DIY Picture Ledge

2019 is all about saving money and DIY projects for me. It’s one of the only things, outside of being a mama that I find pure joy in. Yes, I find joy in other areas of my life, but DIY’s, it’s my jam.

We’ve lived in this home for six months now and we haven’t put up any family photos yet, so I knew that I wanted to have a big picture wall behind our sofa. BUT, I didn’t want to buy new frames for this project or put a ton of holes in the wall so I came up with this super easy DIY Picture Ledge that will hold all our pictures and we only had to put 6 super skinny brad nails in the wall that are pretty naked to the human eye  – and can easily be filled when we move someday.

This DIY Picture Ledge literally cost us nothing as we already had the 1×6’s in our garage from an old project, and we split the other wood down. But, if you had to purchase them here are the supplies you will need for two 5′ Ledges.

Shopping List

-2 x 1x4x8’s at 3.69 each

-2 x 1x6x8’s at 6.69 each

-2 x 1x2x8 at 1.69 each

-16 1 1/4″ screws

-Wood Glue

-White Paint + Paint Brush

$12.07/shelf for the wood. We spent 0 dollars on these shelves AND we had left over material so the above supplies will make you two 5′ shelves and two 3′ shelves. The 3′ shelves we are putting in our nursery for book storage!

Dimensions + Cuts

Cut Two Pieces of 1×4 = 60″

Cut Two Pieces of 1×6 = 60″

Cut Two Pieces of 1×2 = 60″

( If you don’t have a saw to cut the pieces this length, they will do this for you at the hardware store! )

As the pictures above show, this DIY was pretty simple. You do not need a drill for this DIY. You can use a screw driver – it will just take you a bit longer and a bit more elbow grease.

First pictures shows we made 4 starter holes in each board, we spaced ours 14″ Apart. You do not have to do this step, but if you’re using a drill, it ensures that when you drill into the wood, it won’t crack. We also used a clamp to easily tighten the two boards together, but again, you do not need to.

One you have screwed the bottom board onto the “ledge”, you want to do the same thing to the back of the picture ledge. Screw all four holes down. Since we had a drill, this DIY took us under 5 minutes a ledge.

Once we were finished screwing all 3 sides together, you can sand and stain or paint your desired color. I did mine in a flat white!

This is it – the easiest DIY ever. If you simply cannot get your brain around screwing the sides together, you can also use brackets to attach the wood pieces together. But keep in mind, you will have to strategically place the picture frames in front of the brackets.

Below is how the two shelves turned out – super happy with them. Since we already had all the supplies, this project cost us nothing!

Similar shelves sell at IKEA for 14.99 but are only 29″ in length and look pretty cheap compared to this DIY. You then have to factor in shipping + Taxes, so this is much cheaper!

The picture frames are frames I’ve collected over the years and all the black frames were actually vintage gold frames my mom had from the 80’s that I painted! I think the combination of frames breaks up the harsh black and I love the little bit of wood tones I have on the ledge.

I hope you guys enjoyed this super easy DIY Picture Ledge. I know it’s made a huge impact in our living room!