Thank you to BLACK+DECKER for sponsoring today’s project! You know the drill (pun totally intended): I’m committed to only sharing products and companies I really truly love, and the AutoSense Drill/Driver* fits the bill perfectly!
(*This post contains affiliate links.)
Warning: this post is going to have more plotlines than a Guy Ritchie film.
It involves a time machine (what good plotline doesn’t?), so lets hop on in, spin some oversized and overly-complicated dials, and take a little trip back to the beginning of 2012 amidst puffs of steam and ominous rumbles…
We arrive at my favorite thrift store of all time, tucked into the corner of Washington Ave and Live Oak Street in Dallas (and we blend in very well with the people of the time because I guess fashion hasn’t changed all that much in two and a half years). We see 2012 Brynne slowly ambling through the aisles of the store until suddenly – something catches her eye.
Now knowing Brynne as we do, we might suppose the flash of brass or the figuring of burl commanded her attention, but no – it’s nothing so obvious. Two pieces of wood are propped in the corner. Two gorgeous, thick, chunky, rustic, industrial, blackened beams.
An internal debate rages. Space vs. budget vs. skill vs. dreams all clash in an epic melee.
We know this, not only because I’m here narrating for you now at this moment, but also because anything that happens in Brynne’s head automatically and without filter also passes across her face.
The mental battle won, however, she purchases the rough wood beams and brings them home to her little apartment with the intention of turning them into shelves.
Flash forward over two years and three moves later and it’s 2014 once more. Not quite the present, just yet. Apparently chevron refuses to die and industrial is still in thank goodness, and there those same wooden beams sit in the garage, unused, lonely, and forgotten. Haunting music. A wisp of dry leaves blows over their forlorn bulk.
The time machine surges forward suddenly, to this past weekend, to a burst of bright light and a triumphant orchestral flourish, to the BLACK+DECKER AutoSense Drill/Driver and to the exultation of destinies realized…
It was time.
I called in reinforcements.
If you think I was about to put a million holes in the walls and then put screws in those holes and then trust those huge old beams to those little bitty screws… Well. Bless your heart!
I called my dad.
Lured by the promise of a shiny new power tool toy to come try out and simply the reward of spending time with his darling oldest daughter, my dad arrived carrying a canvas tool bag that I can only compare to Mary Poppins’ marvelous carpet bag… Whatever we needed, he simply reached in and fished out. I apparently don’t own a pencil or a ruler, but there was one in the bag! I’m thinking of adopting one as my new purse in the hopes that the magical properties carry over.
One of the reasons I was hesitant to hang the shelves on my own was figuring out how to hang the brackets either on wall studs or with toggle anchors. Within two minutes flat, my dad had figured out a way we could screw all the brackets into studs and still have them symmetrically distributed beneath the shelves.
The green tape marked the height of the three shelves, and the blue tape (besides being an elegant abstract wall decoration) marked the placement of the studs (except for that one little guy on the end, representing the length of the shelf), which we found using this handy dandy little tool:
Besides having my shelves sitting and waiting quietly for long periods of time, I also believe in having my brackets ready and waiting. They are cheap little metal brackets spray painted copper. Glam in a bottle:
With our bracket placement carefully mapped out on the wall by dint of much measuring and pencil-marking, we began hanging the brackets on the wall.
And by we, I mean my dad hung the brackets and I was an exceedingly helpful spotlight adjuster (by this time it was getting dark and the pencil markings were difficult to see on the dark walls) and screw hander and general gofer. I was not a very good photojournalist. You are going to have to take my word that things went down like I say they did.
My dad really liked the AutoSense technology. He used the “drive” setting to send those 2.5” wood screws into the studs like butter! The automatic clutch stops itself when the screw is flush and prevents over-torqueing (which, I am told, is a big faux pas in the DIY community – Just say “no” to stripped screws!). Getting all those brackets hung up was by far the easiest step of the entire process.
He liked just about everything about the drill actually – it’s balance, weight, cordless-ness, handy built in bit-holder, battery life display, and the simple switch from drill to driver. These things all make it very intuitive to use for a power tool novice like me (choose drill or drive, pull trigger, reap rewards), but they were all details he really appreciated as a life-long DIY enthusiast always in search of the perfect drill. Do I smell the perfect Father’s Day present?!
