Invisible Window Shelves

I have a sunroom that has a bank of three windows. These windows look out to a hill behind our house. The previous tenants took all the window treatments and since we didn’t need curtains for privacy purposes, I decided to leave the windows untreated–nekkid, so to speak. With all that natural light pouring in, though, I quickly decided these windows would make a great display area for my growing glass collection.

I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll say it again…I LoVe glass. I told Hubs I wanted to build some shelves to fit inside the window frame so I could have a display area for my collection. Hubs wasn’t catching the vision. He thought it would look too bulky and would be too distracting. While Hubs went off to upstate New York with Buddy and Kiddo for a boy’s canoe trip, I broke out my chop saw and got to work. (That project on the table is my future coat rack)

I cut some 2×2’s to fit inside the frame. These are wide enough to hold the shelves and fit nicely in front of the sections between the individual windows. I used some L-Brackets to hold them at the top and bottom. Then I cut some thin trim to fit on the window frame and the 2×2’s. I cut some boards to fit for the shelves. These boards are narrow (I ripped them on my table saw) and they do not extend beyond the window.

I still need to paint them, but I was anxious to see what they would hold and how they would look.

You can see that the top board is warped. Actually, the top and bottom board are the same piece, just ripped in half. I accidentally put the top board upside down and so it looks like it’s bowing. I’m going to flip it over and put some heavy stuff on it to see if that will help it stop bowing. If not, I’ll break down and buy some more board.

Here’s a close up of my glass frog which makes a perfect marble holder.

Here’s my ~~stolen~~ rescued Hen (she’s started to send out shoots for her chicks).

Here’s a full shot of the semi-completed shelves. I’ll paint these soon. I promise. No really. I PrOmIsE. Once I have these painted, they will practically disappear.