DIY designer shelves

Sometimes the arrangement of an apartment turns into a real punishment, especially when its area is small, and you want to place more things in it. How to get out of this situation, so as not to clutter up the space, and satisfy your requests?

But what if you try to abandon the usual furniture and assemble shelves with your own hands for a comfortable arrangement of the interior? Such elements of the situation are quite capable of transforming the room and maintaining its functionality. Moreover, with this original move, you can adjust the volume of the room at the visual level and present it as a very spacious apartment. Filled with books, antiques, photos and just knick-knacks - truly in a unique design, shelf galleries will become an accent zone in any interior. It remains the case for small things - to figure out how to make a shelf with your own hands.

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Classification

“As for materials, then, in principle, with certain skills, shelves can be assembled with your own hands from almost everything, up to a rubber band”

Before you start creating designer shelves with your own hands, you need to decide what kind of shelves you can make and what to put on them. So, what can be these simple, it would seem, pieces of furniture?

They are divided by design features:

• to the open
• closed.

They are also classified according to the type of installation:

• on wall,
• hanging,
• floor.

Classic wall types of shelves are fixed on one wall surface and often hang over large furnishings such as tables, sofas, armchairs. It can be single instances or a symbiosis of several elements combined into a single composition. Sets of two or more wall shelves are called shelf modules.

Corner options are attached simultaneously to two adjacent walls. They can be an addition to a furniture set or a stand-alone object, and you can decorate with shelves not only internal corners, but also external ones, if any, in the layout of the room.

Suspended shelves, including self-assembled ones, have a vertical fixation to the ceiling. They can be supported by cables, chains, belts, racks and other devices. By design, they are usually single, lightweight, wallless options. There are also folding hanging shelves.

The self-assembled floor shelf can be put on wheels for ease of movement. Having fiddled with the design, it can also be made transformable, that is, the object will be allowed to be used both in a vertical and in a horizontal position. It's comfortable.Such a mobile rack can be placed even in the middle of the room, making it the subject of space zoning, even pushed into a tight corner, where a bookcase will never go. In general, floor shelves are in demand in hallways and those rooms where there is no need to save space.

As for materials, then, in principle, with certain skills, shelves can be assembled with your own hands from almost everything, up to a rubber band. Traditionally, they are made:

• wood,
• plastic,
• metal,
• glass.

Tree and its derivatives

Plywood, MDF, chipboard and other materials are relatively easy to work with. Products from them look beautiful, because naturalness is always effective. DIY wooden shelves are durable in operation, especially if they have undergone specific processing.

Plastic

A versatile material that can imitate any texture. This type of shelves will be relevant in any interiors.

Metal

It is possible to assemble almost eternal high-strength structures from it, however, metal shelves fit into the usual classic interiors with difficulty. In addition, they should not be used in rooms with a specific climate characterized by high humidity, since the metal is susceptible to corrosion.

Glass

Transparent glass generously gives the atmosphere the effect of lightness, makes the room cozy. However, not everyone can assemble a glass shelf with their own hands, especially if the design provides for all kinds of cutouts and recesses.

If we talk about the permissible load, then everything is also simple. Wide and deep shelves are ready to store voluminous things that are in demand in everyday life, so they should always be in the access zone. Naturally, they are made from coarser materials. Glass structures are more decorative solutions. You can’t put anything bulky on them, and not because they can’t withstand the load, but because it will be simply ridiculous to look at these delicate and sparkling shelves.

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How to place different types of shelves in the interior

Not everyone can know how to make a hanging shelf made of wood or glass with their own hands, but how to securely attach it - it is advisable to ask about this. Any suspended model on the back wall always has metal strips with a slot for fasteners. Your task is to correctly mark the screw points of the fasteners.

A level will help you hang the shelf evenly on the wall with your own hands. Before driving the dowels, remember what exactly the room wall is made of. If this is a monolith in which the self-tapping screw sits tightly, this is one thing, but in the case when you have a shingle in front of you, you will have to go for tricks. Here the hitch, regardless of the type of shelf, will need to be done on wooden slats.

