I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, crafter, and blogger living in rural New England. As seen in Martha Stewart Living, Food Network Magazine, and more! | Tutorials, DIY, crafts, parenting tips, recipes, money saving tips, product reviews, local product features, New England living, intentional living, and more! |
It seems kind of weird and petty to write about fun DIY projects during a Pandemic, but maybe fun projects to work on at home is just what we need right now :) I did this project about two months ago when I was looking for a nice way to display our oldest’s growing collection of award ribbons and medals but couldn’t find a display setup that I liked or was remotely affordable. The whole project was super easy and done start-to-finish within two days. Here’s hoping for things to go back to normal someday soon so she can continue to add to her award collection. | This post contains affiliate links |
Materials:
lumber (I used a 1x8" board for the shelf top and 1x6" board for the back)
two decorative shelf brackets (or two pieces of wood cut at 45 degree angle)
First decide how long you want the overall shelf to be (in our case I decided on making it 3ft wide). Then cut your shelf top to that length.
(Nothing is screwed in yet here… just laying everything out to make sure it will fit like I want it to.)
Next decide how wide you want the shelf back to be - remember that the self back plus the brackets should fall within your overall shelf top length. Ultimately how long you cut the shelf back is your preference though. But visually I think that the shelf back and the brackets look best if they fall within about 2 inches of the shelf top on each side.
(Side note: If you have a router you can cut a dovetail channel along the back of the shelf back now to make for easier hanging… I do not have one of those handy so I skipped this step and will hang our shelf another way.)
Once you have everything laid out, cut your dowel to about 1/8” less than your shelf back length so it will fit comfortably within that space.
After everything is cut, I recommend sanding everything first before you assemble. I love using our orbital sander - it makes for quick work and does a nice job.
Next start assembling. Screw the shelf supports to the backing first, making sure everything is lined up and flush.
Next carefully center the shelf top, making sure it’s flush with the back and screw in.
Now for the fun part - paint! I did one coat of primer and then three coats of semi-gloss white paint, though you could choose any color you wish. I like semi-gloss paint since it has a slight sheen to it and is easier to dust and keep clean.
For hanging - first I measured this wall side-to-side to figure out where the shelf should fall within that space to be centered. Then I marked the studs with a stud finder.
To be honest I usually use two different kinds of stud finders when I have to hang something - I use a magnetic stud finder first to identify exactly where the stud is and then a digital one to find the edges of the stud. I’ve found that sometimes the digital ones can be finicky so it’s nice to know where the studs are first rather than get a false stud reading when it could be something else (a pipe, a thick area of plaster on the wall, etc).
Then using a level to make sure the shelf was level, I screwed directly into the wall studs through the shelf back making sure to place the screws where they would be hidden by the dowel once I installed it.
Next I hung the dowel by centering it and adding a simple hook to support it on each side, as shown above (this also hides the screws I used to hang it). And now the project is finished and ready to display ribbons, medals, and trophies!
To hang the ribbons and medals you can easily lift the dowel up and string them on, or loop them around the dowel like I did here.
I hope you liked the project and we look forward to when this Pandemic is over and there will be sport and fair ribbon awards again - stay well!
UPDATE:
Years later our kids are still using the DIY Ribbon and Trophy Displays but they’re getting a little full. In order to spread things out a bit I bought these simple medal holders (similar one linked), so they could hang their medals on these and keep the DIY Display just for their ribbons/trophies. It’s working great!
Our kitchen was lacking a pantry, so we often kept canned goods and backstock on a shelving unit at the foot of our stairs in the basement. But because half of our food and snacks were downstairs and half were upstairs it made for frequent mistakes when buying groceries… it was hard to visualize exactly what we had and where so we often ended up overbuying certain things and forgetting to buy others. Tired of wasting money, food, and time running up and down the stairs I decided to make over a coat closet into a functional pantry. | This post contains affiliate links |
Now while this coat closet (pictured below) was pretty jammed full, it was very underutilized. It’s where we kept our off-season coats, hats, and boots as well as some hiking gear and my daughters’ Art Cart - most things we did not need to use daily, or often at all. My solution to this was to relocate all these items to our basement - I hung a closet rod under the basement stairs and moved all our off-season clothing and gear to this new space where it was still easily accessible but out of the way.
