Three Crown Molding Ledges

I'm happy to share that we got our three crown molding ledges installed this weekend although I can't say it was fun or easy. {Insert expletives here.}{Unless those offend you, then pretend I didn't just write that.}

I was super stoked when I first found these 3.5 foot ledges at Michaels a few weeks ago. Pottery Barn has some similar looking ones in a creamy antique white for around $85 per ledge. The ones I found at Michaels were pure white and with a 40% off coupon used for each one, about $26 each. Not bad at all. Or so I thought.

I thought it was kind of awesome that on the back of each cardboard box, there was a full-sized image of the shelf to cut out and adhere to the wall to help with the installation. The cut-outs even had drill-holes that showed you exactly where to put the screws in the wall! Brilliant!

I cut out the templates and moved them around on the wall until I figured out a spacing of 14" in between each shelf. I thought this left enough room in between to lean some decent sized pictures (and trinkets of course). I also centered the three shelves in between the edge of the wall and the edge of the door.

Here is my original layout:

After uploading the above picture on my computer, I realized right away that the top shelf was too high and would look out of whack with any tallish items placed on it. So I ended up shifting each shelf down exactly five inches from where they were in the picture above. 

I measured each shelf perfectly making sure they were evenly spaced and everything was level. I called Alex for what was supposed to be a five minute job to drill holes where the arrows were, add some screws, and hang the shelves.

Except after installing the first set of screws, we realized that they didn't match up to the brackets on the shelf. The template said, "DRILL HERE" but really the brackets were an inch to the left of where they were supposed to be. Weird.

So then we checked the next shelf. The drill holes on the template also did not match up to the actual brackets on the shelf. But this time they were 1.5 inches off. Huh. Very weird.

So then we measured the last shelf. The drill holes on the template again did not match up to the actual brackets on the shelf. But this time they were 1.75 inches off. 

The brackets were in different spots on every.single.shelf. and none of them matched the template that was provided on the back of the cardboard box. What was supposed to be a five minute shelf install actually took us about an hour and a half to complete. Alex still likes me. Sort of. 

After all the drama, here's how they look:

We do realize that the bottom shelf is at perfect level for little fingers to reach once Little Ninja starts gettin' mobile. On our to-do list is to replace the wimpy brackets on all of the shelves with some heavy-duty-secure ones so that all the shelves stay put and don't go falling on any little heads.

Despite the setbacks, I really do like how the shelves look now that they are up. Once they've been prettied up with some books, pictures, and a few cute toys and thingamabobs, I think they will add quite a bit of interest to a boring little wall that had no room for furniture.

And now, mission critical is........ finding some cute books, pictures, toys, and thingamabobs!

Ooooh yeah. My favourite!