DIY Projects

Custom Nail Polish Shelf & Nail Station 4

My office redecoration is almost complete!  Just a few more finishing touches are needed, but I wanted to share my new nail polish station and custom built nail polish shelf.  The table and chairs are from Ikea.  The glass table top is supported by two helmers.

I searched for a shelf that I could use to display my polishes on the wall, but I wasn’t able to find anything suitable.  Most only hold 90 bottles or so, and they’re made of cheap plastic.  My dad has great carpentry skills so I asked him if he could make one for me as my Christmas gift… and viola, Christmas came early this year!  This shelf is 4 feet wide, and we estimate that it will hold approximately 300+ bottles if they are displayed in single rows.  The shelves are actually deep enough that some brands could be doubled up, or they could be staggered to hold more.  I currently have close to 200 bottles, so this gives some space for my collection to grow.

Nail Station with Custom Built Nail Polish ShelfNail Station with Custom Built Nail Polish ShelfCustom Nail Polish Rack

Here you can kind of see that the front actually has a little lip that keeps the bottles from sliding off.

Nail Polish Shelf

And here’s a quick peek at the book shelf that I just refinished.  This shelf was built by my great grandfather probably back in the 80′s.  My mom had it and though it would look cute in my office, but it was stained wood and didn’t fit in that well.  So I sanded it down and primed and painted it and now it looks brand new again.

Homemade Photo Light Box 1

Homemade Photo Light BoxHomemade Photo Light Box

Lookie what I made!  It’s a light box for photography.  I always struggle to find the right spot for lighting when I take pictures.  Indoor pics at night seem to turn out dark and miscolored, and sometimes the daylight shots are just too bright, so I looked into light boxes.  I found several pre-made ones for sale, but after reading reviews the each seemed to have some drawbacks, so I decided to save a few bucks and just make one.

I took a box, cut off the flaps on the top, and then cut out “windows” on three sides.  I left about 1 1/2 inches around the edges for support.  I covered the windows with white tissue paper, and then taped a piece of poster board on the inside (matte side up).  I found some utility lights with clamps at my local hardware store for about $7 each, as well as some 100 watt daylight bulbs.  As you can see from my picture, I just clamped these onto some chairs on either side of my box and one above the box.

It’s not the prettiest setup, but this is in my basement which is practically empty except for my workout equipment.  So far it’s working great!