Oh sweet victory, our much debated office art project is done and I’m here to spill the beans about how it all went down, er, up.
After all, we already gave you this no-detail-left-behind play by play about how Sherry and I fiiiinally agreed to base our design on this gallery of postcard ledges that we spotted in Richmond magazine:
The project was pretty darn easy and actually really fun to do, especially after some of you suggested that we collect reader-submitted postcards from across the globe to fill our wall with an ever-changing arrangement. That suggestion really made trips to our PO Box a lot more exciting than usual. So thanks to everyone who sent a postcard our way (from a bunch of exciting places like Hawaii, England, Spain, Canada and a slew of other spots in the lower 48).
The gallery-inspired shelves started with a trip to Home Depot (Clara’s very first!) to buy supplies. And boy were some of our orange-apron-wearing friends excited to see the tiny human who lived it up in Sherry’s belly for all those months. But back to business. Based on some measurements of the wall, we determined that we wanted four rails above the desk, each measuring 64″ long (we used blue painter’s tape to mark where we wanted them and how long they should be – it’s such an easy way to try out a few zero-commitment arrangements to land on something you love).
So with our trusty measurements in hand, we snagged some simple 1 x 2 pine boards for about $4 a pop, plus a bunch of screws and anchors (which I’ll talk more about later). In the end this would be the only cost for the entire art wall project, bring the grand total to under 25 bucks. Not bad for filling a giant expanse of wall, right?
And although we once had visions of taking a more complex narrow-shelf-with-a-raised-ledge approach, that all went away when we realized this was the perfect project to break out my Father’s Day present: a Dremel Trio. Sherry must’ve seen me lustily eying it every single time we entered any home improvement store (I’ll admit that I lingered a bit each time), so she surprised me with the $99 tool for daddy’s day (even though I didn’t have a specific sanding, routing, or cutting project in mind). I like to call it fate.
The reason the Dremel would be perfect for this project is because it would allow me to route a small straight groove along each of my four pine boards, creating a perfect spot for postcards and other small art to rest. But before breaking out my new tool, I used an old friend (the miter saw) to cut my four 1 x 2s to identical 64″ lengths. Note: you can have this done at the home improvement store if you don’t have a saw on hand.
Then, despite my enthusiasm to begin Dremel-ing, first I decided to read the directions and (more importantly) do a few test runs on a scrap piece of wood. Thank goodness I did, because I spent about five minutes trying to route with the cutting tool. D’oh. I also learned that the Dremel really likes to pull to one side, so making straight grooves posed a challenge. But thankfully it was a challenge that could easily be overcome by using the metal guide included in the set. Disaster averted.
The adjustable guide let me set exactly where I wanted to make my grooves. Although I did hit one snag in that the 1 x 2 boards were thinner than the width of the Dremel. So to use the guide I had to clamp two boards together. No biggie.
With everything clamped I set my guide so I’d make my cut about a half inch from the outer edge and I set my depth to about 1/3″ inch.
I found the Dremel really easy and fun to use, and once I had everything set and had practiced my system of moving clamps as I went (since they would eventually get in the way of my routing path), it took me about ten minutes to do the remaining three boards.
With everything cut, I did a quick sanding job to smooth everything out (by hand, not using the Dremel) and then applied one coat of primer followed by one coat of semi-gloss white paint. Sherry and I discussed staining them a dark wood tone or even painting them a color, but ultimately decided they weren’t the stars of the show so the white would help the postcards pop best while making the shelves feel architectural (like the white trim and crown molding in the room).
Then we could move into the installation phase of the project. Again we discarded any complex ideas about hiding the screws and decided we’d just screw straight through the boards into some anchors in the wall (and then roughly disguise the screwheads on the front of each shelf with a bit of white paint). Since the boards were pretty light, just 2″ deep, and would be holding postcards, we weren’t too concerned with them being able to bear any intense amount of weight. So our weapons of choice were some long 2.5″ screws and a pack of drywall anchors (since only about 1/2″ of screw would be sticking out the back end after it passed through the 1 x 2, we had to buy a separate pack of smaller anchors).
