We’ve been churning out several projects faster than I can post about them!

Take for instance the latest addition to our entryway. This alone contains 3 DIY projects!!Let me start with the shelf.

First of all, the walkway by our stairs is somewhat narrow, and having a radiator there doesn’t help much. It used to have a cover over it, but we removed it to make a little more room.That worked, but we still needed somewhere to drop our keys, sunglasses, etc. A table didn’t seem logical so we decided to build a shelf instead. We wanted a somewhat rustic look using wood and metal.

Reclaimed wood and old iron brackets would be ideal for something like this. But we didn’t want to have to search high and low for materials, so we headed off to Lowe’s. We picked up a 6 foot piece of 1×4 pine and 2 metal brackets for around $20.

Jamie cut the board in half and screwed them together using pocket holes that he made with a Kreg jig. We now had a shelf that was 36″ long by 7″ deep. The top of it was a little too smooth for my liking … so I beat it up! I put a bunch of screws in an old sock and banged it against the wood. I also made random markings using both a hammer and a screw driver. (This is a good opportunity to release some stress!) Once it no longer looked new, I brushed two coats of Minwax Bombay Mahogany stain on it.After it dried, I went over the edges and corners with sand paper to make it look a little more worn. You can do this as much or as little as you want.Jamie then attached the brackets to the wood and hung it on the wall. Such an easy and affordable DIY project!Coming up in Part 2, I’ll show you how I distressed a wood-framed mirror.