Pretty awesome but if you haven’t already, you may want to strengthen the fastening of the shelf to the rail mounted to the wall. Right now with the shelf upside down, that’s the only thing keeping it from dropping, since the side braces no longer lend support. Even with more fasteners there, I wouldn’t put a bunch of weight on it, as that connection is at the weakest part of the radius.
Regarding cleanup, it looks like there’s some tape residue, I’d clean that off with some adhesive remover and a scraper and to fill the holes, you’d just use some spackle. You can get it in a squeeze tube, apply it over the holes and screws then once it’s dry, wet a paper towel or wash cloth and wipe the putty smooth and flush with the wall.
ITS UPSIDE DOWN?! Holy shit no wonder it fell last time! Granted the anchors I used were shit but still.
God. Fuck. Adulting is too hard 😫
The tape residue was wood glue. My dumbass thought it would work for that. It didn’t. It fell right off and left that behind.
I am sure adhesive remover will still work right? I tried a razer. That also was not a good idea.
Thank you so much.
These anchors are pretty amazing. I highly recommend them. Nothing beats fastening to a stud but these are fantastic in a pinch
You’re doing great, this is just the process :). If you used a standard wood glue, you’d be best off sanding it as it’s more durable than the drywall that it’s bonded to. You can try some vinegar and a plastic scraper but just be sure not to dig into the wall.
If you want to sand it, you can buy what looks like foam rectangle blocks at the hardware store that has the abrasive built onto it’s edges. They’re pretty handy to keep around the house for projects. Once you get as much off as you’re able, you can fill any divits or dimples with the putty I mentioned prior then either sand or wipe with a wet cloth.
Schwim Dandy is giving good advice here. If it were me, I’d take down the shelf, spackle and sand the wall a bit with one of those foam sanding blocks, use painter’s masking tape to make a frame around the area on the wall, paint the area inside the frame of tape some darker color, then put the shelf back up. The shelf will look nice on the rectangle of paint and everything will look clean.
ITS UPSIDE DOWN?! Holy shit no wonder it fell last time!
Have you … never seen a shelf before?
If it’s wood glue, you’re in trouble. It has likely bonded to the paint and it will be necessary to remove the paint and glue together. If you really want to do this right, get a painters 5 in 1 tool and scrape it off, then sand, patch, and prime, and repaint.
Generally, stuff doesn’t get glued to walls. Wood glue is for gluing untreated wood to other untreated wood.
Thank you. When my bookshelf falls off again, I will know what to do to make my wall look better hehe.
It will be a nice project if it does fall down again
The brackets, and their size/length hold up the weight of the shelf and its contents.
good work so far! dont give up :)
If you are allowed, I’d repaint the wall. I think you could also add a large art print and a balance it with a cluster of framed pictures about the same size as the one you already have
A quick visualization of what I’m thinking.
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8462f356-3be8-4dd0-85be-22e331c2a023.png)Honestly I wouldn’t get more books, just split the ones you’ve got and a something fun to break them up.
At least the base is flared?
But so is the top. So once it’s in, it’s staying in.
This is the way.
Always make sure the base is flared
There’s a lot of comments about helping with the shelf situation, don’t give up, you’ll get there.
I wanted to ask though, what’s up with the ceiling? Is it textured or something? Artex is common where I live but not seen that type before.
Popcorn ceiling. Fun fact, if the house is old enough to possibly be made with asbestos, the popcorn ceiling might have asbestos in it too!
Yikes! Same with Artex here, apparently it was banned from being an ingredient in the 80’s but was still used into the early 2000’s due to people buying up stock before it was banned.
That’s called “popcorn ceiling” and was really common in the US from the 70s-90s. It’s just a coating over Sheetrock. I don’t think it’s used much anymore, but I haven’t seen a lot of new houses.
Ah ok. Thanks. Looks like a nightmare to replace/redo. It used to be popular here to have wall paper with wood chips in. I always hated that stuff as a kid.
Looks like a nightmare to replace/redo.
It’s actually not that bad, as long as you can find a sprayer that provides about the same texture and lump size. (Many sprayers are adjustable, so you’d do some test shots on some scrap surface somewhere until you got it tweaked to produce a texture close enough to what’s on the ceiling already.)
Basically, you just do whatever you need to do, not even worrying about making the ceiling super flat or perfect afterward, and then hit it with the popcorn spray until it hides all your sins. Once dry, paint over that to match the rest of the ceiling, if necessary. (A paint sprayer works much better on popcorn ceiling than rollers or brushes.)
Popcorn ceiling has two main advantages:
A) The rough surface provides a little bit of sound deadening, so the room won’t echo as much.
B) It can easily hide minor flaws and blemishes on the ceiling drywall – seams and screw holes quickly disappear under it, allowing you to cheaply and easily make the whole ceiling look uniform, without needing highly experienced labor to lay the drywall perfectly smooth.
Though, it has its disadvantages as well, of course. It can be fragile if anything rubs against it, and it can be difficult to clean, especially difficult to clean it without damaging it. And modern interior design fashions have very much decided that it’s ugly.
Lots of great comments here about how to proceed. I just wanted to add: Don’t give up! This is an entirely achievable project for you, and a great start to learning. And if it helps, I am now motivated to redo the media shelves I was pondering earlier, but haven’t worked up the motivation to start yet.
You did good if this is your first time. You tried and learned, great job.
For next time, or if you want to improve this spot now. Remove the shelf from the wall and clean it up (remove gunk, fill holes that are no longer needed, maybe even paint). With the cleaned up wall ready, flip the shelf over so the supports are underneath and remount it. Blue painters tape can be helpful for putting up temporary marks on the wall that can be easily removed and it is easy to write on the tape.
If you need advice on how to fill holes or do touch up painting let me know. You can make improvements with 30 minutes of more time or a full weekend depending on how nice you want this to become.
Get an eraser for the pencil marks, a touch up kit for the paint and holes, some sort of acid(probably) to get that adhesive off the walls, and fill in those goddamn blank spaces with something!