The next step was to pull out the old wire shelf and closet rod system, patch the holes, and repaint the inside of the closet. Thankfully I already had spackle and some leftover white paint so I was able to get the closet to a clean slate easily and it didn’t cost a dime.
Now for the fun part! I got to decide how many shelves I wanted and the spacing, so I laid it out with painters tape to play with how I wanted it before I made a final decision. For our setup I decided on four shelves starting at about waist-height. I wanted to leave the bottom open to accommodate the dog food bin, the Art Cart, step stool, etc. Then I screwed in 1x3 inch “runners” that would support the shelves along the back wall. I used a stud finder to make sure I was screwing the runners into studs and a level to make sure everything was square.
Then I added runners to one side of the closet next, following the same routine - but with these pieces I had pre-drilled pocket holes with our Kreg Jig first so it would make for a clean and secure joint in the corners.
Before installing the runners on the opposite side of the closet, it’s wise to keep in mind how you will be able to maneuver the shelf boards in once all the runners are in place (it would be very difficult to get the top shelf in with all the runners installed, for example). So before installing the opposite side’s runners I slipped some of the trickier shelf boards into place first (I used 1x12”s cut to length for the shelves) before I finished screwing in all the side runners.
I secured the shelves into place with some finishing nails, then taped off the shelves and runners to get ready for paint. I used primer and then several coats of white semi-gloss paint since it’s a little easier to wipe down and keep clean.
I just love how farmhouse and “Shaker” the exposed rails on the sides look and I wanted to play it up. Once the paint was dry I added some functional hooks to hang aprons, lunchboxes, etc on the side rails.
And now the project is complete! I am so happy with how it turned out and it’s wonderful to have everything in one place. I can see this project saving us money on groceries in the long run now as everything will be in one place now and we’ll be less apt to waste food.
Eventually, I would love to replace the closet door with a fun screen door and get some more glass jars and baskets for a cleaner looking pantry - but all in good time.
Over this past winter I added a few simple add-on organizers to our pantry to maximize the space and love how functional they are. Here they are below (and please excuse the glimpses of clutter in the pantry… as it now holds extra groceries and our family board games too - because, real life):
It turns out our door is an odd size and in order to get a screen door for it we would have to custom order one (at a cost of about $300+! Yikes). So instead I decided to cut a custom vinyl label to stick to the door to make it more finished. I could have designed my own but I found a design I really liked on
Etsy
and bought the digital design file. After purchasing the design file, I used my
Cricut
and
651 Permanent Vinyl
to make the label and then transferred it to the door. In hindsight I probably should have made it slightly smaller, but overall I love how it came out and how budget-friendly it was since I already owned a Cricut Machine and the vinyl.
Finally, we decided to add a
ClosetMaid Adjustable Organizer
to the back of the pantry door to fully utilize the space. It was very simple to install and I am impressed with how sturdy it is once it's assembled and screwed in. We used the lower baskets for foil, parchement paper, ziplocks, silicone bowl covers, etc. The middle baskets we designated for frequently used canned goods, smoothie mix-ins, as well as salad fixings and rice cakes. Finally on the top two baskets we put convenience foods that we rarely use since I'm so short. Note: If you have a hollow-core door, you might want to use a specialty set of anchors/screws to attach it to the door for stability, rather than just screw into the door with regular screws.
Another later addition to our pantry organization are these amazing stackable can racks for organizing canned goods. Before I had quite a few canned goods just sitting on the floor of the pantry and in a separate kitchen cupboard, but I never could see everything at once and often cans in the back got forgotten -- Now everything is in one spot where I can see them and I can meal plan more efficiently.
