diy shelving – A Diamond in the Stuff

Industrial Open Shelving

Courtney Carmean — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 13:00:36 +0000

I have been in a MOOD lately to update my dining area. My house has been semi the same for over two years and for this military wife that is about as much time as I usually spend in a house, so it’s time to change things up! I have a very small dining space in my great room (kitchen, dining, living room) and most of that space it taken by two large windows. I only have this one small length of wall to decorate and it was time for something new. So the old came down and my new Industrial Open Shelving went up!

Here is what the area looked like before my little makeover. And amazingly enough, it looked different before this with a large hanging mirror. I blogged about this Chippy Aqua Architectural Find in 2014.

So how did I make my industrial shelving you ask? Well pretty simply actually. It started with some piping from the hardware store. Yep just normal everyday plumbing material. I decided to use 2in x 12in boards for the shelves so I needed 12in pipes to accommodate them. I went with 3/4in flange, pipe, and cap.

I assembled the flange, pipe, and cap together after giving them a good scrubbing (the come a little oily). Then I attached them to the wall with some wall anchors and screws. I took the 2×12 pine boards and had fun distressing them with all kinds of tools, then I stained them with Special Walnut by Minwax.

I popped those boards up on the pipes and VOILA! I had so much fun decorating them even though it took me forever to get them the way I liked.

I now have a home for some of my Rae Dunn collection which makes me so happy.

I didn’t have to buy much to decorate my new shelves (always a plus), I mostly shopped my home for items. I did however create the Kitchen Conversions sign you see (click on the link for the free file).

The wall anchors and screws are doing their job, look at all those mugs! It’s all pretty heavy and it’s holding strong!!! The mug holder is from World Market in case you’re wondering.

Look at all that distressing! I took a hammer, chisel, sandpaper, and mallet to the boards to give them a really distressed look. Love how they look!

I have some little bits of industrial items around my home and this Industrial Open Shelving is a great addition! It all came together perfectly and it’s now my new favorite spot in my house, you know until my next new spot happens!!!

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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Love the industrial look too? How about a Faux Card Catalog Side Table? Pretty cute right?

Vintage Suitcase Shelves {Young and Crafty}

Courtney Carmean — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 07:00:59 +0000

I’m so excited to be over here on Courtney’s blog today while she gets settled in! My name is Hannah and I blog over at Young and Crafty. I love to craft, build things and just create in general. I’m in my last year of grad school doing my internship and creating keeps me sane! I’d love for you to pop over and visit

I cannot begin to tell you how much I’m in love with these suitcase shelves. Every time I pass by them I smile a little. All three of these suitcases came from my husbands grandmother who recently passed away. They were perfectly worn, as well as smelly.

I originally planned to stack these and make an end table. However, the left and right suitcases were almost exactly the same size so it just didn’t look right. I started browsing Pinterest for ideas and found the suitcase shelf idea. However, I could not find a good tutorial.

This project was totally spur of the moment. My husband and I were sitting in the garage chatting and bored and just went for it. He, of course, thought I was nuts.

So here is a tutorial for how we made our suitcase shelves.

Open them up and check out the beautiful, yet stinky lining. You have two choices, Febreeze the heck-o-la out of it or rip it out. I chose option number two. I think taking the lining out would probably help the blade go through smoother but I can’t say for sure because we didn’t try to cut it with the lining in.

Measure the size you want your suitcase and start cutting it in half on a circular saw. This part is only slightly terrifying. I thought more than once that I was ruining a perfectly beautiful vintage suitcase.

As you can see, the blade did not cut all the way through the bottom layer. You can either take a jigsaw and cut the rest of the way or do what we did. We tilted the suitcase vertical and lined up the circular saw to cut through the rest. Worked like a charm.

Now flip it over and cut the other side. Make sure your cuts line up! So now you’ve got your shelf and now it needs a way to be hung on the wall.

Take a piece of board and cut it to fit inside the suitcase on the BOTTOM piece of suitcase. Then use a nail gun and nail the board in place around the bottom and both sides. As you can see in the right picture, you can see the nail holes but they are soooo tiny that nobody will notice. This was super close and they are hard to see!

Sorry this picture is such poor quality. I was trying to help hold it up while taking a picture of how to do it! We screwed the piece of wood straight into the studs. Notice that the top is not on? The tops are removable and now the suitcase doubles as storage too! Love that.

I’m still working on the styling part, but I love the direction they are headed.

The one on the right is my favorite. Or the one in the middle. The green one is just ok.

The lantern on the left also came from Wyatt’s grandmothers and got a paint job. On the center suitcase, the teacup was my great grandmothers. The other stuff is just for looks

Here’s how they look from the doorway. Find the no sew drop cloth curtain tutorial HERE. Want to see what used to be on the suitcase wall? Go HERE. Wow, this is about a zillion times better.

Oh and the gigantic box underneath them is staying. Wyatt and his dad made it and it holds all of our snow skiing gear. I may eventually make a cushion for it. The only problem is that thing is massive. I’m talking coffin size. Maybe even a double coffin. You get my drift. HUGE, I tell ya.

I love that they are unique and can still be sentimental.

Be sure to hop on over to Young and Crafty to see MANY more projects!

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Thank you thank you Hannah for that wonderful post! I absolutely LOVE those Suitcase Shelves. LOVE.

I highly suggest you hop on over to Young and Crafty and check out all that Hannah is up to. I promise you won’t be disappointed!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Living Room Makeover {Open Shelving}

Courtney Carmean — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 07:00:00 +0000

I am happy to say that I am finally done with my living room makeover! It took awhile to gather all the items, get things painted up, and arrange them all. Especially because I am super picky and kept changing the arrangement of the items on the shelves. I totally got a work out going up and down my step stool! My living room makeover all started with my Aqua Buffet Entertainment Center.

The minute that I put my new aqua entertainment center in place I was in love with it. Obviously the area needed something more. Awhile back I picked up some wood shelving mounts from Goodwill and these were the inspiration for my Living Room Open Shelving.

I cleaned up and painted the shelving mounts white along with some 1×10 boards that I used for the shelves. Honestly you can’t get pretty shelving for any less than this!

I was able to decorate these shelves with items that I happened to have lying around. It was a hodge podge of items though, mostly from all my thrift store hunting. You may even recognize some of them from some of my Thrifty Thursday posts. I was able to tie a lot of these things together with a little bit of paint.

Some items didn’t need a thing and worked perfectly with the colors I was using, like the fan and white owl. Other items need some help in the color department. Enter some white, aqua, and black spray paint. I even used some fabric scraps in embroidery hoops to further tie the color scheme together.

All of the picture frames came from thrift stores. When I find frames that I like, which means they probably have some fun detailing, I grab them. I have quite a few hanging around just waiting for a project.

I decided to add a few “natural” elements into the mix as well. I grabbed a few faux plants and popped them into an old wood drawer. I used another plant and added it to a painted urn, then propped it all on top of some old worn books.

I of course added some pictures of the family in all my painted thrifty frames. I can never get enough of my beautiful kiddo’s smiling faces!!!

I finished things off with a couple greenery topiaries. I had some milk glass flower pots in my stash that I just HAD to use! I bought some already made greenery topiaries and put them into the pots using some floral foam. Added some spanish moss to cover the foam and they were done. I love that they look the same but the pots are a bit different, adding to the eclectic feel of everything!

I am just totally obsessed with all of the aqua right now! I think that it all came together so well. It’s like my living room just got a big ole breath of fresh air!!!

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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Make sure you stop over at the Time to Shine party going on right now and check out all the fabulous things linked up! I would love it if you would join along and link up too!!!