DIY Ballet Barre and How to Hang Wall Decor on a Chair Rail
Oh, be still my mama heart! I think this latest project beats our DIY storybook art, kiddie desks, and reading nook in terms of cute little girlness factor.
Or maybe that’s just the former ballerina in me being completely biased. We built a ballet barre in Olivia’s room and she has been nonstop twirling in front of it ever since we finished it this weekend.
Isn’t it sweeeeeeeet?! I wish I’d gotten a picture of Olivia dancing in front of it, but she was at preschool while I snuck in here.
This project is really a repeat since we built a ballet barre in her old room at our last house too, but we gave it a little more oomph this time.
And we also had a new challenge of hanging it on top of a chair rail, so I thought I’d share our solution if you ever run into the same problem.
Supplies Used: (Some affiliate links are provided below.)
- Mirror(s) of your choosing- the middle one used to hang in my parents’ dining room when I was little, but I gave it a quick paint job using this tutorial, and the two skinny mirrors came from Kirkland’s 2 years ago.
- 2 2″x4″ boards
- 1″ diameter dowel rod cut to the size you need for your wall
- 2 shelf brackets
- Primer
- Paint of your choice to match your wall
- Hangman picture hanger(s)
- Power driver
- 2 1/2 inch wood screws
- 4 50 pound drywall anchors
- Level
- Tape measure
- Circular saw
We wanted to make sure these mirrors were super anchored to the wall, but we didn’t want the limitation of centering them on studs. So we anchored the 2″x4″ boards to the studs instead to give us something to attach the mirrors to and give us plenty of room to jut out the mirrors so that they would lay flat on the wall with the chair rail running behind them.
The Steps
1. We first measured and cut the length of our 2″x4″ boards to the width of all 3 mirrors we planned to use (plus accounted for 3″ gaps between them).
2. Then we marked the height on the wall where we wanted to hang the tops of the mirrors and secure the barre.
3. Using a stud finder, we marked where the studs were on the wall so that we would know where to secure wood screws into the 2″x4″ boards to anchor them.
4. We placed our top 2″x4″ board first and used a level before screwing the board to the studs we’d marked.
5. From there, we repeated those steps on the second 2″x4″ just below the chair rail for where we would hang the barre later.
6. To hang the mirrors, we screwed Hangman hangers to the top 2″x4″.
Would you like to save this?
7. And to help the 2″x4″ boards blend into the wall, we primed them and painted them with the wall colors we’d used previously.
8. Once the paint was dry, we placed the mirrors on the Hangman hangers.
9. To hang up the barre, we placed the shelf brackets between the mirror gaps underneath the lower 2″x4″ and secured them to the drywall with 50 pound anchors and wood screws into the 2″x4″ board.
10. Then, we screwed the wooden dowel rod into the shelf brackets. We chose to prime and paint our dowel rod, but you could leave it wood and just seal it with polyurethane or polycrylic if you preferred.
That’s it! The 2″x4″ trick can come in handy anywhere you need to hang a piece of wall decor on top of molding anywhere.
If we ever need to move the barre up when Olivia grows in a few years, we can just take the mirrors down, unscrew the lower 2″x4″ and move it up above the chair rail, repaint, and reattach the dowel. That is if she’s still twirling around in a few years. Something tells me she will be though.
This room makeover now only has 4 things left on the to-do list! It’s turned out even sweeter than I imagined.
Here’s what’s left:
Paint walls/ceiling/trim/doorsHang wallpaperPut together bedFind a light fixture to work with a canopy bed on 8′ ceilingsHang Roman shadesFind a cozy rug that doesn’t distract from busy wallpaperHaul in nightstands from master bedroomPaint thrift store lamps- Get bedding
- Put up curtains
- Paint dresser
- Hang up artwork
And if you want to know about any of the sources we’ve used in this space so far, you can find the all here:
- Wall color: Behr My Sweetheart
- Trim/ceiling color: Benjamin Moore Simply White
- Door color: Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron
- Wallpaper
- Bed
- Roman shades
- Light fixture
- Rug
- Nightstands (Craigslist makeover)
- Lamps (thrift store makeover)
- Large butterfly wall decor (this one, this one, and this one spray painted white)
- Skinny mirrors
Hopefully, next time you see this space it will be finished! So ready. And I know a little girl who is ready too.