Then we added the shelves.
I’ve never questioned my sanity so much as when I looked up at the obviously, self-evidently, morbidly crooked shelves and heard Bryan say from the back of the room – “They’re straight.”
I absolutely did not believe him. I absolutely refused to believe the level.
Until I stepped back and saw that the angled ceiling had completely skewed my brain’s expectation of horizontality. Mind = blown.
There’s an object lesson on perspective in there somewhere.
I’ll let you find it.
Now, you know I can’t leave you with pictures of empty shelves. If a shelf doesn’t have anything on it, can it really be a shelf? Is it just a board on the wall? If a tree falls in the forest… Can I make rough-hewn rustic wall shelves out of it?
Here is some back story:
Instead of climbing into our magic time machine once more, I’m going to break the cardinal rule of authorship and “tell” instead of “show.”
My husband Bryan is a huge craft beer fan. And that’s a slight understatement. He’s also somewhat of a packrat. Which is even more of an understatement.
This has led to boxes and boxes and boxes of hoarded empty beer bottles.
I know as décor-lovers our first reaction can be “Ew! A beer bottle collection!?” As if our husband just told us he wants to start making toe-nail clipping collages…
But here is where I make a confession: I don’t really mind. Have you guys seen some of the fantastic graphic design on craft beer these days?
I’m a sucker for pretty labels.
I do judge a book by its cover… or a beer by its bottle.
And Bryan, as a 50% resident of this home and 99% user of the office, deserves to have his interests represented as well. No decoration without representation!
So these shelves have been ear-marked for Bryan’s bottle collection for the last two-and-a-half years (I guess we discovered the gestation period of bottle-bearing-beams) and I’m so happy he finally has his long-awaited display over his desk.
Sidebar: Bryan just made me count all the bottles pictured to see if we did in fact have 99 bottles of beer on the wall. So close: 83!
those are fabulous! what a great tutorial, also!
Thank you Cassie! 🙂
Ahhh they look amazing and your story telling skills are second to none my dear, I was giggling the whole way through!! I actually quite dig the beer bottle collection (sucker for a label me) but please don't tell my other half about the 'no decoration without representation' rule!! SHHHHH!!! 😉 xxx
Haha, thank you Kimberly! Having an audience for my stories is one of my favorite things about blogging!
And we'll keep that rule on the hush hush… We don't need husbands picketing outside Target 😉
These are beautiful! And as soon as I saw the beer bottles on those shelves, I thought, "Yep. That is EXACTLY what needs to go there." They really compliment each other.
Thank you so much! I think it's a fun graphic display, plus we have fond memories of trying all those different beers together (no duplicates up there!).
ooh, I LOVE those! the copper is perfect! I was THIS close to painting the brackets on my plant shelves gold, but Dave was like, "oh, they're not really going to show." WhatEVER…they totally show. oh well.
Thanks Gretchen!
Hehe, gold is ALWAYS the best possible option, right? 😉
I love your shelves! I'd also love an AutoSense drill/driver for many, many projects in my new home. Pantry shelves, dining table, bed, office desk….. The list goes on and on. I've got so many, this would come in really, really handy! :o)
Thanks Kristin! Girl, you've got a lot of projects! Here's hoping the AutoSense drill can give you a hand 🙂
Wow girl. The gold brackets, the industrial/rustic old shelves, the perfectly pretty craft beer bottles, leave it to you to mix and match textures like a pro! Somehow you even gave a slight nod to the gorgeous copper light fixture with the brackets. Genius!!
Anyway, we have probably 8 drills. Actually I should say the beau has 7 drills I have one. I think I'm slacking, so if I won this bad boy– he'd start to get jealous of my acquiring abilities. And then I would start creating a bunch of stuff out of random scrap wood and then he would probably get frazzled that I was cutting into his 'stash.' Which is code for, let me get my hands on one of these bad boys!! I'd love to put that electronic clutch to the test since I'm NOTORIOUS for stripping screws worse than a…. er inappropriate metaphor stopped in its tracks.