Adequate use of space

Collectors, as well as just lovers of vintage and man-made trifles, are constantly tormented by the question: where to place their precious trophies, tended in flea markets of the world? At the same time, the desire to share beauty among many struggles with the fear of littering the space. A hanging shelf attached with your own hands above a window opening or table can solve the dilemma. With this step, you decide not only the presentation of the exposition, but also rationally arrange the space. The part of the walls that is located at eye level will remain unchanged, but the ceiling will rise, and the room will appear visually higher and more spacious. In general, shelves can appear at the head of the bed, between windows, as an addition to low cabinets, above the sofa, armchairs, around the doorway, above the desktop.

Puzzled by the question of making a shelf on the wall with your own hands, you need to think over its design so that it becomes a logical addition to the rest of the interior components. If the shelf is not planned to be an accent zone, then let it be in neutral, soothing colors.

How to make a shelf with your own hands? Bright rich colors are acceptable only if there is a similar design of frames, doors or curtains. Since accent elements are always attractive to the eye, their quality should also generate admiration and take your breath away, and this can only be done by unusual design types of shelves. Most often, preference is given to snow-white models, which are perfectly combined with the metal-plastic profile of euro windows.

Shelves, the color of which is matched to the tone of the wallpaper pattern or correlated to the color of the walls, will be no less spectacular. Kitchen shelves are often combined with the colors of the facade of the headset, although no one has canceled the experiments. You may well cut a wooden shelf with your own hands and paint it to your own taste. Who knows, maybe your ideas about beauty can make a splash.

It is important not to overload the situation, so experts recommend focusing on the following indicator: the number of shelves in a room up to 12 squares cannot be more than 8.

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Shelves and styles

As a piece of furniture, the shelf can be interpreted in any style. If you want to add a little romance to the room, use elegantly forged metal containers decorated with monograms in its fastening. For country style, it is worth making simple wooden shelves with your own hands. They are assembled from planed boards without polishing and any other ennobling treatment. The unpretentious design is incredibly good in the kitchen interior. With her appearance, the room will be filled with a special charm. The originality of the situation, accompanied by the appropriate atmosphere, will make it possible to forget about the bustle of the city for a while and feel like a real villager.

In the shabby chic interior, you need to add metal shelves painted white. Fans of the classics will come to the aid of wide moldings. Made from an overlaid convex plank covered with original patterns, this type of shelf will become a worthy decoration of the living room.

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Shelves as a design element

Among the many options for shelf models, there is sure to be a project that satisfies the stylistic idea of ​​\u200b\u200bdecorating your interior.

Thinking over the design of a shelf for DIY assembly in a minimalist interior, remember that it must certainly be open and look weightless. Only hidden fasteners can give such a design effect. Suitable materials are glass, plastic, metal.

Do-it-yourself wall shelves are recommended to be done in the nursery. You will have a great chance to decorate the room with bright accessories of unusual design with or without drawings.

For the kitchen, stainless steel and wood shelves are more suitable. The decorative load is mainly carried by wooden structures, while metal ones are used for practical purposes.

The highlight of the bathrooms will be glass shelves, and the classic living room will add beauty with solid wood products.

It doesn’t matter what type of shelves you plan to use in the interior: a standard form or an exotic one - they can equally well. transform the surrounding space The main thing here is not to overdo it. The more unusual the design and color of the self-assembled shelf, the calmer and more neutral the background surrounding it and the objects displayed on it should be. And vice versa.A simple design must be filled with non-trivial content and hung on the most spectacular wall in the room.

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Blueprints

“A functional shelf, hung on the wall with your own hands, must withstand a certain load and not deform under the weight of the exposed objects”

How to make a shelf with your own hands? Where to begin? The key to success is the right drawing. Even the simplest model should first be estimated on paper. This will help to calculate the dimensions and collect the materials and tools necessary for the work. It must be remembered that a functional shelf, hung on the wall with your own hands, must withstand a certain load and not deform under the weight of the exposed objects. This will be possible only if the step distance between the supporting parts is no more than 90 cm. The softer and more elastic the texture of the shelf, the more often the support brackets should be installed.

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DIY hanging shelf

If the house needs a light structure to accommodate small things, you can build the simplest fixture from improvised materials, which, due to an individual approach to manufacturing, can become a very original piece of furniture. The easiest way is to assemble a designer shelf with your own hands from belts and boards.

What will be required?

