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DIY Wood Ledge Letter Wall

Lauren Alonso
Sep 7, 2019
3 min read

I saw this wood ledge wall with marquee letters, where else but an instagram post, and I had to have it.

However, I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg to have someone else cut pieces of wood for me and pay shipping, so I decided I would figure out how to do it myself. I knew I wanted it in my living room, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to wrap the wall with the quote or not. So... I asked Instagram {because why not}. As I got to thinking's about it more, I decided to make one on the adjacent wall for our family and farm photos and it suited. If you know me at all, you know I love to recreate things, I love to change them up. I thrive in the new.

Being able to change the words on my wall for whatever suits the season or mood I am in is everything to me.

Materials

Marquee Letters

1"x 2" x 8' Cedar Wood Boards - 2 per number of shelves, one for the ledge and one for the decorative piece that holds the letters from falling. {Cut to desired length for space. Lowes or Home Depot will cut them for you, so you don't have to use or have a saw- I was able to get them cut into 4' pieces and use 1 board for each shelf.}

2 or 3" Nails

3" Wood Screws

Drill Set with Bits

Level

Hammer

Measuring Tape

Pencil

Optional stain if you like {I prefer the natural raw cedar wood.}

Tutorial

1. Gather: Order and pick up supplies. Cut wood (or have it cut- for FREE).

2. Plan: Find how far you want to space the boards apart. I spaced mine 12" apart {8-10" is plenty though}, because I wanted 4 shelves and we have 10' ceilings. I also accounted for the head room above the sofa, so no one would bump their head.

3. Measure: Start from the bottom and work upwards. Start on one side and make a mark with your pencil where you want to start on the wall with your bottom shelf on one side. {I started on the right side making sure that the space was equidistant apart on either side of the ledges.}

4. Pre-drill: Cedar is hard and it makes it a lot easier to pre-drill the holes. It also makes it less time you will be holding your arms in the air putting the screws in to fasten them to the wall. Find a bit that is similar in size to the screw you're using. Make sure you're using 3" screws so you get through the thickness of the wood and secure them into the wall. Dry wall should hold these just fine without anything special, because the letters and wood are lightweight and equally dispersed. You will need one hole on their end of the wood. If your pieces are longer than 4', you may want a center support screw, as well. I put mine about 6-8" from ends. It doesn't have to be exact because you won't see these.

Drill through the 1" side so that the ledge is the 2" side coming away from the wall.

5. Place: Line up your first board with the 2" side up, and then drill into the wall with wood screws as far as you can in the wall. Use the level til it's just right and then place the second screw in the other end.

6. Nail: Now grab the second piece of wood for the shelf and place it with the bottoms flush with one another. Your wood may not be 100% straight. That's ok. It's supposed to look "natural". Now start further towards the end and hammer 3 nails spaced at each end and one in the center to hold the decorative piece to the ledge.

7. Repeat: Now, measure up however you wanted them spaced from the top of the last shelf to where you want the bottom of the next and mark it with a pencil. And repeat until you have all shelves in place.

8. Decorate: Place letters at an angle. They won't be able to stand perfectly straight up because there is a natural gab between the wall and wood and the letters are thin.