Haha! Your comment totally made my day! 1) You def need to even out the balance of power tool power in your house. 2) HILARIOUS metaphor 😉
i have been trying to get my BFF into crafting with me for quite a while and she FINALLY is getting excited wanting to do some stuff with pallets and tires for our patios, as well as some other things. the problem is, she has no tools and not a lot to spend. this would be awesome for us!!!
You're such a great friend! Good luck 🙂
Do you know how I love spray paint and a drill? DO YOU???? Oh, to own that little beauty would be second only to winning the lottery, in which case I could go buy several! What a great idea for that wall.
Thank you Linda 🙂 And good luck in the giveaway!
My hubby would absolutely love this wall and maybe if we had a new drill to go with our new house (which we will hopefully buy in the next two months), we could find somewhere to diy it ourselves!
Congrats on your new house! This drill would be the perfect housewarming acquisition 🙂
LOVE the wood. Totally paid off to hold onto this. Also, the beer bottles look awesome. We've gotten into craft beers lately…any suggestions? I can't do the dark ones…I like the ones that are bubbly, almost champagne-y. 🙂 Would love to win the drill too of course!!
Hoarding totally pays off, right?!
For craft beer, I love anything Belgian the most – tripels, quadrupels, saisons… Actually in one of the pictures you can see a bottle from Save The World Brewing Company (our friends just opened the brewery in Austin) and it is some of the best beer ever, so if you guys can get your hands on some of that I highly recommend it 🙂
I think that the drill would help us install some new shelving in our kitchen!
It certainly would! Good luck to you! 🙂
Love, Love, Love this, Brynne! I don't think anything else would've looked even half as cool as those pretty craft beer bottles. Cool points for being a fair wife! Cool points for making those awesome rustic shelves! And more cool points for using power tools!
Haha, thanks Jazmin! Looks like I have the market cornered on cool points – yay! 😉
First of all, the shelves turned out beautifully! Great work! I always get so nervous about hanging things. Second, I also have the green, medieval-looking champagne bottle on display at my house :-). Third, this is probably unheard of, but I (as a DIY/Home design blogger) don't even have a drill! That's a problem, yes? So I would LOVE to win this baby so I can stop borrowing drills from family and neighbors and so I can expedite all the things on my ever-growing to-do list. I have many curtain rods to hang inside and out on our patio, floating shelves to build and hang for our master bath, and 6 dining room chairs to repair, among many other things! I would be ecstatic to win! It hasn't been in the budget for us to get one, and it seems there's always something else we need instead! I can't wait to become a drill master! 🙂
Thank you Bre! Haha, that champagne bottle is the best, right?! So cool! It's the 2nd bottle of champagne we've bought purely for how cool it looked 🙂
And girl – you don't own a drill? You absolutely need one! Specifically – this one! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you! 🙂
I love, love your project! We just purchased a new home and can't wait to create a special laundry with a place for everything. This drill would be fantastic for hanging shelves, organizers, and everything else!!
adinatm(at)aol.com
Woohoo! Your laundry room project sounds AMAZING! One of these days I'm going to have to tackle our sad little laundry closet 🙂 Good luck to you!
These shelves look awesome. I really like the copper brackets, too. and the beams are fabulous. I actually want to do old beams like this for our shelves in the barn kitchen. Now I just need to find some beams.
Pinning.
Thank you Kim! 🙂 I didn't imagine I'd find some in a thrift store of all places, but you never know!
Those shelves look amazing. Love them. They also make me want to sing: 99 bottles of beer on the wall 😀
I would love to win that drill 😉
Hehe, it's been stuck in my head ever since Bryan brought it up! I'm bummed we couldn't fit 16 more up there, lol!
Insanely gorgeous! The dark walls with the copper light and brackets to hold up those incredible pieces of wood and craft beer bottles to top it off. I mean doesn't get any cooler. You did not oversell Bryan's obsession with craft beer. Absolutely love it Brynne!
Aw, thank you so much!
P.S. It isn't possible to oversell Bryan's obsession with craft beer or hanging onto memorabilia 😉
LOVE THE SHELVES!! Love them!!! I would probably build shelves just like these. They are so ME!
