Over time, we’ve added tons of cabinets to our houses – from floating cabinets and built-in bookcases to ornamental show cabinets and heavy-duty storage cabinets. So on this put up, we’re rounding up a few of our favourite DIY shelving tasks for anybody wanting so as to add good vertical storage to their house. We’re going to cowl:
- Floating Cabinets
- Storage Cabinets
- Ornamental Cabinets
- Methods to Fashion Your Cabinets
Our Favourite Floating Shelf Tasks
Floating cabinets are an effective way to show or retailer gadgets with a clear, fashionable, and light-weight look. They are often hung nearly wherever – in a kitchen, above a TV, in a bed room for books and toys, even in a eating room – and we’ve used each storebought floating cabinets in addition to {custom} DIY floating variations too.
1. Skinny Floating Cabinets For Our Bonus Room
The angled area of interest on this bonus room required some custom-sized cabinets, so we built our own floating shelves to the precise specs we wanted. Many floating DIY cabinets might be chunky and thick, however we wished one thing that wasn’t too visually demanding. The thin variations had been an excellent various and actually let the objects on the cabinets be the focus. Learn the tutorial for building DIY skinny floating shelves.
However cabinets aren’t only for books and toys, which brings us to…
2. DIY Wooden Floating Cabinets On A Tile Backsplash
Utilizing an analogous method to the cabinets above, we constructed and hung floating wood shelves on the tiled backsplashes in our duplex rental property. By tweaking the thin shelf tutorial, we not solely created heavier-duty cabinets that would maintain the burden of plates, mugs, and different dishware – we additionally left the wooden look, quite than portray them white.
This challenge did contain drilling into tile, which generally is a little nerve-wracking. Fortunately this post covers all the set up course of for you.
You too can see how we chose different wood finishes for every of the 2 duplex kitchens.
3. Reasonably priced IKEA Floating Cabinets
Not each floating shelf needs to be do-it-yourself! There are many nice store-bought choices, together with the IKEA Lack shelves that we’ve used a number of instances – together with in our first home’s dining room (under left) and our previous home’s kitchen (under proper). They’re inexpensive, simple to hold, and maintain loads of weight (howdy, plates!). Plus, they’ve that traditional, clear, and fashionable look – and are available a variety of sizes and finishes.
The photograph (above left) is our first house’s eating room and was taken 15 years in the past. We hung the identical Lack floating cabinets in our current home’s bedroom. So now we’ve had them in 3 of the 4 houses we’ve lived in!
4. Rustic Pottery Barn Floating Cabinets
Earlier than we renovated our present kitchen, we additionally used some substantial wood floating shelves from Pottery Barn to offer us further storage and show house. We started off with just one set, and later upgraded to 2 as a result of we favored them a lot. Though they had been dearer than the IKEA cabinets, they had been an ideal match for the house and the precise type that we wished for this small house (typically the correct wooden tone is tough to search out). They had been tremendous simple to hold too!
These cabinets had been additionally an excellent improve from the temporary floating shelves we built shortly and cheaply proper after we moved in. They appeared like they had been floating, however they really weren’t!
5. Fake Floating Cabinets With Metallic Brackets
One other manner we like to get the look of floating cabinets with the durability of historically supported cabinets is to disguise the brackets. That’s what we did with these easy shelves in our seashore home’s workplace. By selecting brackets like these iron ones that cradle the shelf, we might use the objects on the shelf to principally conceal the portion that’s connected to the wall in order that they don’t dominate that again wall and steal any consideration. It allowed us to create a floating-ish look with these DIY cabinets whereas introducing a cool mixture of supplies with the wooden + iron mixture. Learn how we made these shelves.
You too can see how we used the same method in that home’s laundry room.
Our Favourite Storage Shelf Tasks
As a lot as we love floating shelving, typically you additionally want sturdy utilitarian shelving that can stand as much as extra heavy-duty wants. Listed below are a few of our favourite DIY shelf options for when operate is the primary goal (these choices can maintain a lot and nonetheless look good doing it).