We opted to go the anchor route (instead of finding studs) so we could place the semi-visible screws evenly across the front of the 1 x 2s. Speaking of which, I took my first board, measured an even spacing for each of the four screws and marked spots to drill my pilot holes. Thus would begin my somewhat intricate one-person system of hanging these suckers. Sherry had already helped me mark a level line for the bottom shelf before Clara woke up (phew) so I was able to hold the shelf in place and then re-drill through my pilot hole far enough to make a small mark on the wall. After following the same process to mark the rest of my holes, I put the shelf down, drilled the rest of the holes, and placed the anchors.
Now here’s a little trick I like to use when doing these things. Trying to screw the rail in place by myself could be a nightmare in terms of lining up the holes to the anchors. So instead I put the screws through each of the four holes in the 1 x 2’s on the ground, allowing the screw tip to poke through the back of the shelf, just a bit. Then when I held the shelf back up against the wall and attempted to line it up with the anchors that I sunk into the wall, I could feel when the screw tips fell into place (plus it helped to keep the shelf from slipping while I one-handedly tightened all of the screws into the anchors in the wall).
Hanging the first shelf was pretty easy (heck, it almost stayed in place with just one screw). But getting the other three to be straight and evenly spaced required a game plan. Sherry and I had decided that we wanted the four shelves to be nine inches apart to allow enough breathing room for a vertically placed 5 x 7″ piece of art on the shelves. So to measure my nine inch increments I vertically leveled a yard stick and employed some blue painters tape as my second pair of hands to hold it in place while I marked the wall. I did this for each of the four vertical spots that I’d be placing a screw to make sure all of my anchor points were lined up and evenly spaced.
I spare you the rest of the process since it took longer than I expected, especially since I double and triple checked a lot of my measurements. But in about 45 minutes I had all four of the shelves hung. And wouldn’t you know it, they were perfectly level and extremely secure. Phew!
Then all that was left to do was to populate the shelves with postcards and other postcard sized artwork. And thanks to a bunch of you, we had plenty to choose from! We also peppered in a few photos, cards, and other miscellaneous items that we liked (from flattened foil chocolate wrappers with sweet quotes on them to art that we cut out of magazines and backed on cardstock to create a postcard-esque weight). Here’s a shot of what it looked like yesterday afternoon (after a trip to the PO Box- thanks again to everyone who sent cards our way!).
You’ll notice that a few of the displaced Wallflowers made it back up on the shelves. Oh and we found a new spot for the rest of ’em too, which we’ll share in our next office progress post. But for now we’re happy to bask in the glory of this project: the big intimidating blank wall is no more. And we finally have a rotating wall of eye candy to enjoy (and switch up whenever the mood strikes).
Heck, it’ll probably look different by the time we post our “big reveal” photos of the whole room.
We know some of you are wondering how we’re going to keep things from blowing off of the wall. We haven’t devised a system for that yet, since it’s not a problem that we’re going to encounter ’til (at earliest) the fall when we might throw open a window or two. But when the time comes we’re thinking of possibly backing things on hefty mat-board to keep them from budging in the breeze, or even using that removable blue sticky tack to keep the backs of the cards adhered to the wall (other ideas we flirted with: magnets or even velcro). Ultimately we don’t want to do anything too permanent because it defeats the ever-changing nature of such a project. We promise to keep you posted if we find that we have to implement any of those stay-in-place strategies.
Thank you again to everyone who sent us postcards. It’s been such a sweet byproduct of this art project and we’re very grateful. We plan to keep a stash of all of them so we can continually rotate them out (so if you don’t spot yours in these pictures it’ll definitely still be enjoyed!). And if you want to add to the collection our address again is: PO Box 36665, Richmond, VA 23235. We’d love to hear from you!
But enough about us, we’re wondering if you guys have implemented or otherwise come across any other interesting ways of displaying collections, whether they be 3-D or flat-ish (like our growing postcard collection). Any gallery-inspired art walls? Or shelves full of like objects (snow globes? Eiffel tower statues? garage sale oil paintings?). Spill it.
