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Vintage Ceiling Tin Wall Shelf

September 4th, 2008 in projects     

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Are you friends with the local glass cutter yet?  Good.  Because it's time to give them another call.  Beautify your home with some unique vintage shelving.  A little bit of ceiling tin, some sewing machine pieces, Junker Brand Elbow Grease (Copyright...um...today,) and you're well on your way to tea time!

 

 

Materials:

Vintage piece of ceiling tin
Old sewing machine parts
Hardboard (ours was 3/16 in. thick)
Decorative trim
Custom cut glass to fit sewing machine "shelves"
Clear polyurethane
Wood stain
Heavy duty felt pads
Plastic bumpers
Screws/nuts/washers
Picture wire/hangers

Tool List:

Hand saw/miter box
Brushes for stain
Wood glue
Level
Sandpaper
Clamps
Screwdriver

Method:

Step 1: Sand away any loose paint chips from tin. Be sure to wear a mask as most of these tin pieces are old and may have contained lead paint. Spray with a clear coat of poly to encase remaining paint.

Lead-based paint is a common flea market find (unfortunately.) The poly helps keep the paint flakes on the item and out of the air.

Step 2: Measure and cut hardboard to leave a 1 1/2 in. border around tin. Tip: I had the hardware store do the cutting for me as the original piece was very large.

Step 3: Measure and cut trim to fit around the edges of the hardboard. Be sure to use a miter box or angle finder to get correct angles for the mitered corners.

A miter box guarantees a 45 degree cut.

Step 4: Stain trim and let dry.

Step 5: Glue trim to hardboard using wood glue and clamps.

Step 6: Center tin on wallboard, measuring to ensure accurate placement. Secure with old screws.

Measure the tin overlap around the whole wallboard--should be the same.

Step 7: Measure for placement of shelves (sewing machine parts) and check to be sure they are level. Mark placement and pre-drill holes through tin and wallboard.

Step 8: Secure shelves with a screw through the front and a nut and washer on the back.

Make sure to pre-drill, otherwise you're in for some trouble.

Step 9: Snip or Dremmel off the back of the screws to avoid them hitting the wall once the shelf is hung.

I assume you don't want holes in the wall!

Step 10: Loop picture wire around the top set of screws behind the nut and tighten.

Step 11: Apply felt pads to the corners of the back to protect the wall.

Step 12: Apply plastic bumpers to the tops of the shelves to keep the glass from slipping.

Padding makes perfect.

Step 13: Set glass on shelves. Tip: Obviously, you will want to do this once the shelf has been hung or they will slide off and break.

The finished shelf. Snazzy, eh?

Step 14: Hang shelf using wall anchors, it gets pretty heavy.

Conversation piece, glamourous display, and true JUNK style all in one. Can't go wrong with this project!

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posted in: projects, vintage, metal, wood, glass, shelf

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