Want to add some clean and organized personalization to your office space? Try adding a wall-mounted picture ledge shelf to hold a nice photo or your small favorite things. Here is how I made a DIY picture ledge for my home office. It was easy, inexpensive, and helps made my space feels a lot more like “mine.”
Pine Boards:
I had some leftover 1×6 pine boards laying around after using them for the DIY Pine Flooring installed in the front cabin. That was a fun DIY project if you want to check it out here. But the leftover boards were just gathering dust, so I decided to give them new life as wall-mounted picture ledges.
First things first, I cut the board sections on the table saw to create the ledge “L” shape.
The back vertical piece is 3 inches tall. The bottom board is 3-1/2 inches wide. The front lip piece is 2 inches tall. I ripped the front lip piece to 1/2″ thickness. The 3/4″ thickness just looked too beefy there, but you could keep it 3/4″ to keep things easy.
I gave the boards a quick sanding to smooth any rough edges before connecting the boards. I planned to paint the picture ledges, so I didn’t spend a lot of time sanding.
Nailing Boards:
The boards are connected together by 18 gage x 1-1/2″ brad nails and wood glue. Clamps help hold the boards together while you use the brad nailer. I applied a thin layer of wood glue before nailing for good measure.
To add some extra structural strength, I used 1-5/8 inch screws from the back board into the horizontal board. You can see the black heads of the screws here:
DIY Corner Picture Ledge Shelf:
I thought a corner picture ledge would look best above my corner work space, so I cut the end two ledges at a 45 degree on the miter saw and then connected the pieces together with the brad nailer angled to connect the two parts. Here is a look at the mitered connection. It’s not PERFECT, but it works!
The back side of the miter doesn’t look as pretty. That’s OK, nobody is going to see that. Except here, I guess, but we’ll just keep this between us.
Finishing:
To hide the nail holes and cover some of grooves in the wood knots, I used a white wood filler. I used white caulking at perpendicular joints and corners. Here is the wood-filled and caulked ledges, ready for primer!
Primer will help keep the pine knots and coloring from showing or seeping through. I applied two coats of Kilz Primer and let it dry overnight before painting.
I used Behr Scuff Defense paint in Ultra Bright White to finish the picture ledges. This paint is used throughout the Main House, and having all whites match makes me feel a happy zen.
Here are the painted ledges. I didn’t paint the sides that will be against the wall.
The corner ledge is for my corner desk, and I made the straight ledge for my husband.
Hanging the Picture Ledges:
Each ledge has a least two 2 1/2″ long screws into the wall studs. I simply used a stud finder and the ledge at the height I wanted and screwed into the studs. You can see the screws, but they get covered by picture frames and whatnot, so it’s not a big deal. Here is the corner picture ledge above my desk.
Time to get some art and personalize the space more!
Here is the straight picture ledge I made for my husband.
You can see one of the wall screws on the right side, but we’ll get him some art to cover that up.
What do you think of these DIY wall-mounted picture ledges? I’m really pleased with how they turned out, especially because they were made with material and paint I already had, so they were basically free.
