Barn Wood Shelves

My reclaimed barn wood shelves went up in the kitchen last weekend!

And I couldn't be happier.  (Well, maybe if the painting was finished but let's not get greedy here!)

I found a listing on craigslist for reclaimed wood from local barns.  (Yes, craigslist again!)  Our vision was to use something exactly like that for the "new" kitchen shelves... that was until one of my friends asked me about the wood she had just purchased.  She was concerned about lead paint and unlike our floors, her's came with a enough of that antique red paint to raise a red (pun intended) flag!  

But I digress... I found something local AND reclaimed!  What a score!  I just asked for pieces where all the paint had faded or chipped off... mostly.

Who needs a truck when a Prius can haul 7' boards?

We were still concerned about the lead issue so we decided not to sand this wood.  We'd learned from installing our reclaimed floors that after about 5 coats of water-based polyurethane, most of the bumps, scratches, and splinters are smooth. That's what we ("we" meaning Mr. Green Stuff) did here.  After many, many coats, we ("we" includes me here because I held the boards!) cut the barn siding to the proper length to transform them into our shelves.

I searched for months trying to find some used shelving brackets that would be strong enough and fit properly. I failed.  I finally found these super, cute ones from a manufacturer in Texas.

And even though someone had his doubts about the sturdiness of my purchases and someone else hem-hawed around because of the old paint, as you can see, they're up now!  And we're both happy!

Let's just hope there is no more drama involving these shelves!

Peace,

Stacey