Great Ideas for Shelves
Create the storage you need with inspiration from these shelves for kitchen, living room, hall, garden, mudroom, bathroom, and more.
Floating book shelves
Typical store-bought floating shelves are suitable only for displaying objects, as they have a weight capacity of 10 or so pounds. That's why California architect Stephen Atikinson created what might be called built-in floaters of pine and red oak, with seriously strong support.
The total cost of the project was $500. Wood trim hides the brackets supporting the shelves, creating an elegant appearance reinforced by the larger display shelf at the bottom.
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Custom drink station
The beverage center of our reader-voted dream entertaining kitchen keeps glasses, wine, and cocktail fixings within easy reach. The custom shelves ensure that all the drinkware fits perfectly in place. Open shelves and mirrored backs add interest.
Two under-counter GE Monogram wine refrigerators each keep up to 57 bottles at preferred temperatures.
Designated clutter zone
Pegs, buckets, and colored bins (from $11; www.tubtrugs.us) help keep this mud room organized. The shelves were an easy DIY using salvaged bleachers.
Having a storage space just off the kitchen of this home helps prevent stuff from piling up on the dining table.
Simple window shelf
A single shelf in an unexpected place can expand your storage right where you need it most.
This one in front of a kitchen window frees counter space and keeps cooking ingredients handy.
Storage room divider
A freestanding cabinet provides open and closed storage while serving as the principal divider between the open living-dining and kitchen areas in this remodeled ranch house.
If the shelf fits, use it
18 horizontal inches of wall may have more possibilties than you think. Designer Lotta Jansdotter put a Benno CD tower on its end and used it as shelving for books and curios.
"Rough and tumble" bath
Shelves shaped like skateboards (from Pottery Barn Kids) add fun to a wall of concrete wall tiles mimicking masonry. Bright towels pick up their color for another accent.
Surprising shared shelving
Three built-in shelves serve the bedroom wall and the entry on the opposite side. Lumicor resin panels containing recycled materials let in natural light.
The wall art is a digital image transferred onto fabric then stretched into place with a tiny metal frame. Wall covering by Planet Profile.
Garden cubbies
Nursery pots and planting paraphernalia stay put in these cleverly constructed garden shelves. The upslanted edges of the shelves were inspired by nesting boxes in chicken coops.
Storage wall
A single storage wall makes this compact Seattle kitchen feel roomy.
More small-space solutions
Homework center
Adjustable Plexiglas shelves keep everything in this workspace handy but out of the way.
More: Kid-friendly remodels
Brighten up a nook
Create a colorful focal point in a small space by painting your shelves (including the back) a bright color. Here, pumpkin-colored shelves (Kelly-Moore's Deep Spice wall paint, KM3608-5) act as a backdrop to deep brown and burnt orange accessories.
Tame chaotic piles
Open shelves can look cluttered. Unite unruly stacks by showcasing a collection of objects of similar shape and color. Even the most haphazard piles will seem intentional.
Keep horizontal stacks on lower shelves to prevent them from looking precarious.
Color-coded walls
Open shelves in this Oregon beach house are painted the colors of the shoreline. "We tell visitors to turn left at the green wall for the media room or left at the blue wall for the bathroom," says Homeowner Jo Landefel.
Office in a closet
Her small San Francisco home didn't have space for a home office, so Sara Menuck converted her living room closet into a chic, streamlined work station.
For $1,000, including materials and labor, her designer removed the closet pole and added an upper covered storage area, a floating middle shelf, and a work surface with an almost-hidden drawer. Says Menuck, "I hardly ever close the doors."
More home office ideas
Design Paris Renfroe Design (651/233-0063).
More: 20 fun DIY projects