Best. Rain Gutter. Bookshelves. Ever.

Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

So.

If you are one of the three people who read this regularly, then you already know about my rain gutter bookshelves.

Dude.

Ugh.

Sigh.

Whhhhhhhhhhhy do I do this to myself? I must loooooooooooooooove nonsense.

I have an affinity for nonsense.

Clearly.

Because, I just had to go back and paint them white. I couldn’t handle the brown any longer. And I know some of y’all might be thinking that I just randomly painted some bookshelves brown to stick out like sore thumbs.

Um.

No.

I painted the bookshelves brown … and then forced my poor Superman to paint my white preschool tables brown … and I bought BROWN framed chairs …. brown, brown, and brown.

I don’t know. I just don’t. So don’t ask.

Like, 2.3876 seconds after finishing the bookshelves AND tables I thought to myself, “I think I liked them better white”.

For real.

FOR REAL.

My poooooooor husband. Now he gets to repaint the tables white this week to match THIS:



Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Admit it. Those shelves just sang to you. I know they did.

I’m telling you: the only thing worse than painting those shelves after installing them … is REPAINTING them after botching the first paint color. Learn from my mistake: only WHITE rain gutter bookshelves from here on out.

Amen.

For those of you who are new … here’s how we made them.

Giddy up.

Cause it was fun.

You will need:

* 4” crown moulding in whatever length your shelf will be (this will be the front/decorative portion of the shelf)

* 2” x .50” board in whatever length your shelf will be (this will be the actual shelf that the books sit on)

* 1.25” x .75” trim board, cut into 2” blocks (these are the brackets that will brace the rail across the wall – you will need 15 of them)

* 1.25” x .25” trim board in whatever length your shelf will be (this is the rail that will go above each shelf)

* 3” or 4” screws

* Nail gun



Okey dokey. Here we go.

First of all: do yourself an enormous favor and paint all of the wood to whatever color you want it to be when finished … that way you just have to do minor touch ups when you are finished. Trust me, you do not want to skip this step. We skipped it. Learn from us.

Second, you are going to construct each ‘shelf’ of the wall separately, and then install it onto the wall. There is the shelf and there is a rail. At least, that’s what I am going to call them.

To construct the shelf: Simply measure the 2” board to match the length of the 4” crown moulding; both of which need to be the entire length of the wall, whatever wall you are using. I think Home Depot sells crown moulding in lengths up to 16 feet. That could be fun to get home … but, they sell them. Our wall is just over 10’ long.

Once you’ve got the 2” board cut to the same length as your 4” crown moulding, brace the two together using a nail gun. You want the shelf to sit at the top of the crown moulding as shown in these pictures. Just use your nail gun to shoot some invisible (is that the word?) nails into the front of the mouding, securing it to the shelf portion. Man, I hope this makes sense.

Now that you essentially have the shelf portion put together, you just have to put it on your wall. This also requires your nail gun. Just shoot nails across the bottom of the crown moulding, which will be sitting against the wall. You also want to shoot a few diagonal nails into the back of the top shelf, against the back of the wall. Putty over any tiny nail holes … and then touch up paint when you are finished.

Now, for the top railing above each shelf: Cut each railing piece to the same length as your shelf piece.

Cut 15 – 2” blocks (5 for each railing, unless your shelf is 5 feet or less in length, then you only need 3 per shelf) using 1.25” x .75” trim board. So, your blocks will measure 2” x 1.25” x .75”.



Next, find the studs in your wall. Use a block as a brace bracket on each end, in the center, and then one in each stud on either side of the center. Hope that makes sense. Superman used a nail gut to place each bracket onto the rail before screwing the whole railing, including brackets, into the wall.



Use a 3” piece of scrap wood at each bracket setting to make sure the railing is installed straight and perfectly level. Also, use 3-4” screws to screw all the way through the rail and bracket and into the wall.



Once you have installed all the shelves and all the railings, just caulk or putty over each screw/nail hole and then touch up paint the area.



Then you don’t have to tape off every nook and cranny and then re-tape and repaint the wall when you finish painting the brown shelves. Painting these while they were on the wall was a nightmare. Trust me. So, you’re gonna learn from me and not do that, right? ;)

And, you’re gonna learn from me and not paint them anything but white the first time, RIGHT?! ;)

This is a surprisingly simple and super fast project (maybe 3 hours, start to finish) … Because there isn’t tons of cutting involved. I highly recommend using a spot where you can do wall to wall shelving, like I have done. Then, there aren’t any weird intricate angling cuts trying to finish off the sides of shelving.



I can cram about 200 picture books on these three shelves. Not even joking. Because, with the railing there to keep the books on the shelf, I can stack the books 3-4 books deep, one behind the other.



These shelves are worth every second of tender loving care you put into them.