Thank you so much Trina! Would yours be full of beer bottles too? We have plenty to get your own little collection going 😉
I love the metallic brackets, very cool. In terms of the drill, we just bought a new house so it's more a questions of "what CAN'T we use the drill for?" 😉
DRILL ALL THE THINGS! Congratulations on your new house and here's wishing you the best of luck on this giveaway Caitlin 🙂
You did SUCH an amazing job on the shelves! They look great, and I love that you chose the copper spray paint — so chic! That drill is ALSO amazing! It would be great for hanging heavy art and mirrors on gallery walls, among the other 100 projects I can think of….I love that it holds a charge for so long. My crappy drill loses its charge half way through every project (which is quite annoying), so this one sounds like a dream come true!
Katie
http://www.spraypaintandchardonnay.com
katie@spraypaintandchardonnay.com
Thank you Katie! I've been just a wee bit fanatical about copper this year – it's an addiction 😉
The battery indicator on this drill is pure genius – good luck on the giveaway!
I thought they were crooked too for a minute! That ceiling really messed with my perception! We have so many projects this drill would help with … not to mention the battery on our old one is kaput and is almost as expensive as a new drill. A free drill would be a win-win!
The angled ceiling is so crazy and disorienting! Plus, my camera skillz can't seem to capture straight lines for the life of me, but I've got to trust the level, lol!
Good luck on the giveaway, Vivian!
I would you use it for shelving in the kids room for organizing. Thanks for the chance!
Awesome Jamie! Good luck!
As someone who has zero aptitude for decoration, styling, or anything else of a furniture persuasion, I find myself enjoying your blog every single time I read it. I found myself picturing your dad walking through the door with his big bag of tools, and you hovering over his shoulder as he screwed, drilled, and mounted your shelves.
As per the instructions for entering your sponsor's giveaway, I can absolutely see myself making great use of this drill. My personal DIY hobby of choice is computer building and modifying. I frequently unscrew things, and drill holes in the thick aluminum of the case I love to work in.
Lee – your comment is the nicest!
I'm wishing you the best of luck on this giveaway!
Your time-traveling narrative had me highly entertained. I was seriously envisioning it all. I especially liked the bit about how we blend in nicely with the people of the time… hehehe!
This drill is amazing. I would basically use it for everything. It is super sleek and I love the lighty-up parts, especially in your animated GIF. I think I would probably use it to build a magical wardrobe that took me into the land of Narnia, or perhaps allowed me to travel back into the past to that one time I was 10 minutes too late to the thrift store and saw the kitchen cart of my dreams being swooped up by some unworthy lady. That or use it to hang up some shelves like yours, because dang girl. Those are some cool shelves.
I hope I win.
Haha, I'm so glad you were entertained 🙂
And your plan to build a magical Narnia wardrobe is spot-on – may I join you? This is definitely the drill to use for such endeavors!
I like that this drill can easily change between the drill and drive modes. We would use this drill to extend our deck, a project we've been wanting to do for a while.
kellywcu8888ATgmailDOTcom
That is such a nice feature – press a button and you're good to go! Good luck Kelly!
I would love to use this to replace the old one that has a battery that won't keep a charge….this one looks SO much cooler…..everyone would be jealous, wouldn't they? 🙂
You would be the talk of the town with your sparkly new power tool! 😉 Good luck Turena!
Do not have a drill, and have been a little scared of trying to use one. This one seems a real possibility. And, oh, what opportunities…
Good luck Molly! I get intimidated by new power tools too, but this one is really easy to use because it's practically "point and shoot" 🙂
It would help me hang my new blinds and put my shelves together
Good luck Meghan!
I moved into my house almost a year ago (it will be a year in July) but I have yet to put up ANY of the shelves I planned on putting up. This would help me get all of those up in my office and kitchen so I'd finally be able to put up some of the decor goodies that are still packed away in boxes. 🙂
It's been a year for us too! I'm ashamed to admit how many things are still in boxes over here 😉
My hubs is so gonna want one of these. Love the shelves!!
