How to Choose the Right Shelves for Each Room in Your Home / AD
[AD] I want to share my top tips on how to choose the right shelves for each room in your home…
There’s a lot that goes in to making a room feel cosy, and sometimes a new lick of paint just isn’t enough. If you find you’re often looking at bare walls, or feel like there’s something lacking in a certain area of a room, then it may be worth considering shelves as an option to fill the space.
How to Choose the right shelves for your home…
Shelves are undoubtedly fantastic for a number of reasons. Not only do they add storage space for books, baskets and accessories, but they can also really change the aesthetic of a room. Shelves should suit the way you live, and the space you have, so it’s really important to consider what you will be using them for.
Ask yourself this:
- What is the main purpose for the shelf? Is it purely for display reasons or are you using it to store something specific.
- What will you be putting on it? You will need to question the material and sturdiness of the shelf if you will be storing heavy things on it.
- Where is it in the house? Is it for an alcove, a bare wall or kitchen?
Display Shelves
I had a longing for a wall-to-wall shelf above my bed in m bedroom. This was purely for decorative reasons and not so much for storage. A display shelf is a great way of adding a focal point to a room, and if styled nicely can make a fantastic feature.
To create this look, I simply measured the wall width and divided it in to three. I then had three custom made floating shelves fitted across the length of the wall. You can find out more on how to fit & hang floating shelves here.
I chose a white finish shelf as I wanted it to blend in with the wall, but they are also available in grey, black, and various wood finishes too.
Styling Tip:
Having a wall-to-wall shelf creates a really modern aesthetic. I highly recommend this style of shelf for decorative use. Use it to display nice pieces of art, accessories and photos that mean something special to you, and play around with the display to make the shelf somewhat of a piece of art.
Storage Shelves
In my dining room I have the smallest alcove, measuring just 85cm wide. It’s very hard to know what to do with a space this size, and it’s unlikely to find a suitable piece of furniture to fit.
Alcove shelves are a brilliant example of how to make good use of redundant spaces like these, and add a completely new feature in the room.
I used three alcove shelves in this area, and have used them to store books, accessories and plants. Once again I’ve created a display out of them and ensured they don’t look too cluttered. If you overcrowd a shelf, it can look messy, so avoid stashing too many things on one shelf.
Advice for the bookworm…
- Storage shelves should always be at least 30cm deep to fit larger books.
- Always allow 3-5cms above books so that you can easily pull them out.
- Hardback books are heavy, so will need sturdier shelves.
Styling Tip:
If you have lots of things you want to store on a shelf but don’t want it to look cluttered, use storage baskets. Storage baskets look much neater, and are fantastic for keeping things organised. They hide away the mess!
Shelves to serve a purpose…
If you have a specific place in your home that requires a shelf for a purpose, consider what you are using it for. In my dining room we have created a ‘music zone’, by adding a custom made shelf measured to the same length as the furniture unit below it. This in effect has made a great feature in the room, and the shelf has almost become part of the furniture.
We learned the hard way that it’s very important to consider the weight of what you are wanting the shelf to hold. On top of that, it’s very important to ensure that your wall is strong enough to hold the shelf too.
As an extra precaution, we used shelf brackets below this floating shelf for extra support for the speakers to disperse some of the pressure across the wall.
Ideas for every room:
Kitchen – A shelf to store Kilner jars & tubs filled with food items, or cookery books.
Bathroom – Storage shelf with baskets full of toiletries, toilet rolls and cleaning products.
Bedroom – A shelf to display souvenirs, photos and trinkets.
Hallway – Storage shelf with baskets for hats, gloves and scarves.
Living room – Stack away your CD’s and DVD’s.
Dining room – A bookcase display, or a shelf to store your finest crockery.
Styling Tip:
Ensure not to over-clutter the shelf, or make it look messy. Symmetrical displays are perfect for making it seem as though everything has its own place on the shelf.
Shelves that help a room evolve
Sometimes it’s not only because of storage/display reasons that you may need a shelf. It can also completely transform a room and help make a space feel more homely. Our living room is a prime example for this.
I felt as though our living room was a little bit lack-lustre and needed something to change the atmosphere in the room. It overall felt quite cold, so I decided to make good use of the alcoves.
We didn’t necessarily need the storage space in our living room, so we opted for one alcove shelf on each side of the chimney breast to create more of a feature for the room. Once the shelves were in place and styled, they instantly lifted the room giving it a completely new dynamic. Putting shelves higher up in a room is a great way of adding height if it’s feeling a bit flat and cluttered. They help draw the eye up and around the room, and give a room a more homely feel.
Stylist Tip:
If you’re putting shelves up high, ensure you leave enough space for the items you wish to put on them. Allow an extra 10cm above so that it doesn’t look cramped/pushed up against the ceiling.
Keen to get yourself some new shelves?
The Floating Shelf Company offer a range of different shelves, including corner shelves, alcove shelves, floating shelves and window sills. They also offer a free design and cutting service too, and are happy to offer you advice to ensure you get the best suited shelves for your home.
All of the shelves you have seen above are from The Floating Shelf Company. I have previously worked with their lovely products when I featured their floating shelves on a photoshoot I styled for Ideal Home Magazine. I knew instantly that I wanted some for my own home, because the quality of them was fantastic. All of their wood shelves are made from 100% luxury solid hardwoods, which means zero knots and splits! You can read up more about this here.
If you’d like to find out more about their services and products, visit their website here.
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All images and content curated by That’s so Gemma.
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