Psst- Wanna follow the entire office/guest bedroom/playroom makeover? Click here for the intro post, here to read about the big sleeper sofa hunt, here for the DIY desk play-by-play, here for the homemade light fixture project, here for our hacked Ikea bookcase, here for the file storage we built, here for how we squeezed in some toy storage, here for how we picked out some DIY art that we could agree on, and here for how we wrangled our wires.
Heidi H. says
ohhh my goodness! There are FOUR postcards from my bff propped up there! I came to check up on your office makeover & saw them & thought, “Hum, those look just like B’s postcards… the skyline of Austin & the color wheel are the exact same ones I have hanging in my living room… funny that they would have the EXACT same ones… OH THEY ARE THE SAME ONES!”
Yes, my mind really works that slowly. & then I promptly called B & squeed about it for a bit. The other two that I KNOW are hers were made by her hubby when they were dating & they are the maple leave looking ones. I love her postcard art so much that I hung two up in my living room redo (which I will post pics of one day, swearsies, I just want to finish it completely before I do & I have a couple more tweaks…)
Anyway, I’m totally jazzed about seeing her postcards on your wall. When I first saw this before & after I noticed her postcards, I thought, wow, B would LOVE this project. Guess I know my bff well! :-)
Cheryl says
Really nice work! Definitely has me thinking to add something similar to one of our rooms in this house o’ ours.
One idea to help you keep thing weighted down is to use some museum putty in your groove to help anchor things to the shelf.
Laura@JourneyChic says
I LOVE IT!! It’s fabulous, and I love the flowers interspersed among the cards.
Jennifer says
Hi there,
Your art shelves look fantastic! Not sure if anyone has mentioned this as an idea yet but what about taping a few nickels or a quarter to the back of the postcards to give them a bit more weight? I think it might do the trick but I guess you’d have to test it first by aiming a fan at a weighted one and see if it stays put.
Just a thought…..
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the suggestion Jennifer! So many ideas here to refer to!
xo,
s
Leah says
Found them! Thank you for the details on the sheets! I tried searching a few different ways, but the organic was the perfect search term. “Woodland Organic” is the official name. Thank you!!!!
Shannon says
This is so very “you”…it works seamlessly with the rest of your house. Love it!
Amanda@reno366 says
you continue to amaze… looks awesome.
lauren says
Kinda office related… Can we talk Clara & Working for a minute?
Husband and I are 30, married 5 years, and starting to think about babies. He’s currently in grad school and I’ll be starting a program next Fall. Is it crazy to think about having a baby now? I feel like our situation might be similar to yours now — while we’ll still be working hard with possible long hours, we’ll have the flexibility of working mostly from home on our own time and not stuck in an office from 9-5. What’s your secret?
PS Loved the “Keeping it Real” post last week.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Lauren,
We have decided that every baby is different so take our “advice” with a grain of salt! Because while our little munchkin sleeps 9pm to 9am with just one feeding in between, we have heard a million times that it’s super rare (boy do we feel lucky). But at the same token, since Clara sleeps so much at night she’s pretty active and alert during the day, which means one of us is usually on Clara-duty all day long (with the exception of one or two 2-hour naps somewhere in there). So there’s a lot of tag teaming and not much productive time where we both can be working since one of us is busy reading, dancing, singing, and otherwise making a fool of ourselves for a smile (while the other one is desperately trying to write posts, answer comments, coordinate giveaways, ship shop stuff, take on house projects, etc). And of course there are feedings and diaper changes too. So the truth of the matter is that it’ll probably be chaos in your house… but baby chaos is beautiful chaos! We wouldn’t have it any other way. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
KOS! (Keep On S'myelin!) says
What a cool idea! I love how the postcards become artwork. It looks great!
Ashley says
Hey!! I love this ideas! My husband and I just recently got married in December and I can’t decide what pictures I want to display…I’m not the greatest at making decisions. I thought about getting a digital camera, but the hubby doesn’t like those… I am going to have to show him how awesome this is. Only problem is we aren’t that handy with tools, I haven’t routed something since woodshop in high school and we don’t have the tool to do it….any suggestions??
