All great DIY projects have a back story to them.
This is the story of the DIY shelf over the television in the Sweetwater family room.
Once upon a time in the “Sweetwater Castle” the “Queen” decided it was time to repaint.
With the help of a wonderful painter….the yellow walls became a beautiful “griege” color.
All was well in the kingdom of Sweetwater…..
UNTIL….the “Queen” noticed the big blank wall above the television.
“This will not do!” she decreed.
She called for advice from the “Princess”, who suggested a floating shelf as the “crowning” accent for the wall.
“It shall be done,” commanded the “Queen”.
What follows is the “real” story behind this fairy tale!
I was thrilled when the Sweetwater Daughter gave me the perfect shelf for Christmas…..
well…since it was on back order….she gave me a “picture” of a shelf!
Hey…you might be saying….that isn’t very DIY !
The deal was…..the shelf never arrived.
With much follow up and a bit of confusion, the order was cancelled.
Now we are ready for the DIY part.
I decided I wanted to have the look of the exposed galvanized pipe and board shelf.
Hey….we could do this!
Mr. S …or the “King” decided that it would be almost the same price to order the pipes already made as opposed to piecing them together. We got two pipes from the OverTheLedge Etsy Shop.
And they sat waiting for the shelf….and they sat and sat and sat.
After a couple of months…..we headed out to get the board.
That meant a trip to HomeDepot and Menards…..
We bought stain too.
And THAT sat and sat and sat.
*Disclaimer: Sweetwater household projects were necessarily interrupted by several trips and other diversions.
Then one day…..we decided it was time!
We measured carefully and then measured again and those pipes were fianally put up!
We went to get the board out of the garage to try it out before sanding and staining.
OH MY!
And…we learned that there is no way that a board from a big box store can age and stay completely flat!
Mr. S headed to “a real woodworking store”.
He purchased a lovely piece of red oak that hardly needed any sanding.
It was cut to size….and stained.
This board is PERFECTLY flat and straight.
This project was really not that “thrifty”. You could probably buy one from a store for about the same or less cost.
The lesson learned….do your research about whatever shelving you decide to use for whatever project you are doing!
If you do want to tackle this Industrial Shelf look for your house: Great Tutorial…step-by-step…clear and concise. Cherished Bliss has done a way better job of the process than I ever could. (Especially because I never remember to take photos during the project!)
The REAL moral of this cautionary Fairy Tale is:
Have A Wonderful Day!
