office. It's the perfect height for a working table too. Now I just need a desk.

Floating DVD Shelves

For our thoroughly modern and simplistic European apartment, I'm making floating shelves for everything. Including books and DVDs. So I thought I would build some tutorials in case you wanted to see how I did it. The DVDs aren't perfect, but they work.

1. You'll need some DVD cases, cutting tools, bolts, and L brackets. I chose the four X-Men DVD's so that they matched as a set. (Yes, I'm weird like that.)

2. Measure where the L bracket will go. (That would be the center.)

2. Use your cutting tool to cut a notch in the case. (Patience with this.)

4. A notch for both sides of the bracket so that it lies flush with the edge and the case can still be closed.

5. Use whatever means necessary to poke holes where your bolts go on the top of the case. I used screws first and then made the holes bigger with my screw driver. (The softness of the case can be good and the bane of your existence. Yes, I broke one of the cases and had to switch it out for another.)

6. Attach your bracket with the bolts and nuts. Make sure to get bolts that fit inside the case and you should be able to just shut the case like normal. (My husband got all the materials for me. I know if I had been left to myself, the brackets would be too long and the bolts would be as well.)


7. Hang the shelves on your wall and pile your other DVDs on top. I only put nine on top of each of these. My husband thinks if we put another bracket across the length of the case they would be stronger. But I have no problem with just nine DVDs on each stack. (They haven't fallen down yet.)



When I have our floating books up on the wall I'll post a tutorial for that as well. Hope you like this. Let me know if you try it out!

Recycled Bottle Cap Photo Magnets Tutorial Part 2.

Recycled Bottle Cap Photo Magnets Tutorial Part 2.

You can see the first part of this tutorial here.

Step 5.
Glue the magnets onto the back. This is the final step, but I had to wait to put it up here because I was waiting for the epoxy to dry. The epoxy takes about 24 hours to dry but I usually give it 36 just in case. I use very strong 1/4" rare-earth magnets. You can by them at any crafting store and some people like BabeMagnet sell them on etsy. I use E6000 crafting glue to stick them on. This glue takes another 24 hours to dry but it sticks!



You can find these magnets in my etsy shop. They are my newest addition. Rather buggy, don't you think?