Mr. G's Mind

The master bedroom in my house is really on the “small” side of rooms. My first thought was to get rid of the cabinet that the TV sat on. That would certainly make the room look bigger. I’d hang the TV on the wall and build a floating shelf for the DVD player and the controllers.

I built a simple rectangle out of veneer plywood, and edged the front with 3/8″ clear pine. I drilled two 1-1/4″ holes, one on top and one on the bottom for power and data cords. I primed and then painted the shelf a glossy dark gray.

To hang the shelf, I used strap-toggle hangers. I’d never used these before, but they worked great and can hold a lot of weight. The only part that you see is the screw and washer.

It turned out really nice, and looked so much better with the TV and shelf “floating” on the wall.

A basket was added to the shelf to hold the TV and DVD controllers and hide the power strip.

I bought a plug cover to dress up the top hole. It really makes the job look professional too.

It is amazing how getting furniture up and off the floor can make a room seem so much bigger.

A very simple and inexpensive project. Hmmm, where else can I install a floating shelf?

Several months ago my friend and I went on a trek through the Pacific Northwest. Of course, Oregon has some amazing waterfalls, and I was fortunate enough to capture a few good images of them.

One night, we stayed at a hotel in downtown Ashland, Oregon – a very cool town by the way. The hotel had a lot of old nature postcards of the local area, framed and hanging on the walls. In addition to the old postcard, the designer also added a local leaf from an indigenous tree, which was secured to the frame’s mat. I thought it was a really interesting way to present photos and local flora, and decided to give it a try myself.

I wanted the photo to look like an old time postcard. Usually, the colors are pretty saturated. I began with an image I liked, and used the photo editor on my phone to change things up a bit. The first photo below is the original. After brightening up and adding some color, I was happy with the final (second) image.

After printing the image on glossy photo paper, I cut it to about 3″ x 5″, the approximate size of a postcard. Then I cut a piece of mat board the same size and glued the photo to it. The photo now had the look and the thickness of a postcard.

I then glued the 3″ x 5″ photo onto a piece of mat board that fit my frame. I left extra room at the bottom so a leaf could be added.

The redwood tree leaves that I had gathered needed a little flattening prior to securing to the mat board. I placed them on a piece of plywood, put a second piece on top, and then added a brick for weight. I let that sit overnight.