One last close up of the brackets … you don’t even really notice them at all. These ARE essential. You do have to brace that big long railing several times in between the ends of the shelf. Otherwise, some punk kid is going to put too much weight against the railing and snap the wood. That would just break my heart for you.

And.

For the newbies. Here’s a before and after:

BEFORE



AFTER



For real.

What was I thinking with the brown? Shaking my head in shame now.

How to revamp your old patio furniture … for PENNIES!

Okay.

Let’s have a little test to see just how ghetto I am (and you are):

Raise your hand if you have rusty old patio furniture in your back yard???

Now. Raise your hand if you have been thinking for months (possibly YEARS), “Dude. That rusty old patio furniture is GHETTO! I need to drag it off to the dump!” ??? (or, in our case, haul it to the street for bulk trash pick up)

Yeah. We are THOSE people.

Behold.

I give you … our rusty old porch swing:



This little gem is 10 years old, people … give or take. We bought it shortly after getting married. And, it’s been a rusty mess since about 2 years after we bought it.

How rusty, you ask? Well. If rusty could rank in belts, like karate, this swing would be sporting a black belt. No lie. It was so rusty that the rust ate the old rust for breakfast … and then the pole thingys holding up the swing broke … and the swing was just dangling there. True story.



This thing was HOPELESS. And every month … about 30 minutes after bulk trash came to pick up, Superman and I would look at each other and say “Crap! We forgot to haul out that piece of junk swing, AGAIN!” We played that game for about … 4 years. At least. (We are THAT ghetto)



See all that rust around the bolts in the picture above? Yeah. You do not want to sit on that swing.

So.

One day … I was outside, admiring my glorious view of this rusty old piece of junk and I thought, “Hot dang! I’m gonna make Superman fix that swing, spray paint it, and save myself a quick $150 on buying a new one!”

Poor. Superman.

But, as always … he obeyed.

*** Y’all. Please do not let Superman know that there are prettier, skinnier, taller, and less demanding wives out there. I don’t think he knows that. Shhh.

So. Off he went. To Home Depot. To buy some steel rods … to replace the rust rods. He bought some steel pipe and some nuts and bolts and screws. I have no idea which ones. But, I don’t think it matters because the chance of you having the EXACT same porch swing as us is slim. If you decide to do this to your patio furniture, just measure your nuts, bolts, screws and go buy new ones in the same sizes. Easy peasy.



So, he brought the steel pipe home, cut it to the exact right size, then hammered the ends so that they were flat, the way he needed them … and then he reconstructed the swing.
 

See? That steel pipe in the picture above is just plain old galvanized steel pipe that he cut and hammered on the ends to make things fit right. The nuts and bolts are new as well. (Ignore the blurry spot in the middle of the picture on these next few pictures … one of my babies apparently got a hold of my camera, and I didn’t realize the fingerprint until today, when I uploaded the pictures. Fail.)



After he got everything reconstructed, he took his sander and sanded off as much of the rust as he could. Obviously, it would be impossible to get all of it, but the dude tried hard. Because he is Superman.



Then, he put it up on some fence posts, took the seat apart (it all unscrews fairly easily) …



And, then … he sprayed the whole thing with a good coat of Rust-Oleum Primer Spray Paint … that stops the rust. And THEN, he spray painted the whole thing with Rust-Oleum Textured Spray Paint in Desert Beige.

And when he was done … and it was all put back together … and my patio was swept off and the 1,546,893 chalk drawings were washed away … the porch swing actually sang to me.



Dude. Seriously. I can’t even believe what you can accomplish with spray paint. For real. If I ever meet the makers of Rustoleum, I just might kiss them.

 

I am soooo looking forward to reading the news on my phone while sitting on that swing listening to my kids bicker and argue on the swing set. ;)



And, I know that we are missing a few bolt covers here and there. And it might not be 100% perfect … but, dude. I don’t even care. For about $30 in materials, Superman literally transformed a wasteland into a beautiful oasis.



I love the color and texture. It doesn’t appear to be any different from the original color (which was the point), but the texture is awesome. And, BONUS, Rustoleum guarantee’s their products to be RUST FREE for 2 years! BAM!!



I can’t decide what I love more: the ‘new’ swing … or my clean back porch. Sidewalk chalk can junk up everything in no time flat.



And he finished it just in time to celebrate this chilly weather with a s’mores roasting party with our kiddos this weekend.

I can’t wait!

As always, here’s one last side by side comparison:



Man. I love Superman. The guy just plain rocks my socks off with EVERY renovation he does. This project makes me want to go hunting/dumpster diving for old patio furniture … that we can hit with a little Rustoleum and turn into a treasure. I’m doing it!!! (Meanwhile, Superman shakes his head … poor guy!!)