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Ashley,
You can definitely create a rail to hold your cards up without routing. Just grab a small 1 x 1 strip of wood and use Liquid Nails and some screws to adhere it to the front of your shelf to create a little lip. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Claudia says
Love the postcard shelves! Sending you one from my original hometown.
bridget b. says
Any tips on how to get the support nails drilled in a level line through the boards? With my luck, the nails would end up poking through the top or bottom surface of the ledge during the drilling process. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Bridget,
I drilled pilot holes with a small manageable bit (very slowly and steadily) to avoid that fate. That way the screw had a reasonably straight path to follow. Good luck!
-John
Carolyn says
Looks great! I wanna send you a postcard now! :)
Fiona says
I’ve had a photo of picture shelves like this on my inspiration board for about a year. I plan to use it on the looooong blank wall in my front hall which is open to our formal lounge and dining room to display some of my wonderful coffee table books and a few photos and pieces of art. Much like Melissa did with her daughter’s books – I’m thinking of including a low shelf near the floor just for kids books. I need to paint first though and with baby W number 1 due any day now, it will be a little while longer until I get to that project … but hopefully not too much.
Sugar Cookie says
This looks incredible! I guess I knew the idea would look pretty cool, but the end product actually exceeded my expectations!! You guys always do such amazing stuff :) Keep up the good work!
malibou says
Lovin’ this. I have been trying to think how to display all the rocks we keep managing to pick up. Turns out my boy digs rocks as much as my husband and I.
I can’t wait to get this done. Thanks for the inspiration!
Ange says
WOW! This has turned out sooooo great! I am on the love it, love it, love it! team…It really suits your workspace. I too like how you icluded some of the wallflowers to break up the formal shape. I might adapt this idea for my craft space so that I can enjoy more of my projects for a longer time. Thank you, YHL is an endless source of inspiration!
Sandy says
I love your wall! What a great idea! I have a really easy suggestion for keeping things from flying around- Glue Dots. They are typically used for craft projects, but I also use them to keep things from falling over on shelves. It’s just a little circle of reusable adhesive, so it’s not permanent. You can find them at any craft store. Love your blog!!!
anna see says
This looks great! What a fun, flexible art piece!
lauren says
good advice re: baby and working. i will take this under advisement :)
Michelle says
I love this project – definitely one of my favorites so far!
I was wondering if you guys took a picture of your wall with the blue painter’s tape model? It would be really cool to see how the model compares to the real thing.
Thanks again – you guys are great!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Michelle,
Bummer, we didn’t snap a picture of the blue painter’s tape version – but trust us that it was pretty darn close to the final thing… although a lot bluer. :)
-John
Danielle says
Sorry if this was already asked… I am in love with the small white scrapbook thingy you are using on your desktop. I have been looking for something like that for a long time now. I tried my local Target with no luck. Do you know the actual name and brand of this item, so I can look elsewhere. Thanks so much :)
YoungHouseLove says
Hi Danielle,
Unfortunately we don’t recall the name or brand (we tore off the tag before writing it down) but believe it may be a Target brand item. Perhaps you could find something similar at a store like Michael’s that has a bigger selection of scrapbooking items? Good luck!
-John
BornInaZoo says
I’m so glad I hit the Explore link in Google Reader tonight. I know I wanted some sort of picture or plate rail at the top of the bead board I’m putting on the focal wall in my kitchen/dining room. If I was the only person ever in my house, a wider shelf wouldn’t be a problem because the top of the bead board is 60″ from the floor (just over my head). It’s the taller than me visitors I was concerned about getting injured. This is a perfect solution.
Dana @ House*Tweaking says
Love it, guys. Especially that you can switch it up when you want! It’d be a great place to display all your holiday cards during the Christmas season too!
j.s. says
How about using those little placecard holders you often see at weddings? They make ’em in plain silver, but I’ve also seen different shapes that are fun. At least for the lightest things–or those you don’t want to mount on posterboard–it might be a solution.
