Positive Focus Sunday - 'Shelf' Awareness!

Or another title, "I Did It Myself"!

I have started jotting down ideas for 2022 around the house and yard. In fact, I went room to room and made my list. But yesterday, while making coffee, I looked around the kitchen and decided to move up one of my plans and see what it would take to put a shelf across my double window in the kitchen.

The window faces south/west and there is a lot of light comes in. There is also a single window on the opposite wall, so a lot of light in my kitchen during the day. 

But I really needed to move some of the plants from the table in front of the other window. Right now, not only is that table where a lot of the plants sit, but it is also the feeding station for the cats. Because Slider likes cat food! (I am hoping sometime in the near future, the table will be replaced with a chest freezer.)

My 'plan' for this window will be two shelves - probably a 12 inch wide shelf on the bottom and a 6 inch wide one in the middle of the window. 

In looking around at Lowe's, Home Depot and Ikea, my main problem with the double kitchen window was the shelves were either too short for window or if I could find one long enough, too wide. Over the kitchen sink I didn't really want a 12 inch wide shelf.

So buggy in hand, I wandered Lowe's and pondered the problem. And then the light bulb went off! 

I don't need a pre-made shelf. I could make my own shelf!

I picked up 4 brackets which would work with a 6 inch wide shelf. And a big roll of white contact paper (more about that later). Plus some wood screws. And heading over to the lumber section I found a 6 inch side, 6 foot long piece of pine for $8.

Yes, 6 feet long gives me 72 inches, 6 inches longer than the 66 inches of the width of the window. However, it does give me a few inches I could 'tuck under' the cabinets on either side to give the shelf a bit more stability - just so it doesn't decide to tip over.

Cutting a long strip of the contact paper, I wrapped it over the piece of pine. Not exactly the easiest thing to do. This also protects the wood from any water from the plants, allowing me to mist the plants as needed without worrying about it soaking the wood.

Four brackets up later (and not the best with some of the screws), I laid the plank over the brackets and fastened down the board so it wouldn't slip off the brackets. Yes my screws securing it are a bit long, but 'on a galloping horse' I don't think anyone will notice.

With the sun streaming in the window, I placed several of the plants. A lot of my orchids went on this shelf. And yes, I do need to start getting some ceiling hooks to hang plants from. In this window I plan on at least 3, probably 5.

I still have access to opening and closing the windows. With the location of these windows, I don't need curtains in the window, but I can still raise and lower the blinds if I want to. I normally leave them open anyway as they are at the back of the house and no one can really see in - unless they are about 20 feet tall!

But the light streaming in over the plants is magical. I am really pleased with the way the window turned out. For a little under $20, I created a new space for my plants. And am more confident about my future home DIY projects.