Renovate Australia

Ikea used to carry these great wall mounted picture shelves that you can attach straight on the wall. Your photo frames would sit in the shelf and lean back against the wall.

Unfortunately Ikea has discontinued the white photo shelf, so when I sent to pick one up for our daughter’s bedroom the only one left was 1.8 metres long. I purchased it, but when I got home I realized that cutting it down to the length that we wanted wasn’t a good option because of the foil and MDF construction.

With that option out of the picture we were left with the option to build our only picture shelf.

Design

The hardest part was settling on a design or style for the shelf. After looking around the web we decided to try to copy or duplicate that Ikea design.

We decided on building the shelf 30”, or 76cm, long to sit above the end of our daughter’s bed. The shelf will actually be used for her books, rather than for photos.

Materials

The only materials that we needed for the wall mounted photo shelf were:

• 1” x 4” x 8’ pine timber ($7.00)
• 1” x 2” x 6’ pine timber ($3.50)
• 1 1/2” wood screws for assembly
• 2 1/2” wood screws for mounting
• caulking (optional)
• wood fill putty
• primer and paint

The screws, paint, putty and caulking I had left over from our other projects, so all I had to buy was the timber for about $10.50.

Assembly

I cut the 1” x 4” into 2 x 30” long pieces and the 1” x 2” into a single 30” piece. You can change the length of the pieces depending on how long you want your shelf to be.

After cutting the timber put it together like the photo on the right. When you screw the boards together make sure to drill the pilot holes first to prevent the boards from cracking. Countersink the  screws slightly so that you can putty over the holes when you get to painting the photo shelf.

Painting

To get a smooth finish on the front of the shelf you can fill the front crack now with your caulking after giving the shelf a quick sanding. Then use the wood putty to cover up the screw heads that are under the shelf.

Once the putty is dry, sand it flat and five the whole shelf an undercoat with a good wood primer. After the undercoat is dry proceed to give the shelf two or three coats of paint. If you are using this shelf as a book shelf I would recommend using a hard wearing paint to help prevent scuffing and scratches.

Mounting

We have not yet mounted the new book shelf but when we do we will be attaching the shelf to the wall studs to make it extra sturdy. To do that we’ll find the studs with a stud finder, centre the shelf against our daughter’s bed and drill the pilot holes for the screws to mount the shelf. We’ll then use the 2.5” wood screws to screw through the self and into the studs.

To finish off the shelf we are looking at either getting white plugs to cover up the ends of the screws, or possibly painting over the screw heads. We aren’t sure yet which option we will be going with, but when we post the final photos of the shelf we’ll let you know.

Update – Here are the finished photos of the finished wall mounted picture and book shelf.

Links:

• Knock-Off Wood – Flat Book Holders (The inspiration for this project)
• Ikea Shelf (discontinued in Canada)

I was reading a recent edition of Popular Science and came across a way to use up to 10% less power on your window box air-conditioner.

To save up to 10% on the cost of running your window air-conditioner you should keep the air-conditioner out of direct sunlight. There are a few ways that you can do this:

1. Install it on the side of the house that doesn’t get any sun
2. Plant bushes or trees to shade the air-conditioner from the sun
3. Build a shade for the air-conditioner

One thing that you need to be aware of when doing any of the three options above is to make sure that you don’t block the airflow around the air conditioner.

So far in our “new” house (built in 1990) here in Canada we have had to replace our dish washer, washing machine, dryer, and a few weeks ago our stove died. We have also needed to replace one window, and about a half dozen others have broken seals and should be replaced soon.

We had a home inspection done, but none of these things were picked up on. I was told that I needed to replace a strip of timber on one window, but in fact the entire window needed replacing because the wood rot in the frame was so bad. Other than the “small work” that they said needed doing on the window none of the other items were picked up on. We talked to our real estate agent and were told it was just “Murphy’s Law” and couldn’t follow up on anything with the inspector or with the previous owners, which sucked.

I’ve been watching Mike Holmes on HGTV since our first visit to Canada. Recently he’s started to look into shonky home inspections and even wrote a book about Home Inspections called “The Holmes Inspection”.

In The Holmes Inspection Mike Holmes looks at:

• What a home inspector can and can’t do
• The mechanicals of a house (plumbing, electrical, heating / cooling)
• The “envelope” (floors, walls, doors and windows)
• Location and sitting of the house
• Foundations
• How to see past the spit and polish people put on their houses prior to selling
• more …

I wish that I had purchased and read this book before getting this house. It certainly would have opened my eyes and helped me to see how much work was actually needed to get this house up to scratch.

After spending the last 5-years of our life in Australia renovating we were hoping to get here and take it easy for a while. No such luck so far …

I think that it would surprise a lot of people to find out that timber can be one of your most environmentally friendly options when it comes to construction materials.

Sustainably harvested timber, when compared to other building materials, has a very small carbon footprint. When done sustainably the tree farms are also a natural part of the carbon cycle, absorbing carbon dioxide from the air. It also takes a lot less energy to create building material from timber than it does from other manufactured building products.

I say “can be” because it depends on where the timber comes from and how the trees are harvested and the forests managed. There were many times driving through Australia that we would see tree farms along the sides of the road. These forests are managed to provide a renewable source of timber. I can also remember as a child driving through the Canadian Rocky Mountains and seeing huge swaths of land completely clear cut of all the trees. I can’t say if there was going to be replanting, but from a child’s perspective it appeared awfully bleak.

Forestry management has obviously improved a lot in the last 25 years since I remember seeing those clear cut forests (that makes me feel really old) . Now if someone is going to school for forestry (Natural Resource Management, which I had looked at doing before joining YWAM as a full-time volunteer missionary) chances are pretty good they are looking at studying forestry management and sustainable practices.

Here is a list of organizations that certify if timber has been harvested in a sustainable way:

• Global – Forest Stewardship Council
• Global – Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC)
• Global – WWF – The Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN)
• Australia – Good Environmental Choice
• Canada – Forest Products Association of Canada
• Canada – Canadian Standards Association
• UK – Forest & Trade Network – WWF UK
• USA – American Tree Farm System
• USA – Sustainable Forestry Initiative

By purchasing timber that has been certified you are helping to ensure that you are using a sustainable product that will not have a negative impact on the environment.

It is still estimated that about 30% or hardwood products imported into the US are from suspicious or illegal sources. In some countries it is estimated that up to 90% of logging is done illegally. These methods are not sustainable and contribute to the deforestation of areas like the Amazon basin and Indonesia.

Source Articles:

• The Daily Green
• timber.net.au Environmental Design