6. Making Customized Constructed-In Pantry Cabinets
We majorly upgraded our seashore home’s kitchen storage with built-in DIY pantry shelving across the fridge. They had been simple and cheap to create, plus we received to completely customise the configuration and shade. They’re made completely of easy-to-work with MDF plus some 1×2″ pine boards to make the cabinets look chunkier alongside that entrance edge. It’s one in every of our favourite strategies to create built-in cabinets! See how we made this built-in pantry shelving.
Maybe probably the most sturdy workhorse cabinets you’ll ever want is perhaps in one other space of the home although…
7. Constructing Heavy Obligation Shed or Storage Cabinets
This storage shelf tutorial is a foolproof method to create tremendous sturdy DIY cabinets in a storage, shed, or attic. It makes use of 2×4″s and plywood, plus a fairly cool trick for getting every part sq. and stage. They’re tremendous sturdy and bolstered, making them nice for storage bins, instruments, paint, yard tools, or different weighty gadgets. We cherished this step-by-step course of a lot we’ve utilized in two completely different sheds!
You too can see how we repeated this course of to make shelves for our beach house shed. I’m even gearing as much as do some once more for our present tiny shed! Psst – when you didn’t know we had one right here in our smaller house, you may see it in this post!
And as you may see, they are often personalized to suit the precise house you’re working with. The one above is even holding heavy packing containers of additional tile too. They’re certainly very heavy-duty!
8. Wall-To-Wall Laundry Room Cabinets
After we wanted a fast method to benefit from the room above our washer & dryer, we built these simple wood laundry shelves. These wall-to-wall DIY cabinets make this closet far more useful for us. They’re produced from fundamental 1×2″ pine boards and plywood, however are nice for holding every part from towels, linens, and even further vacation decor! We even made an identical countertop over the home equipment that may carry off if wanted.
This method is nice for including cabinets to any closet, like we did in our son’s closet too. We painted them white and used MDF as an alternative of plywood for the model you see under (both methodology works). Learn the tutorial for building these closet shelves here.
However wait, cabinets like this could maintain a lot greater than baskets or garments…
10. Creating Hybrid Constructed-In Shelving That’s Adjustable
Right here’s a challenge the place we used a mixture of custom built-ins and adjustable track shelves to create an ideal, however versatile, match for our former laundry room. We had a slim hole subsequent to our stacked washer and dryer, so we used wooden to create storage between the home equipment and the wall. However when it got here to really including the cabinets, we used an adjustable monitor system (just like the one above). That manner we might pull out the cabinets and entry the vent pipe within the again at any time when crucial. Learn how we built these custom laundry shelves.
So yeah, we now have put in fairly a little bit of shelving. And when you suppose we’re accomplished with this round-up… what’s that they are saying in all of the infomercials? However wait, there’s extra!
Our Favourite Ornamental Shelf Tasks
As a lot as we love the operate of including vertical storage, typically cabinets are an excellent aesthetic addition to a room. Whether or not you’re speaking about drawing the attention up and including structure to a room, or creating the right spot to show stuff that you simply love. So listed below are a few of our favourite shelf tasks that added a ton of fashion to our areas.
11. Constructed-In Bookcases Round A Doorway
Utilizing an analogous approach to the built-in pantry shelves, we dressed up our lounge with this built-in bookcase that wrapped across the doorway to our kitchen. We used inventory cupboards on the underside to include closed storage. Then we used a mixture of MDF and 1×2″ pine to construct DIY cabinets on high. They added a lot architectural element to the room whereas giving us a lot of house for books an ornamental objects. See how we constructed these traditional bookcases around the doorway.
And issues don’t all the time need to be that concerned. This subsequent one was such a simple replace.
