Homemade Shelves & Memories Showcased

My wife envisioned our family room wall devoted to family photos. So when I planned the oak drop ceiling (shown) I included a couple of recessed spots to highlight the area.

My wife doesn't ask for much, so I felt compelled to get on this project sooner than later. Made a quick trip to the lumberyard and spent an afternoon with dad in his shop. We whipped these two shelves together. Nothing fancy... just 1x on top and bottom with a piece of crown in the middle and returning on the ends. Also routed a groove along the top to catch frames resting on it. Spray painted black to match the blinds (seen to the left) that I also spray painted. To mount them I screwed several blocks to the wall and then placed the shelves over them and put a screw in through the top of the shelf and into the block.

Had a bunch of mismatched frames in the basement. Spray painted the ugliest of the bunch, black.

Kept the whole project a secret and while my wife was away, installed the two shelves. I think we're both happy with the outcome. One nice thing about What do you think?

In addition to the shelving project, I refurbished a patio off the back of the house which has some really nifty features: enclosed & screened, stuccoed, arched windows, 20 foot ceilings with exposed rafters, tiled floors with drains for any rain that might blow in. This patio has been non-inhabitable since we moved in 6 years ago in that babies and peeling leaded paint don't mix. I finally had enough of looking at the cobwebbed dirty room through 30 feet of windows flanking the back of our living room! One morning I got up and decided to tackle it. Got out the heat gun and hepa vac and started stripping. Washed everything down and repainted. Through up a couple of ceiling fans and hauled up patio furniture from the basement. We absolutely love it. I will get some good pics taken and post later.

By the way... sorry for the delay in posts. I have a good excuse... I've been gone! Every 10 years, my company gives us an additional 4 weeks vacation time. So I added another normal vacation week to it and took 5 fun-filled weeks off with my family. Lot's of great memories.