Another Easy DIY Craft Show Display

I woke up late and tired yesterday because all my dreams had been about not being able to fall asleep.  Does dreaming about not falling asleep qualify as ironic?  (Alanis Morrisette has screwed me up on how to actually use that word).

However, often in that not awake/not asleep state I get good ideas for projects and even though I couldn’t tell what was true or not I did have a brainstorm about making a display.

You see, one of my favorite stores (and not just because she stocks my stuff), CoOp 28 has expanded and is opening a Men’s Department.  Here are some in-progress shotsIt looks totally cool!

Marci (the owner) had tasked me to come up with some new products as well as a new display that would feature my baseball card coasters (manly!)

I had tasked me to make it without spending any money.  And in my awake/asleep/ironic state I formed an idea.

Once I woke up it came together fast and was pretty easy.

I grabbed some scrap 1×2′s that I had left over from a previous project (this is where all that hoarding comes in useful) and made the following cuts:

• Eleven pieces cut to 20” long (backboard)
• Two pieces cut to 19” long (frame/support)
• Three pieces cut to 20” long. (Shelves)

I stained and sanded them down fairly smooth.  Usually I’d sand and then stain but I wanted a kind of uneven, distressed look and sanding afterwards did the trick.

I set up the two 19” long pieces parallel to each other and nailed the 20” pieces in place.

I liked it but decided it was a little too dark so I dry brushed some white paint over everything which gave me a good, weathered, look (you’ll see it in the final shots).

To put the shelves in place I pre-drilled holes in the front then put my shelf pices in place and screwed them in from the back.Next up I had to figure out how to keep the coasters from falling off the shelves since this was going to be wall-mounted.  I wanted the coasters to be 100% visible so I needed something see through.

I had a sheet of Plexiglas that had come with a thrift store picture frame.  I thought the plexi would be perfect as a retaining wall so-to-speak  so I cut it into 2×20” strips.  (I used a utility knife to cut them which takes FOREVER.  I’m going to buy a plexi cutter if I do this again).

To screw the plexi into place I predrilled screw holes (The painters tape is there to ensure a smooth cut.  The two “X’s” are there because I mis-measured the first time.  The dust is there because I forgot to clean the plexi)   I  discovered that drilling slowly was the key to not cracking the plexi.

Once the shelves were in place I was ready to go.I hung it temporarily on the wall for these pics – at the store I will screw it into place.

I do realize that not everyone has scrap wood around let alone scrap plexi.  The 1×2 boards are very inexpensive (something like $1.50 at Home Depot for a 6′ length).  The plexi was great for me because I needed the full visibility but in most cases a thin strip of wood screwed or nailed to the front of the shelf would work just fine to hold things in place.

This display is made to mount on a wall but I’m thinking I could easily make a tabletop version by turning it into an A-Frame/Sandwich board set upNow, fingers crossed that Marci digs it!

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