How-to: adding shelves to maximize space

One of my favorite ways to maximize the space within our home is to add shelves. The thing I love most about adding shelves around our house is that they can be both functional and decorative, talk about a win-win. Since we have an open floor plan, we really have to get creative when it comes to utilizing the space that we do have.

Floating shelves have become super popular and you can find them at several stores including Target, Amazon and Lowe's. While pre-made shelves are convenient, shelves are super easy to make on your own.

Today I'm going to talk about shelves we added into a little nook in our master bedroom for a very specific purpose. Whether you need some extra storage or you're looking for a way to display some home decor, shelves might be a great option for you. Hope you enjoy!

All my love,

Annemarie

Purse and hat storage/display shelves

We have a little nook in our master bedroom right in front of our closet that we always considered dead space. It would be silly to put a piece of furniture or chair in the space as it would block the entrance to our closet. When we redid our master closet (which will be featured on a future blog post), I needed a space to store my hats and purses. The lightbulb finally went off! We could add shelves to the nook to serve as storage my hats and purses but also display them in a cute way!

The biggest reason why I love making our own shelves is because we can customize them to fit any space. These were so incredibly easy and inexpensive. We bought 2x12 boards from Lowe's and cut them into four pieces to fit into the nook.

*Tip: the boards come with rounded edges so if you want a flat edge on each side, make sure you run each side of the board through a table saw. It's totally fine to leave the edges rounded if you want! We chose to cut them to have a flat edge.

After we cut the pieces, we stained them to match the furniture in our bedroom. From there we played around with the spacing and once we decided how far apart we wanted them, we installed brackets. We always get our shelving brackets from Amazon. For this particular project, we used these: https://amzn.to/31Fjle8.

After the brackets were installed we placed each shelf on top. It was that easy! It took us about an hour or two one evening to have these up and I love how they look. It was a great way to maximize the space in our bedroom.

These shelves would also look great in an open space! So whether you're looking for a functional solution or a decorative option to add to your home, these shelves are an easy and inexpensive fix. Let me know if you have any questions!

*Link above is an affiliate link