• a pair of edged thirty-millimeter boards with proportions of 750x300 mm;
• 4 pieces of leather belts, 75 cm long;
• 4 plastic dowels;
• 4 long screws;
• 4 small self-tapping screws;
• drill;
• well-sharpened knife;
• ruler;
• level;

Stage I

Getting the belts ready. End cuts of leather tapes should have perfect evenness. If necessary, trim the ends with a sharp knife. Each belt is folded in half, the ends are placed on the desktop and a through hole is carefully drilled into them with a drill, stepping back from the edge of at least 2 cm. It is advisable to outline the location of future passages for fasteners under the ruler. This will eliminate problems with skewed finished products.

Stage II

Belt fixation. Using the level, we mark the place of the future mounting of the shelf on the wall with our own hands. The step distance between fasteners should be 60 cm. Dowels are driven into the drilled holes. Now you can attach a belt to them and secure them with a long screw. The result should be two large loops.

Stage III

Shelf installation. A polished board is inserted into the gap of the hinges. Its surface is aligned horizontally. In order for the wall shelf, suspended with your own hands, not to turn into a swing, the wall part of the belt at the edge of the board is additionally fixed with a short self-tapping screw. Under the finished element, according to the same algorithm, another identical design is attached. Thus, you can assemble a neat two, three and even four-tier shelf module. Instead of a cut board, a chipboard or plywood blank can be used. If necessary, introduce an accessory into a specific interior, a shelf on the wall can also be made of glass.

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How to make a glass shelf with your own hands

Working with glass is not easy, but extremely interesting. If there is no desire to go to a specialized workshop, where structural elements will be quickly cut out according to the drawing and give them an acceptable look, then you will have to take on all this work yourself. You will succeed if, in addition to a good glass cutter, you have at your disposal a belt-type grinder and an abrasive sandpaper of 120 grit units.

With the use of a glass cutter in working on shelves with your own hands, there are usually no questions. All that is needed here is a ruler of sufficient length and a confident hand.Preliminary practice will be needed only when cutting glass with an oil tool. Here you need to make sure that everything turns out to be cut as needed. It is important that when preparing the components for different types of glass shelves, they do not have repeated cuts. There will be no problems if you learn to cut through the thickness of the glass the first time and gently break it off, and not recklessly scratch the surface almost to the ground.

The second important point in working on glass shelves with your own hands will be the need to process their edges. Agree, such a household item should not be traumatic. In order not to be cut on sharp edges, the edge of the shelf must be well sanded. In the absence of a special machine, the grinding issue is solved manually.

Designers know the secret of how to make a glass shelf with your own hands with really high quality. The process has one caveat. The glass to be ground must be constantly wetted with water. What is it for?

First of all, for personal safety. Moisture prevents glass dust from rising into the air, so it does not have to be inhaled. It should be noted that getting into the lungs, the glass settles in them with a dead layer, which cannot be removed. In addition to regularly wetting the surface, remember to wear a respirator.

Water will also contribute to the transparency of the edge. Do-it-yourself sanding on dry shelves will give a matte cut surface.

Sanded glass is carefully fixed on a flat and hard surface. The working area should not go too far beyond its boundaries.

How to fix a glass shelf on the wall with your own hands

The issue is resolved in two ways. The glass shelf can be placed on holders or an aluminum profile can be used. Both methods are good and securely fix the glass structure in a given place, however, the holders in this case are more versatile. They are ready to hold glass of any thickness. The profile is designed for elements of a specific size, but this fastener also has its own feature. You can mount an LED strip in it, the light of which will add irresistibility to the masterpiece that came out of your hands. They can also frame hanging shelves with their own hands.

Installing the fastener is not difficult. After a preliminary fitting on the wall, the holder structure is disassembled by removing the base from the upper stop. Next, the level is taken and the installation plane is marked. According to this markup, dowels will be hammered in to support the latch. At least two of these holders are required per shelf. In principle, their number is determined by the length of the shelf and the expected load.

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DIY floor shelf

Design, especially in demand in the hallways. In cramped spaces, there is not always a place to install cabinets for shoes and other furniture for storing a variety of accessories, so they are often replaced with hand-assembled wooden shelves. The product is obtained from several long boards fixed in the side racks. Homemade shelves are more profitable than purchased ones. First, they can be made in interesting shapes. Secondly, to accurately fit in size. Consumables can be not only natural wood, but also sheets of chipboard, plywood.

