Picture Ledges

One thing I have always hated about our apartment is the big, ugly, white space above the TV. As you can see below, we had this huge wall with nothing on it - and a few quirky requirements.

That's tape on the walls - I was measuring to see if this would even work

First, our landlord specifically put into our lease that we're not allowed to hang the TV on the wall, so that original idea for taking up some wall space in our living room was out the window before we even moved in. Second, there's this hideous buzzer/speaker system right in the middle of the wall (OK, kind of to the left) that would have made it awkward to hang one large piece above the TV.

To start with, we had to get rid of our hideous old TV stand. I can't seem to find a picture of it, but it was just about the clunkiest, ugliest piece of furniture ever made. It was a relic from my boyfriend's childhood bedroom, so at least I don't have to be ashamed that I bought it, but I am a bit embarrassed I let it be the focal point of the living room for over a year. One day, over the summer, while at Ikea looking for something else, we found this Laiva TV stand, which at $20, was a no-brainer. It's simple, clean and it fits perfectly in our living room. While I liked the new TV stand, the white space above still gave me nightmares.

After many an afternoon on Pinterest and some of my favorite blogs, I came across this picture ledge from Yellow Brick Home. I am impressed that they not only made their picture ledge gorgeous, but they built it themselves. While I had dreams of renting power tools and working away up on my roof deck, the temperature outside and the viability of getting my hands on everything I needed made me think this wasn't going to happen. Instead, I took the easy way out and started looking online for affordable picture ledges that would do the trick.

As usual, I ended up on the Ikea website, where I found their Ribba picture ledges. They came in black, which was a plus, and they were cheap ($9.99 for the smaller one and $14.99 for the larger one). So, one day last week, I dragged my reluctant (but amazing) boyfriend on a shopping trip to Ikea to pick up the shelves and some picture frames.

Of course, I came home with more than just the ledges and the picture frames. What can I say? I have an Ikea problem.

Once we got home, hanging the ledges couldn't have been easier. Thanks to my trusty drill, an iPhone level app and my boyfriend's sheer brute strength (aka he held the shelves in place), we were able to hang the ledges in about 20 minutes. It couldn't have been easier, and again, if I can do it, anyone can. All you need is a drill and 5 screws to get this project done in no time.

Looking better already!

The next step, once the ledges were up, was to arrange the frames. I bought and re-used all black frames to keep things consistent. I've read it makes the most sense to either keep the shape or color of the frames the same, and for my first venture in photo ledging (yup, I said it), I decided to go simple. After a few moments of moving and rearranging things, we had this nice little setup. I bought the succulents at Ikea as well just because I loved them, but found they looked great keeping the picture frames company.

Some sad, lonely frames

That annoying little speaker contraption fits right in

Unfortunately, I didn't have the prints I wanted on hand, so I ordered some from Shutterfly from various places we had traveled, and of course, my dog. Also unfortunately, a blizzard decided to hit a couple of days later, and the mail delivery was much delayed. After a week of waiting, the prints finally arrived and the project is complete, minus one Valentine's Day gift that I'll be posting soon (so my boyfriend can't see it before I give it to him). But, you can see the nifty (and still empty) little burlap frame I made on the top shelf.

The (almost) finished project

I think it adds great definition to the previously blank wall and I'm excited to change the prints out as we go. What do you guys think? Do you think my choice to go all black and white is a little too boring?