BZDESIGNBLOG///: PLUMBING SHELVES

The long wall of our living room has always been a pretty major sore spot in the apartment. Budget, lack of commitment, and did I already say budget? were huge setbacks against this wall ever realizing it's full potential.

I knew I wanted shelves, but they are just SO. DAMN. EXPENSIVE. Having been a university student, I knew I would never cheap out on another set of fibreboard shelves that sag as soon as the smallest amount of weight is put on them again (sorry, IKEA).

Lately, I have been really inspired by the combination of black metal and wood, like this:

(Both at CB2)

And because I have been pretty into this sort of industrial/wood/metallic type thing, I have been compiling some images that only until writing this post did I notice how consistently I enjoyed this little trick:

(Clothing racks at Banana Republic)

(Built-in shelving system at cool Asian store in

Kensington Market)

This last image was the tipping point, which finally forced me to ask the shopkeepers where they got this stuff. In broken English, I made out two words: "Home Depot".

I immediately ran home and searched the Home Depot website to find all of these small, screw in plumbing pieces that were literally SO CHEAP and I was immediately inspired.

I then typed two other words into Google and, at long last, I had found the solution to our shelving dilemma. The words were: "Plumbing Shelves", and a new, glorious world dawned on me.

TADA!!!

(Sorry about the crappy iPhone pic, but I was just too

excited to share it!)

In fact, I found my new favourite blog through said search, as The Brick House built exactly what I was looking for. Morgan (the writer of Brick House) gives a pretty good idea of how it was done, but basically it involves some pine planks, some stain, cleaning the pipes of their factory grease, and black spray paint. Put it all together and drill 'er in!