So that the design does not look clumsy, it needs to be decorated by varnishing or staining. Plywood, before varnishing, is recommended to be annealed with a blowtorch. This will give it a more expensive look.

Do-it-yourself shelves made of laminated chipboard must have ends. They are edged with plastic or laminated tape, which are offered today in a variety of colors. The decorative element is ironed and glued to the desired area when heated.

If storage for shoes made of flat boards is too primitive for you, you can complicate your task and try to make a curly wooden shelf in the hallway with your own hands. Its elements will have to be cut with a jigsaw from sheet material.

The assembly of the structure is carried out with self-tapping screws, bolts, corners. You can add glue for reliability. As a finish, not only varnish, but also waterproof paint or pasting materials can be used.

You can try to make a floor shelf with your own hands from wire. It will also include several, but already lattice tiers. It is allowed to fasten the wire by any available means, for example, by welding or twisting.

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Shelves as an art object

How to make a shelf with your own hands in an original form so that it can perform a decorative function in interior design? One unusual appearance of the shelves is not always enough. Highlighting will help to emphasize the relief of their elements, the beauty of color and other delights. Try to play with it and the shelves will appear in a completely unexpected perspective.

Absolutely all types of lighting devices can become assistants in the implementation of ideas. Use sconces, table lamps, LED strips. Particularly advantageous light rays are supplied by hand-made wall shelves made of glass and metal.

How exactly to arrange the lamps: from below, from above or attach from the sides - is determined experimentally. Very often, the backlight is allowed along the contour of the shelf. The main thing here is not to overstep the bounds of the permissible: the composition must be harmonious in its aesthetics and not lose functionality.

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Several original ideas

Shelves for flowers

Flowers play an important role in the style of interior design. Their presence allows you to maintain a healthy microclimate in the house. So that the plants do not clutter up the windowsills and can be placed in the most unpredictable places, specific supplies will be needed. In order to please their soul mate, many husbands take up the creation of flower shelves with their own hands. This is not just a chance to conveniently arrange flowers, this is a unique opportunity to add creative and truly exclusive accessories to the interior. Moreover, it is not at all necessary to immerse yourself in labor-intensive processes and suffer over the production of glass shelves, which not everyone can create with their own hands. It is much easier to turn your eyes to something that turned out to be on the verge of being taken out to the trash. It is much easier to give a second birth to many of these things. How do you like the idea of ​​a flower shelf from an old suitcase, for example?

Such designs are very relevant in retro style. Old suitcases are of excellent quality. Their waterproof surface made of leather (or more often its substitutes) will make the shelf invulnerable to moisture. Spilled droplets of water will not harm the structure. What to do with the suitcase? First, divide it into two parts. Inside, install a frame, preferably made of wood, and attach one or two cross-stands to this base. According to this algorithm, both a hinged and a floor shelf are assembled with their own hands. In the first case, the product is fixed to the wall with self-tapping screws, in the second case, a stable base is made out for it. The suitcase half can be put on legs or simply fixed to a wide, stable board that has undergone decorative processing.

DIY book shelves

“Do-it-yourself wooden bookshelves don’t have to be given the standard rectangular look”

The next type of shelves, no less popular in the interior, is a book shelf. The abundance of more modern information sources did not make the tomes outcasts. Books are still read and available in every home, without exaggeration, another question is how many.For large libraries, of course, bookcases will be more convenient. A small supply of literature can quite comfortably be stored on hanging or floor shelves made by oneself.

The simplest option is assembled from plywood. Several blanks of the same width and height are aligned and formed into a single structure with corners, glue and screws. The finished product is painted or stained. You can assemble modular structures from shelves or combine them in various ways. Several shelves can be hung in one line, cascaded, hung like a Christmas tree. Do-it-yourself wooden bookshelves do not have to be given a standard rectangular look. They can be made triangular, round, elliptical, in the form of letters, any numbers, etc. Here it is only important that their design does not contradict the concept of designing the surrounding space.

Book shelves

Creative solution. It may well appear in the student's room, and even a schoolboy can make such a shelf on the wall with his own hands. A very simple way to transform the interior and keep the educational literature in order. The cost of implementing an idea is practically zero.

You will need books, always in hardcover, a pencil, a drill, a ruler, a few dowels, brackets and screws. Everything! No boards, glass, metal.

