DIY Planked Shelf.

This past week was the fourth of July, I hope everyone had a safe, fun filled time! We sure did! 

Me, my boys, and some family friends ventured down to Wilmington North Carolina to enjoy a day of walking around their cute quaint little downtown area, enjoy some lunch at the local Brewery & watch the fireworks over the Cape Fear River. It was Bennett's first time ever seeing fireworks & being that it was way past his normal bed time & we had been out in the hot sun all day I was worried by the time the fireworks actually began, he was going to be a crank butt, or passed out cold. Luckily he was a trooper & smiled through the whole show, snuggling up to Daddy the entire time. :D He liked the big booms the most! 

Heres a picture of our patriotic boy, waving his flag in the back of our SUV hatch before the sun went down.

Yep the cutest EVER! Can you believe he was 9 months yesterday? I can't! 

After all the fourth festivities slowed down, I kicked it into gear & got crackin' on a few projects! 

So...  Being that we do not own our house and we live on a military base, their are rules on how much you can do to your home. If you paint, it has to be certain colors or , If you chose to paint you have to prime everything back to white when you move out... blah blah blah. Sounds like a lot of work. So my goal while living in this house is to try to find inexpensive ways to keep my house feeling homey & unique to us, but with things that can come with us when we're done here. 

Up until now, I have yet to share anything about my bedroom progress on the blog. I have had a love hate relationship with my bedroom. For the longest time the walls have remained bare. 

Recently while my husband was on a 2 week field op I picked up a paint roller at 7 pm and decided to just go for it. An accent wall.. I have never been keen on accent walls but one wall is better than no walls right? A new comforter and sheets,  new lamp, a DIY shelf & some thrifted wall art later, the room is really starting to transform into something worthy of us to sleep in!  I cant wait to share with you the full Master bedroom reveal, but For now lets take our first peak into my room with my DIY Planked Shelf.

The awesome hardware was found at Hobby Lobby! I took 3 planks of wood purchased at Lowes, stained each individually & gave a clear coat. Then 2 smaller planks (also stained & clear coated) and adhered them with wood glue, to the what side I wanted to be the underneath of my shelf. This is to hold the 3 planks in place, and provide a more sturdy shelf that won't bend in the middle. After allowing them to fully dry for almost a full day, I screwed the brackets into place & my shelf was ready to be hung!

Might I suggest.. Have someone help you hang this shelf! I did this on my own.. & while it turned out great, The first try was a fail & I walked away with a few bumps and bruises. The shelf was too heavy to hold in place so high on my own & I dropped it. Please don't make my mistake! You've been warned! ;D

This shelf looks perfect above my bed, & could go in any room, or any house we ever move to. With a little paint & DIY project I have easily given my bedroom a mini facelift.

Well? What do you think of my DIY Planked Shelf?

Amanda