Another thing that's been a huge game changer is moving dry snacks into OXO POP Food Storage Containers. We love these for our snack crackers and pretzels. They keep everything fresh and it's easy to see if you're starting to run low on these staples. To keep the kids from going too wild with serving sizes we added clear OXO 1/2 Cup Scoops in each container too - making it easy to grab a serving. I used my Brother Label Maker to make labels for the containers. These can easily be peeled off and relabeled as needed.
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Okay, so I struggled for a bit whether to blog about this little DIY closet makeover. I really loved the project and I think it came out great, but it was just SO impossible to photograph. This closet is at the end of a narrow hallway with no natural light, and there's no way to photograph the whole thing in a single picture. So please forgive me for the poor photos - they aren't to the standard I like to try to keep for the blog but the project and message were just too good not to share. | This post contains affiliate links |
When we moved into our home we quickly realized we needed a "drop zone" by the back door. It was really the only door we used and we needed a place to put all our stuff as we came and went. Thankfully there was an under-utilized pantry here and while we can always use more storage, for us it was more important have a mudroom/drop zone. After surfing Pinterest we decided to turn it into a mini mudroom complete with beadboard, a shelf, hooks, a built-in bench with metal baskets underneath for shoes, mail organizer - the works. And so within weeks of moving in we took the door off the pantry and it became our temporary drop zone while we planned... and there it stayed for three years (yikes).
Embarrassing, right?
You see, our dream mini mudroom would have cost big bucks and we kept sidelining it for other, more important things (furnace fixes, putting in a vegetable garden, repairing the driveway..). And then we got a puppy. And then we had a baby. And then spending big bucks on a teeny mudroom was just absurd. And the closet stayed the way it was, and just looked ugly and cluttered.
Then we realized: it's great to dream big for make-overs and remodels but what's more important is to assess what's realistic now. Realistically we couldn't afford now what we wanted to do originally but we still needed a mudroom - so the design got cut to the very basics. We needed a shelf, hooks, and mail/key organizer; the beadboard, bench, baskets, and accessories would have to wait.
The first step was removing the Closet Maid shelving system. To do this, I used a flat head screwdriver and needle nose pliers to pull out the pins and drywall anchors that held the shelves and supports in place. We saved all the shelves and supports in case we want to add more shelving to another closet down the road. We were left with a ton of holes to fill, but some drywall patch and light sanding filled the holes in fine.
Afterwards I repainted the walls of the closet with some white ceiling paint we had in the basement. My goal was to use as much materials as we had already and I didn't want to buy a new can of paint just to do this little area. The ceiling paint covered great and it only needed one coat.
Then I marked the studs with painters tape and cut a 1x12 (given to us by my father-in-law who had scrap boards in his basement) down to the length of the back of the closet, attaching it into the studs with long screws.
I cut the angled side supports down and cut another board to make the top shelf (all cuts were made with just a chopsaw). Everything was glued, screwed, and nailed into place so it was nice and sturdy. Then I patched all the screw holes and lightly sanded before painting the shelf with trim paint, which we already had on-hand.
Once the paint was dry, I added the hardware - the only items we actually had to buy for this project! The four coat hooks were from Lowes and cost about $4 each, the two accessory hooks were also from Lowes and were less than $1.50 each, and the mail/key organizer was from Amazon and cost about $10. All-in-all since we reused paint and wood we already had we spent around $30 for everything! Someday I'd still like to add a bench, baskets, and cover the textured walls with beadboard but in the meantime we have a functional, simple, efficient mudroom which is what we really needed from the beginning. I'm kicking myself for living with the messy old closet for so long when doing a simplified mudroom was so achievable this whole time!