12. Reclaimed Wooden Kitchen Cabinets
Within the kitchen pictured above, we wished to decorate up an empty wall by making these decorative shelves that had been simply as visually attention-grabbing because the gadgets on them. So we sourced reclaimed wooden, stained it a classic tone, and paired it with polished nickel brackets that matched the {hardware} in the remainder of the room. These elegant DIY cabinets had been a enjoyable method to combine supplies and create a extremely stunning place to show a few of our prettiest kitchen objects in an in any other case cabinet-filled room. See how we made the reclaimed wood shelves.
It’s all the time enjoyable so as to add crops and stacks of books to any cabinets – from the kitchen to the lavatory to an workplace.
13. Floating Plant Shelf In A Window
Putting in this easy plant shelf in the window of our toilet was one of many quickest shelf tasks we’ve ever accomplished. We even used a chunk of scrap wooden to make it, which means it barely value something too!
Using a small house like this for an ornamental shelf has been an effective way so as to add life (and crops!) to our little toilet.
14. Assertion Cabinets With Painted Wooden Brackets
In one in every of our prior kitchens, we wished to create statement display shelves to pop in opposition to our penny tile backsplash. We used store-bought wooden brackets that we painted a crisp white to make easy DIY shelving. Then we styled them with a mixture of kitchen gadgets and a few cheerful ornamental gadgets for a enjoyable colourful look. See how we built and installed these wood kitchen shelves.
In hindsight, we’d have used fewer brackets on that challenge. Perhaps three on that facet would have been nice.
15. Easy Butcher Block Show Shelf
We dressed up our cramped utility closet with a easy DIY shelf produced from some store-bought metal brackets (spray-painted brass) and a leftover piece of the identical butcher block we used for the countertop under. It earned us a slim shelf that has develop into very useful for storing further gadgets, whereas additionally making this utility closet rather a lot higher to take a look at. You may see the whole utility closet makeover.
By no means underestimate the ability of even one small, well-placed shelf.
16. Constructed-in Child’s Bed room Bookshelf
Our son’s room is small, so we wished to squeeze each inch of operate that we might out of that house, whereas nonetheless making it look good and alluring. Enter a built-in bookshelf on the foot of the mattress, stage proper.
It makes such good use of a previously ineffective sliver of ground house, and built-in cabinetry all the time feels so personalized. This bookshelf will get tons of use and might be seen from the hallway. So we love that it’s each useful and handsome. Learn extra about how we built it here.
We even snuck a hidden storage nook into the bottom of it. That rectangle of wooden on the underside that you simply see within the photograph above pops out.
17. Multipurpose Metallic Shelving Items
Final however not least, we now have to shout out one in every of our favourite store-bought bookshelves. We’ve owned these two Fjalkinge metal shelving units from IKEA for nearly a decade! They first appeared in our last house’s home office. We cherished that we might customise the combination of open cabinets and closed drawer storage. The drawers can home varied workplace provides and paperwork. And the cabinets might be extra ornamental – which is how we used them again in Richmond.
After we moved to this home, we first used them in our kitchen to retailer meals and dishes. The cabinets appeared fairly with stacks of plates/cups and the drawers had been nice as somewhat pantry. These infants are versatile! We later moved them up to our family room (seen under) and the underside drawers conceal instruments and workplace paperwork. In the meantime the tops stay largely ornamental, with books, crops, frames, and so on.
These shelving models have labored so properly for us over a few years and rooms. So that they felt like an effective way to finish this put up. Plus, they embody our favourite mixture of useful and ornamental. Hardworking, however nonetheless simple on the eyes.
How To Fashion Your Cabinets
Let me finish this by assuring you that there’s no proper or improper method to refill your cabinets. Some households want or need cabinets to be purely useful and hardworking. And others simply need to show issues that they love . Our favorites are sometimes someplace in between. And when you’re struggling for the correct mix of things to place in your cabinets – books? artwork? knick-knacks?!? – we now have a timelapse video to assist in giving you recommendations on how we style our shelves:
Word: You too can watch this video on YouTube.
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