DIY Ballet Barre for My Tiny Dancer–Tutorial

My nine-year-old loves to dance, and she’s been asking for a ballet barre in her room ever since we visited her cousin in South Carolina.  Katie has an entire wall of mirrors and a barre  Of course, she is a serious dancer (8+ hours a day and a special high school for the performing arts!), but the idea is so fun.

 

We moved some furniture around in her room and wound up with just enough space to put in a barre.  I was amazed at how easy it was, and inexpensive.

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We took a quick trip to Home Depot and bought a 2″ wood dowel.  It was about $8, and was 48″ long.  They can cut it to your specifications there if you want it shorter.  I cut mine at home with my miter saw to 36″.  The dowels come unstained/unpainted but are very smooth.  I ran some sandpaper over it just in case (who wants splinters?) and spray painted it white.

I also bought {this} hardware that is designed to attach a stair banister to the wall.   I bought the brushed nickel finish.

First, I screwed the hardware into each end of the dowel.  I predrilled guide holes to make it easier.

When both brackets were in place, we centered the barre on the wall at a height that works for her.  I used my stud finder to place the right bracket into a stud with the mounting screws, but on the left I needed to use drywall anchors (I like this brand; they are good for heavy-duty jobs) to give the screws extra stability.  Annabelle is old enough to know not to hang on her barre, but for a younger dancer I would try to mount both brackets in studs, just in case!

The laser level made it easy to keep the barre straight as I hung it.  My helper lived up to her name, too!

There are only four screws keeping this on the wall, although they’re certainly holding it on there sturdily.  But it will easy to remove, patch, and paint when we move in the summer.

I contemplated putting a big mirror on the wall behind it–I have one because we pulled down a huge plate glass mirror in a bathroom–but that is a bigger project and it just didn’t seem worth it for 8 months of use.  Maybe in our next house!  She can open her closet door and use the full-length mirror on the door to check her form, though.

Also, the hardware that I used only projects the barre from the wall a couple of inches.  If you wanted yours to come out further (for a lot of leg work, for example), you might try closet hardware that’s used to mount hanging clothes rods (see how to do that here).

I “decorated” the barre because I can’t help it, with some toe shoes autographed by the principal dancer at the Nashville Ballet.  I’m also planning to hang this framed poster for the Nashville Nutcracker.  My tiny dancer won the part of a frontier soldier (they fight the mice in Act I) and she will perform with the company in six performances this December.  Phew–we are spending A LOT of time going to and from rehearsals these days–but what a great memory she is making for herself!  I’ll stop bragging now–just having a “proud mommy” moment! 🙂

Here’s my four-year-old ballerina.  Note the pink and blue socks on her feet.  They had to wear those to tell their right from their left because they were such sweet little babies! {weeping!}

And here she is a few years ago.  That was one of my favorite costumes ever–great colors!

If you have a tiny dancer who is obsessed with all things ballet, why not give one of these barres a try?  For under $15 you can have it on your wall in just a few minutes.

UPDATE:  Since we’ve moved, I installed a second kind of DIY ballet barre in my daughter’s room, this time using closet brackets.  Read the how-to’s and the pros and cons of both types of barre in the new post {here}.  

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