DIY Home: Fireplace Mantle Shelf

Have I mentioned yet that I love my new apartment and its fireplace? I didn't, however, love the fact that there wasn't a mantle shelf above it. Girl's gotta have a place to put all her fancy art (well, once I get some...)!

To make matters worse, it's not only an awkward length that apparently no pre-made shelfs would fit, but there also weren't any studs in the wall to hang it from anyways. So, I just had to make one.

Super tall ceilings + no shelf + no art = boooooring!

SO much better!

What you need:
Wood board
Shelf brackets
Screws
Studfinder (if no studs, get screws specifically for drywall installation)
Sandpaper
Stain and/or varnish

What you do:
1) Measure your fireplace width, then add a few inches on either side. I only added 5, so that it would end right over the brackets on either end, and not extend beyond the edges.

2) Determine how deep you want your shelf to be. Keep in mind that if your fireplace is relatively small  like mine, you don't want a huge shelf to totally overwhelm it.

3) Pick out the type of wood you want, and get it cut down to size (yay Home Depot!). I chose Aspen since I liked how light it was and I knew I wouldn't be applying a stain.

4) Since most freshly cut pieces of wood look something like this...

...lightly sand your new shelf. Stain and varnish if desired (I didn't since it's so darn cold outside and you DO NOT want to have all those fumes inside).

Oops, kind of over-sanded that corner... but at least no splinters!

5) Install your brackets, ensuring they're level and that you're drilling into studs. While this isn't super important for small pictures, screwing into a stud is essential for any heavy/load-bearing wall items like shelves.

6) Place your board on top of the brackets and attach using small screws. These are really just to keep the shelf from sliding off the brackets, so don't need to be super duper heavy duty.

Pro-tip: don't completely tighten each screw one at a time. Partially screw them all in, then go around and tighten them all gradually.

7) Place art and DIYed match bottles (look, I made another one!) and a giant calendar on your new shelf. It's obviously a bit bare right now, but hey, art will definitely be DIYed in the near future!

DIY Home Inspiration: Wall Decals

My apartment has 20 foot ceilings in the living room, so I've been looking for a giant piece of art to put above my mantle to fill all that space. Unfortunately, art pieces that big are slightly outside my budget. Okay, so what about wall decals?

I've always thought wall decals were a little tacky. Most are flowers, butterflies, or "inspirational quotes" with the words "live, laugh, love" somehow incorporated. Booooooring.

And then came Blik. I'm going to thrift a giant cheap frame, take everything out of it, hang the frame above my mantle, slap one of these (surprisingly affordable) beauties inside it, and I've got myself a statement piece of art.

Or how about using these bad boys as a headboard or mirror frame? So. In. Love.

For all the old school video game geeks out there (woohoo!) they also have huuuuge Super Mario Bros, Pacman, Asteroids, and Space Invader wall decals. Still don't see anything you'd like? That's alright, cause you can just DESIGN YOUR OWN.

Home DIY Inspiration: Art Collage

I'm so late on the game here. Apparently I'm just now realizing that having a wall of art is something I can actually do in my own space... Especially since I'm going to have massive amounts of empty wall space in my new apartment that needs to be decorated on the cheap. Yay!! So here's some really great photos that are inspiring me in ways to create my own art collage, courtesy of one of my favorite Tumblr accounts, Home & Interiors.

>>I love that most of these pieces are very simple to DIY: pieces of paper, quotes, mirrors, bold necklaces hung on door knobs, simple art canvases, and other doodles hung with nothing more than some (paint-safe, hopefully) tape.

>>Pick some pieces that follow a similar general color scheme, frame some pieces with big bold frames and others not at all, put tiny things in big frames, and mix them all together. You can even just put a bunch of things on layered shelves so you can move, add, take away, and change things later on!

>>For an even more stunning effect, coordinate or contrast the furniture below to the art (maybe using a couch cover or by painting the table yourself?). I love the white couch accented by brightly colored pillows that mirror the art above! Great to DIY on a budget!

Can you tell I'm also digging plain white walls? Love it!

DIY Home Inspiration: Watercolor Drip Art

Holy moly, how amazing is this?? I've never loved the crayon drip art, but I think this version, done by Design Gratis is right up my alley. And I may actually have some leftover paper and watercolors from my art class days in high school. Free artwork for my new apartment? Why yes, thank you.

See full tutorial here.