by Bex
I mentioned that I had been looking for a set of shelves similar to these ones I saw on Pinterest (originally from The White Company) so I could so the same thing at Christmas. I love the display and thought it would be the perfect way to show off some of my favourite decorations, I have so many!
We managed to find some great wood in a salvage place we found in the west end last Saturday. We deduced that we thought they were from the backs of old pews - the shelf which the bibles sit on and we thought they might be oak as they were pretty hard to cut. It turns out that since we had to make some hasty changes to our measurements on the spot, I ended up going back for some more wood on Thursday and asked about them - they are indeed from the back of pews and apparently pitch pine which is harder than the buttery yellow pine some furniture is made from.
Anyway, after measuring all the shelves and marking where we needed to cut the notches to slot them together, we got to work with the jigsaw using the kitchen side as a base. Who needs a workmate? ;)
It had a great distressed look from years of use on the old varnish.
When we cut into each notch to the end (I had a go on the saw too), I then chiselled out the bit from the end (as we couldn't turn the corner with the jig saw).
It worked really well, despite our initial slots being a little too wide. As soon as we had 2 shelves cut out we tried slotting them together and there was too much space between the joins so we reduced it. Luckily we started with the slots at the back so you can't see the spaces. After making it smaller, they slotted together perfectly with a bit of persuasion! It wasn't easy being specific down to the half millimeter!
After getting a bit more wood for the top & bottom, we added the mini hooks to each slot and finished off the edges (although Nik was tempted to leave it without the edges on but I wanted it the same as the picture) and screwed into some of the shelves to hold it all together.
We already had 2 screws in the wall from a picture I had up, Nik was a bit worried they might not hold as the shelves did turn out to be pretty heavy but so far so good.
And the finished product, all decorated...
I decided to follow the example closely with my own decorations. Where they had a large bauble, so did I, a star or snowflake, a heart, small or large - I tried to make it as similar as possible since I thought it looked so great, I even bought a £3 ivy from Ikea to add wee snippets like in the Pinterest example. It's still different as my colours are different, yeh no surprises - there are green ones, and when I put my battery LED lights in a wee bowl on a shelf they were too bright and took away from the rest of it so I swapped that for the vintage bird candle I received in my John Lewis goody bag in October. Instead of just having some kind of plant in the top right hand corner, I added another green ornament. Here they are side by side...
I was surprised at how closely my own decorations let me fit in with the example, I didn't have to buy any new ones - not that Nik would have let me! ;) I'll probably change it around next year and completely do my own thing and see how it looks but for now, I'm glad I stuck with the inspiration and I love it!
We're really proud of it! Even Nik, who was initially not keen to build it, and not at all keen for it to be a permanent feature, loves it and is already thinking of what we can display in it the rest of the year!
If you have a Christmas themed Pinterest inspired project please send it in, we'd love to see it and share it on the blog!
What do you think? Which is your favourite ornament? We like the ceramic tree and silver snowflake best :)
I mentioned that I had been looking for a set of shelves similar to these ones I saw on Pinterest (originally from The White Company) so I could so the same thing at Christmas. I love the display and thought it would be the perfect way to show off some of my favourite decorations, I have so many!
 |
| http://www.pinterest.com/pin/250794272972623020/ |
We managed to find some great wood in a salvage place we found in the west end last Saturday. We deduced that we thought they were from the backs of old pews - the shelf which the bibles sit on and we thought they might be oak as they were pretty hard to cut. It turns out that since we had to make some hasty changes to our measurements on the spot, I ended up going back for some more wood on Thursday and asked about them - they are indeed from the back of pews and apparently pitch pine which is harder than the buttery yellow pine some furniture is made from.
Anyway, after measuring all the shelves and marking where we needed to cut the notches to slot them together, we got to work with the jigsaw using the kitchen side as a base. Who needs a workmate? ;)
It had a great distressed look from years of use on the old varnish.
When we cut into each notch to the end (I had a go on the saw too), I then chiselled out the bit from the end (as we couldn't turn the corner with the jig saw).
It worked really well, despite our initial slots being a little too wide. As soon as we had 2 shelves cut out we tried slotting them together and there was too much space between the joins so we reduced it. Luckily we started with the slots at the back so you can't see the spaces. After making it smaller, they slotted together perfectly with a bit of persuasion! It wasn't easy being specific down to the half millimeter!
After getting a bit more wood for the top & bottom, we added the mini hooks to each slot and finished off the edges (although Nik was tempted to leave it without the edges on but I wanted it the same as the picture) and screwed into some of the shelves to hold it all together.
 |
| We countersunk the screws to make them less obvious. |
The finished product...
We already had 2 screws in the wall from a picture I had up, Nik was a bit worried they might not hold as the shelves did turn out to be pretty heavy but so far so good.
And the finished product, all decorated...
I decided to follow the example closely with my own decorations. Where they had a large bauble, so did I, a star or snowflake, a heart, small or large - I tried to make it as similar as possible since I thought it looked so great, I even bought a £3 ivy from Ikea to add wee snippets like in the Pinterest example. It's still different as my colours are different, yeh no surprises - there are green ones, and when I put my battery LED lights in a wee bowl on a shelf they were too bright and took away from the rest of it so I swapped that for the vintage bird candle I received in my John Lewis goody bag in October. Instead of just having some kind of plant in the top right hand corner, I added another green ornament. Here they are side by side...
I was surprised at how closely my own decorations let me fit in with the example, I didn't have to buy any new ones - not that Nik would have let me! ;) I'll probably change it around next year and completely do my own thing and see how it looks but for now, I'm glad I stuck with the inspiration and I love it!
We're really proud of it! Even Nik, who was initially not keen to build it, and not at all keen for it to be a permanent feature, loves it and is already thinking of what we can display in it the rest of the year!
If you have a Christmas themed Pinterest inspired project please send it in, we'd love to see it and share it on the blog!
What do you think? Which is your favourite ornament? We like the ceramic tree and silver snowflake best :)
13 comments:
Bex, I don't even like crafting, and I love this! Could you have converted me?!
This is brilliant!! What a great example of upcycling!
This is amazing!
Ooh I absolutely love it! Think I need to tell my hubby I want one too. Also can I be cheeky and ask where you got your Christmas decoration that's in the background that's got your name on? Think I want one of those too! (With our name obviously not yours as that would be a bit stalkerish!) Thanks Lorri
Thanks everyone! I'm super chuffed with it! :)
Lorri well spotted, that's actually on the blog tomorrow it was a gift but I'll find out the info for you! x
Wow, This is stunning. I love it. I wonder if I could convince my dad he *really* wants to make me one?
Beautiful! I could definitely persuade my other half to make this. I only wish we had room in our full to bursting London flat. One for the wish list. :-)
Absolutely stunning! Just perfect!
So pretty Bex! Well done!
I love it! Although have to admit to being very impressed at you owning a jigsaw!!!
I LOVE this! Mind if I ask where you got the wood?
Sorry Vonnie, thought I'd mentioned it but it must be in the post I wrote on the Sunday when we'd just started making it. It was from Glasgow Architectural Salvage in the west end. I actually have a whole other post planned on this place as it was awesome and they let me take some photos!
I was so impressed by this when you posted but did not have time to comment then, but am back to say this is really cool and I am impressed by your jigsaw skills.
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