Thursday, July 11, 2013

Hanging Flower Display

A triple whammy on this one - made something for Pamela (happy wife), spruced up our living room (happy home), and used only scrap material in the process!

The idea for the... shelf?  display?  came from something Pamela saw on Pinterest - a Floating Vase

We both really liked the idea of adding color to the walls with fresh flowers and set about to re-create.

As I started planning though, there was one thing I didn't like about the design.  The jar is attached by steel wire which is tied together to hold the jar aloft.  It does add a great "floating" element, but I thought this would make it difficult to clean out the jar / change flowers.  You'd need to change the water in the jar as you changed flowers, otherwise you'd get green residue.

My flower display would need to be easy to change.  I bought some large C-brackets from Home Depot, but they didn't make them large enough for the size of jar we wanted to use.  The above jar is a small maraschino cherry jar.  We planned to use larger Ball canning jars.  The idea was a C-bracket installed below as a platform, then another larger C-bracket near the mouth that would prevent the jar from being knocked over.  The look would be a bit more 'industrial' and they didn't have large enough C-brackets so I abandoned that idea.

Instead, we decided to simply build a flush-mounted mini shelf.

I used scrap wood and cut out two matching boards to 18.5" tall by 5.5" wide.  The width fit the jar with some extra space.  The height was targeted to be less tall than our mirror, but was really decided by the available scrap wood I had.
I next cut out a small platform for the jar to sit on.  The jar is somewhat supported below by a small block of wood I cut at a 45 degree angle.  The reality is that the platform is secured by two wood screws which I think would support it just fine.  The angled wood below is a design touch and will also prevent any sagging.

I was excited to also finally use my router on this project to counter sink the screws so it would sit flush with the wall.  I routed out a 1/2" circle around the supporting screw that would hold the display to the wall, as well as in the back so that the screw heads for the platform/support would let the project sit flat.
I used some primer paint I had sitting in the garage after sanding the project down.

Pamela picked some bold flowers and we'll be excited to change them with our mood and the seasons.  She also pointed out that we could do candles in the winter.