Today I'm sharing how to restore farmhouse corbel shelves.

I've always had a special place in my heart for farmhouse corbel shelves. I've been known to make them from scratch, not only once but twice, as well as refurbish them. This time I refurbished a long-forgotten basement find into a farmhouse corbel shelf that I was thrilled to hang in our primary bedroom.     

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I'm writing this post as part of my participation in the Do It Over Designers bloggers' group. I'm very excited to be a part of this very talented group, so be sure to check out all their projects listed at the end of this post!

When we moved into our home 16 years ago, we found a few items abandoned by the previous owners. One of them was a huge, wooden shelf with corbels. And when I say huge I mean HUGE. In all the craziness of moving in we just put the shelf aside in the basement and saved it for another day. Well, 16 years later that other day is TODAY.

Sitting on the bed here (looking at the back side of it) it looks like it's pretty much in perfect condition and ready to be hung.

Happy day for me that it was already painted white! The only problem was that there were tannins (essentially yellow stains)  peeking through the white paint and there were wood buttons missing (what you plug the empty screw holes with). Both easily remedied.

 

Despite the fact that it was already white, I painted the vintage shelf and corbels with my Rust-Oleum Ultra Matte Chalked Paint in Linen White. It gave it more of a chalk paint look which I absolutely love. It also successfully covered the yellow tannin stains. And once the vintage shelf and corbels were dry it was time for "distressing." (Even thought this shelf is unequivocally vintage, it never had a chance to become naturally distressed since it was left to languish in a corner of the basement, unused, for years.)

 

One of my favorite ways to "distress" painted furniture is by using my FolkArt Home Decor layering block.

I just pour some acrylic paint onto a paper plate and then dab the wood block in it. Then I graze the block over my painted piece in places that would normally experience wear and tear over the years.

I couldn't have been happier with the vintage-looking outcome of this farmhouse corbel shelf. So where and how did we hang it?

 

Here is the empty wall space above our king size bed in the master bedroom. It's been like this, empty, since we had it repainted in Agreeable Gray just over 2 years ago. Boring, I know.

Before hanging the shelf, my husband wanted to make a paper template (for the wall) to help us gauge where all the screw holes were going to be. Eight spots needed to be marked, four on each corbel. So he poked a pencil through all eight holes, leaving a small pencil mark on the paper template as a guide.  

Here's the template taped to the wall using painter's tape. We had already measured the wall space above the bed so we knew where to place the template based on how high we wanted the shelf to be and where we wanted it centered.  

Here are the four holes, marking where we needed to place the screws on one of the corbels. Mr. OHH drilled preliminary holes into the wall where the pencil markings/pokings were. He then screwed in wall anchors. Then we proceeded to have one of us hold the shelf against the wall (me) and the other (Mr. OHH) use the power drill and drill the screws into their appropriate spots based on the pre-drilled holes/anchors. 

 

Here's a close-up after putting in the the screws. The next step was to fill in those gaping screw holes.

 

 And here are the wood "buttons" we used to fill them.

You can buy wood buttons in your local big box store in the lumber section. This shelf required 1/2" buttons. I painted them with the same Rust-Oleum paint I used on the shelf. Then I just used Gorilla wood glue to glue the buttons over the holes.

Isn't it lovely now?

I was so happy it was done in time so I could decorate it for my farmhouse Christmas bedroom!

 

The sad and empty wall is no longer sad or empty!

  

 I hope you enjoyed reading about my 

Farmhouse Corbel Shelf Refurbish

 and that I've inspired you in some way. 

 

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