Wall-O-Mugs

For those of you that know and those of you that don't, I have a fetish for Coffee Mugs. OK maybe fetish is a strong word, but I like them A LOT. I have grown quite the collection over the years. I like all kinds, and the more unique the better. Much to my delight when my house just so happened to have double sided glass cabinet doors. It was the perfect spot to display my collection. However sadly, I have already outgrown the space. It's not much of a display when they're all crammed in there. This was further made clear when I was putting away dishes, pushed too hard, and one mug fell out the other side plummeting to it's death. Well maybe not death, but it definitely lost a limb (handle). Luckily it was not irreplaceable so the event wasn't earth shattering, but I did shed a small tear. A new solution was in order.

I started off with a serious Pintoogle search. I saw lots of ideas, but settled on L-shaped shelving. Not too exciting, but got the job done. The goal was to not only display them, but also make them easily accessible as I am a big time coffee and tea drinker. I headed to Home Depot and got all of the wood I needed for the project. This was to be a pretty simple project. Cut the pieces, glue them together, paint, and secure them to the wall. 

I had to measure and cut pretty precisely as each piece had to come together like a puzzle. Then I glued them together using clamps on each side until the glue dried fully. I only had 6 clamps so this process took a couple of days.

Once all 5 shelves were set, I moved on to the paint phase. Normally I am a Latex paint kind of girl, but this time I decided to use Wood Stain. I usually am not one for the authentic wood look so I almost never stain, but something said go for it this time. I made an attempt once before and could quickly tell I had no idea what I was doing, so this was going to be an adventure. I went with Walnut stain, and did a test on some scrap wood first. I started off by giving the shelves a light sanding with one of my blocks. Then I followed the directions for application. I brushed on the stain, let it sit for a few minutes, and wiped it off with a rag. When I wiped it off it looked a mess. Not at all like what I thought, and not half as nice as the guy in the YouTube video. So I did it again. This time letting it sit for 15 minutes before wiping away. It was still quite blotchy. I let it dry overnight thinking it would look better in the morning. No such luck, it still looked crazy. 

I was about to give up, and just paint. Then I tested the Walnut stain with some leftover Red Mahogany that I had in the house. It wasn't the perfect color, but definitely looked better than what I had. So I repeated the process on all 5 shelves. 

When all was said and done, they looked completely different than what I was originally going for. It was not a perfect stain job, but I liked them though. The imperfect zebra look was starting to grow on me. I finished them off by giving them a coat of Polyurethane. 

To add them to the wall, I screwed  a few small pilot holes to the back side of each shelf

I brought them all upstairs and screwed them into the side wall. I used a level and a ruler to make sure they were all straight. The worst thing would be for them to not be secure and fall off the wall. That would be an absolute disaster. I've had that experience before, and broke a porcelain toilet bowl lid that day. Trust me, it was not pretty. 

I did the remaining shelves, and VOILA! 

Now it was time to fill them with mugs. I put them all out on the counter. I don't think I ever realized how many there actually were. No wonder they were looking crammed in there. 

Here is my full collection minus a few really generic and plain ones that there was no room for.

I didn't notice until just now that some of my favorite ones are all on the bottom 2 shelves. Probably because those are at my eye level, and easy to get without me having to reach up high, or stand on the stool. 

 So there you have it...however...my biggest issue has already happened. I don't have any room for growth. I have just enough room, and this isn't even the total collection. My original plan was to do hooks, that way it could easily accommodate new mugs when the collection expands. I did not want to be back at square one in 6 months to a year. Some where in the planning process I decided to switch to shelving. I wanted the mugs to sit upright. Also I have a few that are quite wide, and wasn't sure if they would hang nicely. I guess I could stain another shelf if I have to, but that would be a hassle and can't guarantee it would come out the same. 6 months to a year...how about 6 hours. So, we'll see how long this lasts. I can't promise that this solution won't change in the future, but really I can't promise that with anything. 

It's on to the next project!