Our little one may be happily playing independently but the second I go to make dinner she demands to be held and refuses to be put down, making cooking impossible. To help keep her occupied but still involved I've been eyeing a learning tower / kitchen helper on Amazon for months now, but at $200 it just wasn't in our budget. My sister-in-law had made a learning tower from a plan by Ana White and suggested I try to make one too. I was unsure at first, I've never made anything more complicated than a birdhouse, but I decided to give it a go! Read on for my lessons learned and know that you can totally make one too. | This post contains affiliate links |
{ Note: the plans that I worked from were from Ana White and can be found HERE }
The first step to making the learning tower was buying the lumber.. which is easier said than done when you just have a little car! Nevertheless, Miss M and I made the nearly hour-long trek out to Lowe's to pick up lumber, paint, and screws. One thing I really liked about the Ana White plan was that it had both a shopping list and a "cut list" so you knew exactly how much of each kind of wood to buy and then how to cut it up. I made a mistake at Lowe's though and ended up buying 6-foot boards instead of 8-foot.. I don't know if I read the sign too quickly or what, but it made me come up short for the project. Thankfully we had some extra wood in the garage and I was able to fudge it.
For our learning tower, I made some modifications - some were planned and some kind of happened as the project went on (partly due to the wood shortage). For example, I decided against doing the arches on the top - as lovely as they were, we don't have a jigsaw so I had to nix it. I also did the base of the tower a little differently and I didn't do the tip resistors (at least not yet), my sister-in-law omitted the tip resistors and has had no problems. Our little one is pretty good with the tower (knock on wood), but for peace of mind I think we will do something to help prevent it ever tipping - most likely adding some scrap wood to make a lip that will fit under the edge of our counter. Another thing I did differently was make the front and back top railing wider, the reasoning for this was two-fold - for one thing, it gave me more room to screw in the the top railings without the screws running into each other. Another was that the wider wood makes it impossible for our little one to open the kitchen drawers in front of her (so key).
One criticism of Ana White's plan is that while it gives you a great outline of what to make and how to go about it, it definitely doesn't spell everything out - and for this detail-oriented person that drove me nuts! For example, it doesn't detail how many screws you should use when attaching each piece or how to position the screws when you join sides together (this was a huge issue so they didn't run into each other). Another big problem was that the plan had quite a few typos and some of the steps would stop mid-sentence missing the full explanation of what to do.
I highly suggest cutting all the wood, labeling it, laying it out and really thinking through how it's going together. My biggest challenge by far was figuring out a good way to hold the pieces together while I pre-drilled and screwed them together. The wood the plan calls for is pretty thin (another downside of the plan), so that limited the ways I felt I could hold it without damaging it. I tried using vices and clamps to help hold everything together but they always seemed to be in the way so I ended up holding it in place anyway I could, even with my foot if necessary (awkward).
I also had to improvise on how to center the front and back side pieces against the wider side of the legs. It turned out that a picture book we had was the perfect thickness and became a great spacer.
To space the boards for the platform I placed some extra screws between them as spacers. Once it was all attached together, I just pulled the screw spacers out.
For paint, I used a high-gloss black enamel paint by Val-Spar and gave it two coats (though I probably should have done 1-2 more). I really recommend using high-gloss paint or stain so it can be wiped down easily after every use.
I wanted to add some personalization or decoration to the learning tower, but also wanted to keep it simple so that it would blend into the kitchen better. I decided against personalizing the tower since we're hoping to have more kids and I wanted to keep it "neutral" - so I settled for stenciling "ABC" on one of sides for a little decoration, using the Martha Stewart Monogram Serif Stencil Set.
Our little one loves her new learning tower and now feels like she can "help" when I'm making dinner. This tower also makes arts and crafts a lot easier (here she's playing with some homemade playdough).
Safety Notice: It goes without saying, but always supervise your little one while they're using the learning tower and make sure there is nothing dangerous within reach (hot plates, knives/other sharp objects, stove, off-limit foods, etc). Use at your own risk.
