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Lets talk about shelves. I miiiiggghhtt be addicted to hanging up shelves in my house. Any time I have an open spot in my home, I can't think of putting anything else but shelves. And not just any shelves, usually. I like to make simple DIY shelves. As I walked through my home and found 11 different shelf ideas to share with you.
11 Creative Ideas for Shelving in Your Home
Craft Room Shelves When I redid my craft room last summer, I knew I would need a place to store ribbon and other craft supplies. I used 1 x 8 pieces of wood and shelf brackets (similar) to put shelves on my wall. I left the wood raw and used vintage yardsticks as molding on the edges.
Board and Batten with top shelf Many years ago, when I put up board and batten as architectural interest in our living room, I added a 1 x 4 on top as a shelf. All these years later, this is still such a great shelf to display decorative items from family photos to vintage windows.
Picture Ledge Shelves These simple shelves made with 1 x 4's and corner brackets that I sprayed with spray paint. The brackets are very light weight, so I wouldn't put anything heavy on the shelves. I use them to display unframed family photos. (I get my family photos enlarged and mounted on mat board from mpix)
Built in Shelves We had a funny little nook in our dining room that was just crying out for some shelves. So I made built ins. I mounted small lengths of 1x2's on the wall as braces, which were painted the wall color so they would blend in. Then a stained 1x6 was placed on top of the braces. I nailed on a piece of molding across the front to finish it off.
Open Kitchen Shelves This is the project I have been working on since March. I kept hoping to finish the back splash before sharing it, but here we are almost 3 months later and I still haven't finished (due to quarantine craziness). Anyway - I took down the upper kitchen cabinets on this side of my kitchen. Then I hung these brackets and stained 2 x 8 wood lengths. Taking down the bulky cabinets opened my small kitchen up so much and I am thrilled with how they look. At first my family wasn't too sure about open shelving, but now they love how easy it is to grab a glass! I repurposed the cabinet here. As I said, I still want to do a back splash and eventually get new counter tops.
Display Shelves Once I had my kitchen shelves done, I bought the same brackets for display shelves outside my craft room. I have a ridiculous about of wood leftover or repurposed from other projects in my garage, so I gathered 1 x 8's. I used one of my favorite painted/stained techniques on them.
How to distress wood for display shelves
- Paint shelves white with interior paint, let dry
- Heavily sand the wood edges to distress and wipe with damp cloth to remove debris
- Brush stain on and wipe off with a rag
- Let dry overnight
- Hang the shelves!!!
Marquee Letter Shelf Our playroom has vaulted ceilings, aka a lot of wall space. So I hung high display shelves to display marquee letters. I used the same corner brackets as in a lot of my other shelves and a 8 foot 1 x 3. Full tutorial here.
Open Shelves with Corbels When I took down our kitchen cabinets, I also took down our first set of open shelves. I moved them into our dining room where I can display all of my fun vintage kitchen items. I used my favorite same distressing technique on the corbels that I did on my display shelves. I used wood reclaimed from another project for the top.
Mirror Shelf in bathroom When I redid our kids bathroom, I took down the gigantic builder mirror and replaced it with two smaller mirrors. I built a shelf out of a stained 1 x 4 and black spray painted corner brackets (my specialty). It looks perfect in this bathroom by adding a custom touch.
Display Shelf In our kids bathroom I had wood leftover from the mirror shelf, so I constructed a simple display shelf for simple decor pieces like a letter board and vintage first aid kit.
How to make a simple display shelf without brackets
- cut 2 pieces of wood to the exact same length
- paint or stain the wood
- run a bead of glue along the edge
- place the 2nd piece of wood perpendicular to the wood
- screw the boards together with wood screws (you may want to drill pilot holes so the wood doesn't split)
- let the glue dry and hang the shelf up
- To hang: drill holes in the piece of wood that lays flat on the wall. Mark where it will be on the wall and if it doesn't go into a stud, use a wall anchor.
Door Knob Shelf I had this door knob shelf in my kitchen for several years. I used it as a mantel for a fun place to decorate. When I redid my kitchen in March, I decided to take it down, cut it shorter and hung it into our living room. I made the shelf the same way as the display shelf instructions above. Then I drilled holes for round dowels, glued them into the shelf and glued them into the door knobs. Another shelf idea is to make rectangles from reclaimed wood, instructions here. I have this one sitting on a table, but it would also be great hung on the wall.
There are examples of easy to make shelves for the home. None of them require more than basic carpentry skills and supplies. I love having the ability to make something quick and easy to hang and display in my home. Make and hang one of these 11 Ideas for Shelves Around Your Home today!
