For a little bookworm:

From the beginning of time, I've always wanted any kid I have to be a bookworm like me. The adventures I went on as a kid while reading are some of my fondest memories. I hold those books close to my heart. I remember them fondly (see here). They shaped who I am today and I want that for my kids. I want them to experience that joy. So, when we were planning the nursery, I knew I wanted some book ledges to display Baby M's ever-growing library.

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I liked these from Land of Nod, but at $24.95 each, they didn't really seem cost effective. We planned to have 4 (2 on each side of the window) but didn't want to pay $100+. Not in the budget. So, we used these as our inspiration and made our own.

We went to Home Depot one morning and picked up a few 1x4s and a 1x2 and had them cut into 24" pieces.

Since all our piece were pre-cut, assembling the ledges was really easy. Andrew pre-drilled some holes and we used 2" screws to screw the 1x4 pieces together.

Once that was done, we used 2" finishing nails to attach the front lip to each ledge. And we used a little wood filler to cover the nail holes.

After we let all that sit overnight, it was time to paint. So we spent one morning out in the carport putting a few coats of white semi-gloss paint on all 4 ledges (Andrew actually did this part --  I tried to stay as far away from the paint as possible). We let that sit for a few days, just to be sure everything was nice and dry and then it was time to hang them.

We marked their placement on the wall and measured up from the floor to make sure they were all the same. Then we used a stud finder to make sure we would be drilling into studs so they'd be extra secure. We used a level to make sure everything was nice and straight. And then we just screwed those puppies to the wall.

Then the fun part -- decorating! We filled his ledges with books and a few small toys. I am excited to see how the contents of these ledges rotates and changes as he grows and his tastes and interests change. It will be fun to see how he displays his favorite things -- a map of sorts of his ever-evolving little personality.

Our cost for the entire project? $33.84. And that includes the gallon of paint that we had to buy. That's like a $70 savings. And it was such a quick and easy project. We knocked it out in a weekend. Can't wait to tackle the rest of the projects we have for this space. We're getting so close to being done. Get ready for the big reveal coming soon!