Thanks for sharing!
Good luck Bobbi!
I haven't been a homeowner for too long(maybe 6 months) but I'm drooling over that drill. These shelves are awesome!! You make it all look so easy. I would love it if you linked this up at my Motivate Me Monday linky party over at IT'S A ginger SNAP
Thanks Kdbug! 🙂 I'd love to hop over and check out the link party!
that is one collection! and i love the gold hardware. so we have a beer collection, too. it isn't as big as yours, b/c ours is all the empty bottles from our travels. apparently when i try and bring home wine it either breaks, or i don't want to drink it b/c there goes my souvenir. so now we bring home empty beer bottles. nothing gets ruined in my bag, and no money has been wasted. win win.
Yay! A fellow beer bottle collector! It's so cool that yours all have great travel stories associated with them! 🙂
Gorgeous! I especially love the chunky, distressed beams!! I wish I could find a store like that near me. I could probably match your husband's beer bottle collection with wine bottles! Nice job! New follower.
Thank you Amy & I'm so glad you're following along! Welcome 🙂
Wow I love these shelfs! This entire space is so perfect. Love the copper pops against the dark walls. Genius. And if I won the drill… I've actually got some shelfs on my to-do list, so that would probably be my first project.
Thanks Alexis! Shelves are the thing to DIY you know 😉 Join the club! Good luck!
Love love love the shelves! I wish I would stumble upon some gorgeous wood like that!! Eyes are now wide open for it! Would love to win that drill so that I could create projects that need to be properly screwed! Thanks so much for the inspiration and the opportunity!
Thank you Becky & good luck on the giveaway! 🙂
I love the look of this! I would love to use this to do new shelves in my garage. I love all the features on this. the battery status indicator is really cool.
That battery status indicator is a life saver! Such a genius addition, I agree! Good luck Christine 🙂
Beautiful! I love the rustic look and these turned out fabulous!
Thank you for sharing your post this week at Brag About It Link Party on VMG206. I'm featuring you at Next Weeks Brag About It Link Party, Monday at midnight!
~ Megin of VMG206
Thank you so much Megin! I'm excited!
If I won this drill I would have two projects to tackle first: I would shamelessly copy your wall shelving idea to display my husband's old old beercan collection, then, while he's all distracted by the beercans, I'd devise some way (with this magical drill) to hang my massive antique been-in-the-family-three-generations mirror as a headboard. Boom! Thanks for the giveaway and your entertaining blog!
Haha! I love it! You definitely have the most creative plans for this drill – your distraction idea is brilliant 😉 Good luck Jenny!
I have been drooling over the Emerson bed from West Elm for a thousand millennia. However, this social worker cannot afford the crazy price for what appears to be recycled pallets (so on trend, West Elm, touché). We recently took down our 30 year old backyard fence and I immediately knew what I wanted to build with it… that's right my friends a Watson/Emerson bed is in da house!!! Well, kinda? Not really? A drill would make my life/phalanges praise the seven Gods–the old and the new!
Samanthacwatson (at) Hotmail (dot) com
Awesome plan Samantha! Reusing old fence wood is GENIUS! Good luck to you!
Love the shelves! Constantly amazed at your creativity. Let's see, first I'd be see about building myself a new bookcase. A gal can't have too many bookcases, right? I'm already running out of room in the ones I have, and I'd rather not have to stack books all around the perimeter of the room! 🙂
Haha, I feel like if you started building bookcases you would never be able to stop… You'd just need to keep building bookcases for all eternity 😉 Good luck Gillian!
The copper is my absolute favorite!
Any recommendations for an attempt to display closer to 500+ bottles? I know this is pretty unrealistic in my house at this point (your display of 83 is much more feasible) but I’d love to hear/see feedback on potential projects in my future. I’ve been collecting different bottles for years and have yet to come up with a good plan for them.
Oh wow! That’s an impressive collection! (Shh, don’t let my husband see your comment!) Displaying bottles is tough if you want to see all the bottles – shallow shelves work really well and maybe you could just hang a lot more of them? Think floor-to-ceiling, wall to wall – it would almost feel like an art installation at that point!