My New Photo Ledges! {Bragging On My Hubster's DIY}

Have you ever accumulated so many picture frames that you ache for a way to put them all together neatly?

Well, I happen to LOVE photos and find myself needing to limit the ones that get frames so I don't overdo it. {Limited square footage = limited wall space, don't-ya-know.}

I also have a thing for children's books. We have a TON of them for the kiddos and I really wanted to keep them tidy without taking up floor space in my kid's room.

So what do frames and books have in common?

The hubster and his dad were able to solve both problems with one idea.

I looked for solutions online and came across these amazing {and easy} photo ledges on Ana White's website. Now, I'm pretty sure I said I could do this on my own but the guys wanted to handle this one for me. I think something about using the table saw to cut down pieces didn't bode well with them. *giggle*

ANYwho, here's what we came up with.

This now hangs on the main wall of my living room. I have A LOT more frames on it now but I wanted to get a picture of it while I still had daylight on my side. It's 8 feet long and we drilled it into the studs at the bottom of the shelf. It's nice and secure and you can't see any of the screws at all. {P.S. I love the contrast of white on the gray walls. It looks so clean.}

And here's a side view of the photo ledge. I love how I can place frames on there and not worry about them falling off. Also, I'm going to be treating this as a "mantel" of sorts when it comes time to decorate for Christmas.

On to the kiddos' room. The plans for Anna's photo ledge will make one, long ledge but I decided to have it cut down into 4, 2 foot long shelves.

 The place I chose to put this in their room couldn't fit all four shelves but it's not a total waste. I'm sure we'll find a use for that last shelf yet.  {You can see how we screwed the ledges into the walls in this pic.}

 And here's our photo ledge, turned book shelf, in action. It's right at the level of the little hands who like to choose books. This is just a small amount of the books we own, but I have the rest stored under the bed in a storage container and will be changing out the books with the seasons/holidays so they don't get old.  {Oh, and please don't judge. We have an outlet cover on that open outlet now. (; }

Thanks hubby and father-in-law! I love the new spaces you've helped me create.

Have you added anything new to your home to cut down on mess and clutter?