Natalie says
Oooh the office is really coming together! The colorful art really brightens up the neutral space. And I love how you break down each project for us. It makes me feel like I can actually try one of these projects for myself…once I logoff of blogspot and actually try them out ;)
Kimie says
You two have great ideas, and are very creative. This one just so happens to be one of my favs! I showed it to my sweetheart and the conversation started rolling. Next thing you know, we were talking about how we could add something like that to our house… where it could go, that random piece of trim that’s been hiding in our laundry room, maybe we should revisit our office space, etc… So, thanks a million for all of your inspiration!
KellyMichelle says
You guys are so creative, I am inspired by so much that you do. Its my goal to someday have a YhL worthy projects to show you!
whentimeisright.blogspot.com/
Katherine says
This looks absolutely amazing! I love the ever changing nature of it… Great inspiration!
Julie says
Wow, that looks fantastic! I must say, I didn’t think I’d like it quite that much. I wonder where I could put one…
Andrea P says
Great art wall! I already told my hubby about it! He got a Dremel for x-mas so this is a perfect project!
I know you got the Pottery Barn Woodland Organic pillow cases for when you were in the hospital & for taking Clara’s pic on….but I was wondering if you also got the matching duvet cover too? Or do you think both together is too “busy” looking?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Andrea P,
We didn’t get the matching duvet since we didn’t need a duvet (we plan to pair those pillow cases with the foldout sofa (which already has a brown and white quilt and white sheets- pics to come in the big reveal post) but we love it so we say go for it! Toss one accent pillow that doesn’t match (like a hot pink small square one) in front of those two shams to break everything up for a fun finished effect.
xo,
s
Emily says
Sorry if someone else already suggested this. I have a 16-month-old and a 1-month-old so I don’t have time to go back and read everyone’s comments. :) But I have two ideas for how you could keep the postcards in place without the hassle of trying affix them to the wall in a balanced way where they don’t bend at all.
1) Put small blobs of sticky tack in the grooves on the actual shelves and then press the items into the blobs (this would also keep from the possibility of having the sticky tack discolor the wall, which it can do from time to time).
2) Put small blobs of the wax you can get to keep candles from tipping into the grooves and then press the items into the blobs.
Again, either option would allow you to stick them in at the correct angle and not have to worry about trying to press and angled item into the affixing apparatus on the flat wall while keeping the item angled. Might not work for the wall flowers (or at least not pushing the blob into the grooves), but would work well for the postcards and such.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the suggestions for keeping the cards in place everyone! So many ideas that we can use if the need arises!
xo,
s
Heather says
S+J,
I LOVE the way this turned out. I have to say that I was a bit worried when I saw the first post with all the big posters/maps/ets that just didn’t look right but once I got through that long post and down to the bottom with the postcard ledge idea I was sold. And let me tell you- yours turned out better than I imagined in my head :) Everything looks tied together perfectly, and when I break each section down I see that everything really is the SAME size and it would be totally easy to switch up for new pictures- and let me tell you that is WHAT I LOVE THE MOST about this project, totally flexible and easily changed wall art. I think it’s genius and I am so happy that you found what worked for you!
Of course, I told my husband about this right away and he thinks “oh great, another project” but I think a similar project for our guest room would be perfect! Thanks AGAIN for the inspiration.
Rachael says
I was watching the show “Pretty Little Liars” tonight and one of the girls on the show had the same wall flowers as Sherry in her room! It immediately made me think of you guys. Just thought you’d like to know!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s too funny! We’ll have to check that show out for the decor!
xo,
s
Samantha @ Mama Notes says
Oh I love this! This might work for a big wall in our family room/kitchen. Now my husband is convinced he must have a Dreml to do this HA!
Is this possible WITHOUT a dremil by chance?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Samantha,
Yup, you could glue/screw a 1 x 1 strip of wood to create a ledge to hold your postcards up on your shelf- or you could even use a circular saw to slice out a ridge like the Dremel. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Shelley says
I love this idea, I recently came back from a 6 week trip around the states and collected postcards along the way. Originally I was thinking of just grouping them all together on a few canvases, but this looks much better!
You’ve inspired me to give it a go myself, but modify it to be renter friendly (light weight wood with removable 3m tapes for instance).
Thanks for the inspiration!