Do not be surprised. The supporting function in this accessory for all types of shelves will be assigned to the books themselves. The most spectacular group compositions, where each of the stands exhibited from three to five book folios. Volumes from one collection, arranged in accordance with all geometric rigor, are well received. Randomly scattered shelves, based on books of different sizes and thicknesses, also look intriguing.

How to make such shelves with your own hands? The installation of fasteners is preceded by the notorious markings. The distance between the brackets is determined by the width and length of the book. It should lie securely on the supports. To fix the improvised base, a small bracket is used, the task of which is to press the volume to the lower supports. The book should be placed with the spine outward. Hanging shelves with your own hands it is not difficult to arrange in a ladder or checkerboard pattern, as well as to scatter them on the wall in complete chaos.

Shelf in the nursery

Where, where, and in the nursery, an additional storage system will not be superfluous. There is always something to place on its components. Having decided to assemble a shelf on the wall with your own hands, there is no need to dwell on wood derivatives. In addition to the classics of the genre, shelves can be assembled from PVC scraps or some remnants of light pipes. In work, you can take elements with a diameter of 100 mm. They are cut into equal parts. Universal blanks are obtained from segments of 300 mm length. The blanks are processed and assembled into a structure, fastened with glue, tied or pulled together. The elements are arranged in a checkerboard pattern. The result is something resembling a honeycomb. Decorative processing of such types of shelves is limited to grinding the ends and gluing each cell with self-adhesive, can be multi-colored. The solution is interesting, adding creativity and mood to the atmosphere, and also safe, as required by the rules for decorating a nursery. A shelf made from pipes with your own hands will not have sharp corners. It is guaranteed to be light, so it will not break off the mounts under its own weight. Even if the child succeeds in tearing the structure off the wall, he will not suffer much from its fall.

Honeycomb shelves are not only an option for organizing children's space. They are a great chance to teach kids to order. The secret is that these types of shelves are very popular with kids, and children are happy to squeeze toys into them.It remains only to correct the process so that everything looks aesthetically pleasing.

Shelf in the bathroom

The bathroom is just a haven for small items. Here you need to find a place for soap dishes, toothbrushes, brushes, combs, creams, pastes and other necessary items. All of them usually huddle in the same type of cabinets, hanging over each other. You can somewhat diversify the interior and unload the atmosphere in the room with such a technique as making a do-it-yourself shelf in the bathroom. Perhaps its basis will be glass or plastic, stylized as a stone. Novice designers can use a plastic window sill in their work. Just cut out a rectangle of a given size from it, glue it with self-adhesive tape and decorate the sides with plugs. The resulting shelf can be attached in two ways:

1. Ledge top. This will prevent exposed items from rolling off the surface.

2. Side down.

No matter how this issue is resolved, in any case, the composition will look interesting.

Shelves in the loft

The design of such interiors requires a non-standard approach. And just hanging a light shelf on the wall, even assembled with your own hands, will not be enough in them. Here you will need something more monumental, for example, a brick and wood structure. It will become a worthy decoration of the office, library, living room. From the materials you will need to prepare: boards, mounting corners, facing bricks (decorative stone is possible), self-tapping screws, paints and varnishes, tile adhesive.

We will work with a saw, drill, spatula and building level.

Action algorithm:

1. Sketching. The simplest type of shelf has two brick racks, between which several jumper boards are fixed.

2. Choosing a place. We mark the area for the installation of supports.

3. Laying racks. Bricks are laid out in columns. To facilitate the process, instead of a standard solution when forcing floor shelf supports with your own hands, the use of tile adhesive is allowed. It is necessary to control the quality of the masonry, regularly measuring the verticality and horizontality with the help of a level.

4. In areas where it is planned to install shelves, fixing angles are placed.

5. The boards are sawn to the specified dimensions, varnished or painted, and then laid on the prepared supports.

You can also assemble a shelf of this quality with your own hands for country retro and eco interiors.

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Conclusion

By creating designer shelves with your own hands, you will not only solve the issue of furnishing limited spaces, you will add enlivening accents to them. Creative highlights will present the cute little things located on them in a completely new light. Use every opportunity to enrich the interior with unusual designs. Look for ideas on the Internet or let your imagination run wild and let your home make a splash!

Photo gallery - shelves

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