How to Build Inexpensive DIY Wood Picture Ledges
October 03, 2024
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How to build long wood DIY picture ledges in minutes.
These wood picture ledge shelves can be customized to the length and width you need and are a great way to display art and photographs!
If you do a lot of DIYing, you may have enough scrap wood on hand to make these. If not, they can be made affordably with basic pine from the hardware store.
When we moved into this house, I knew immediately I wanted to do something fun on our staircase walls. This project in particular was on the wall under the stairs:
It needed something -- and I imagined some simple display shelves with photos along this wall.
First I stuck some painter's tape to the wall to figure out the sizes of each one and get an idea of how it would look.
I built three, four and five foot shelves. I wanted to go down low on the wall as much as possible because it just felt right visually to me.
These shelves only come out about four inches from the wall.
To build these you'll need three pieces of wood -- one 1x2 for the front, one 1x3 for the base, and one 1x4 for the back, all cut to the length you want.
You can also make the shelf with a 1x4 on the bottom so it would be a bit deeper. I found the three inch to be fine but if you plan on leaning a bunch of frames I'd go with the four inch.
You can see what I mean here:
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I applied wood glue before the attaching the pieces together, but it's not absolutely necessary. Just an extra precaution to make sure they don't budge with the weight of the frames:
Here are the three steps to building these quick DIY shelves:
- The 1x4 back is attached with wood screws into the side of the 1x3 base. (I recommend drilling a hole with a drill bit to prevent the wood from splitting first.)
- Then I used my nail gun to secure the front 1x2 trim to the front of the base.
- I stained them with this Minwax stain color called Provincial because it works with our floors so well. I've used it on our butcher block island top and frames on various projects like our giant chalkboard wall.
You can see here how they barely take up any space as far as the depth:
I marked where the studs were in the walls and then just screwed through the backs to hang them.
I wasn't worried about the screws showing because I knew the frames would cover them. If a couple show I'm not worried about it:
I got a few new frames from HomeGoods and some of these pretty metal frames from Target. I printed out random photos from my phone on our printer at home.
We absolutely LOVE how it turned out. My husband and son both came to me at different times saying how much they liked it! When the men notice you know it's good! 😂
Shelves with leaning photos turned out to be a great in between -- not too busy because I kept the frames to the same shape and only two colors. But it fills in the space beautifully because I went low and filled the wall:
It's nice to get your photos off the phone, right? I'm SO bad about that. I grabbed pics from recent trips and random snapshots and I love every single one!
I especially love how they follow the angle of the stairs. It just makes it more visually appealing:
We have plenty of space behind the sofas but this would also work great somewhere with less room just because they're not very deep at all.
I'm so thrilled with them! I especially love that they were so inexpensive and quick. I made all three and had them hung in less than an hour.
They would look great painted black or white too.
I later added an inexpensive board and batten treatment to this wall that finished it off beautifully!:
I didn't even remove the ledges, just worked around them. :)
I spent $30-something on all three because I went with select pine (it doesn't have knots). If you used regular pine and don't mind a little more rustic look (or if you're painting!) you would spend way less.
Not bad either way considering this four foot ledge from Pottery Barn is $150!! CHOKE.
I also added these on either side of our DIY fireplace in the basement:
Have you tried these simple DIY frame ledges? They give you that Pottery Barn look for way less. See all the ways I've used these DIY shelves around the house here!
Check out more gallery wall ideas below:
Use this image to pin this project for later:
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What is your living room wall color? Looks great!
ReplyDeleteAgreeable gray by SW. :)
DeletePicture ledges are my new obsession! We've made 3 for our home, and even gifted a set to my mother in law. I love that you can change up the pictures and the frames and not worry about patching up the wall. Great job!
ReplyDeleteVery good point and I love the idea of making them as gifts!
DeleteThey look fantastic. My daughter made some and said it was so easy.
ReplyDeleteToo cute, Sarah!! You seriously inspire me - now I want a nail gun, ha ha!!
ReplyDeleteThe nail gun is by far my favorite tool. 👍🏻
DeleteThese look great and fill the wall perfectly. The space was just made for them!
ReplyDeletethese look great! My next project. Thanks for sharing : )
ReplyDeleteIt looks beautiful. Of all the home bloggers I follow, I like your style the best - simple, elegant and classy.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! ❤️
DeleteThese are so perfect, Sarah! I may have the perfect place for a small set of these in MWA! ;-) Great post!
ReplyDeleteLooks great! My dad made me some of these for my last house and I really miss them, so guess it's time I find a spot for some at the new place :)
ReplyDeleteYou are such an inspiration! I love how you just jump in and do the job. I'd be begging my husband for help.....time and time again! Lovely!
ReplyDeleteThese look great. I just love your living room.
ReplyDeleteLove how these also tie in to the wood frames on your mirrors. You have such an amazing eye for details. You've got me thinking of a spot in my house for something similar. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteBeen following you a bit for 2 years when you taught me to make a tufted headboard. I'm doing this project on Monday!
ReplyDeleteLooks absolutely fabulous - well done - looks super high end, whoo hoo for DIY!!!
ReplyDeleteI’ve been wanting to do this! Thanks for the push. ;)
ReplyDeleteHow far apart did you space the shelves?
Really great idea! Thanks for the details on size. Looks beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI posted above that I was going to do this on the holiday weekend. Well, I started a week later than that, and then I lost some time trying to find a stain color that matched my floors. Ended up mixing two parts golden oak with one part traditional cherry to get the right look. Anyway, finally finished today! I did 3 42 inch shelves and 3 68 inch shelves on a long wall at the top of my stairs. Can't figure out how to post pics but it came out GREAT! Thanks for the idea and the tips! Oh, and it cost me about $170 to do all of the shelves, whereas I can't find them anywhere online for less than $450 plus shipping, and they wouldn't match my floors!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this! Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteDo we have to sand before staining?
ReplyDeleteJust depends on your wood -- if it's really rough I'd give it a sanding. You can do a light sand after the coat of stain as well.
DeleteSo to make all three of the shelves you used one 1x2, one 1x3, and one 1x4? I'm looking to do this over the weekend. Do I just go to Home Depot and ask them to cut the wood for me?
ReplyDeleteWhat if we don’t put back piece and use command hook instead of screw to put on the wall. Would it be okay
ReplyDeleteI don't think that would hold them unfortunately. You could try long nails into the studs.
DeleteThis looks AMAZING! Could you please share your photo frame sizes?
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm not sure but I think probably 12x16 and 16x20?
DeleteHi there!! I’m so excited to try this!! 🥰 thank you so much for sharing. I’m having trouble getting my head around anchoring the ledge to the wall. You said you screwed into the studs. What did you do to the ledge? Make a hole? Or drill the screen straight through the ledge to the stud? I just want to do this so bad for our new home!
ReplyDeleteI just screwed them in through the back of the ledges into the wall/studs. Using a drill bit to make the hole first is a good idea. :)
DeleteI love these! Just made some white ones for my living room. Do you mind sharing the vertical distance between shelves?
ReplyDeleteMy wife added this to my project folder. You can also buy the longer deck screws to mount them with in different colors like brown or black.
ReplyDelete