Carshena says
I must admit, I didn’t think that this project would look too appealing when you announced that you would be including it in the office. But you proved me wrong; it looks amazing! I do have a question about your den. What size frames do have hanging above your sofa. Are they 5×7 or 8×10?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Carshena,
Those are 8 x 10 frames with large mats and small 4 x 6 photos inside. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Melody says
Wow, this looks amazing! You two did a really great job. I wonder if the cards would stay in place if you weighted the bottoms of them. But I guess if a breeze gets behind the cards, they might fall forward…
Siobhan says
Hi from the land of Oz! Love your wall art idea! I’ve been waiting patiently for new posts on this topic since you first wrote about it! Just a quick question…I’m a renter and would like to do something similar in my study/guest room. Any ideas on how to hang with minimal damage to walls??
Keep the great work up! I’ll be sure to send you an Australian postcard to put on your wall!
YoungHouseLove says
Hi Siobhan,
We actually think this method of hanging would be the least damaging (you’d just have 4 small holes per shelf to caulk when you leave- but that’s really pretty simple and non invasive). You probably could even get away with using three screws per shelf if you’d like (since these shelves don’t have to support a ton of weight). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Erin says
I love the wall!! It is so you guys. :)
Megan says
This looks GREAT! I am a long time reader of the site and love the projects you guys have done. For the problem of the cards blowing away, maybe a magnet strip along the bottoms, or attach a series of clips to the shelves? You could even hang these sleek clips (http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/242794/Office-Depot-Bulldog-Magnetic-Clips-1/;jsessionid=00000NNOFhIxAxsP_5emnhD6x3i:13ddq0tng?cm_mmc=Mercent-_-Google-_-Basic_Supplies-_-242794) on the wall between the shelves you’ve built, and then the shelves might act as clean lines to seperate the hanging postcards? Your projects always get my head spinning with so many more ideas, great work!
PS – we have a 9 month old daughter and I love hearing how you manage your projects and the “beanette”!
Donald says
Off topic but please do some more research on those baby slings and what age group they are appropriate for…it’s not newborns.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Donald,
We love our baby and would never do anything to harm her! The Hotsling that I’m wearing in that picture is absolutely approved for two month old babies, in fact I wore her in it to the doctor’s office recently and he remarked how good they are for reminding babies of the womb and keeping them calm. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
mary-beth says
I love the hotsling too, and my precious baby boy is only 5 weeks old. They are absolutely appropriate for newborns. I know this is not a baby item post, but I had to share because this sling is what allows me to take my infant out in public, since he is not a fan of the carseat carrier.
Kelly says
I love the colors! What a fun idea!
http://www.kellyloves.wordpress.com
Lauryn says
This may have already been suggested or thought of, I didnt read all those comments! But maybe some sort of peel and stick magnets on the back of the postcards? Magnets are heavy enough and the peel and stick part is pretty easy. Just a thought! It all looks so great! Cant wait to see the final room reveal :-)
Bri says
Love the way it turned out! Sherry, I have an unrelated question….what kind of sling is it that you are wearing in the HOM Depot picture? I had my daughter on May 5th, and I have been looking for something similar. Thanks!! :)
YoungHouseLove says
It’s a hand-me-down Hotsling from a friend. Clara loves it! I think they’re on sale on amazon.com too. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Nancy says
This turned out great! And I see my postcard :)
Heather says
Had to come back and comment on how funny it is that someone else mentioned the wallflowers on Emily’s wall in Pretty Little Liars :) I have been thinking the same thing since they were featured a few weeks ago in her room!
Totally off-topic but that show is a guilty pleasure.
lynn says
To the poster wondering if the Pottery Barn Organic Woodland Sheet set was too busy with the duvet, I say NO! I bought the whole set (after seeing Sherry’s pillowcase :) and LOOOVE it! It lives on my spare bed and it is such a fun cheery combo. I DO have a set of white shams behind it on pillows, and a small hot pink throw in the middle of the two front pillows. The colors are AMAZING!!! Go for it!!!
D says
Of all the ideas you had for this wall, this is by far my favorite!! Excellent choice :)