Unattractive shelves may need a disguise.
A bedroom is more than a personal sanctuary. The room is often a site where friends or relatives are entertained, particularly by young people. Unfortunately, if you live in an apartment or rent a home, you may not have control over your decor. Budget shelving provides plenty of storage and display space, but the shelves themselves are not always attractive. Other types of shelving may be attractive but not quite fit in with the decor you choose for your space. Fortunately, several techniques are available to help you camouflage wall shelves located in a bedroom.
Instructions
1. Use the shelves to store eye-catching items that draw the attention of your visitors to the objects rather than the shelves themselves. Avoid storing a collection of homogenous pieces, such as a line of books or videotapes, on your shelves. Visitors may look past such an uninteresting display and notice your shelves instead.
2. Hang items from the fronts of the shelves. Use anything from photos to pennants, attaching them along the edges. You can also use the shelf fronts as combination of storage and display for a collection. For example, add a line of small hooks and hang scarves or necklaces around the edges.
3. Cover the shelves decoratively. A wide range of materials is available for use as covering, including fabric and shelf or contact paper. Shelf paper products are available with or without adhesive backing and come in bright colors and numerous designs. If you enjoy crafts, you can use collage or decoupage to add pictures to wooden shelving then seal the artwork with varnish to protect the pictures and make cleaning the shelves easier.
4. Paint the shelves in the same color paint used on the walls. This helps the shelves to blend into the background stand out on their own.
5. Ensure that mirrors in the room do not reflect the shelves. If they appear in the reflection, it is like visually doubling the number of shelves. From each seat in the room, look toward each mirror to check the reflection. Adjust the positions of mirrors that show the shelving.
6. Hang the shelves on the wall least likely to garner the attention of your guests. Guests are most likely to notice the wall they face as they enter the room and the wall they face as they are seated for conversation or an activity. Place the shelves behind your guest-seating area.
7. Move your shelves alongside a feature of the room that draws attention. If you have a dramatic view or a bold piece of artwork, such a feature tends to attract notice, allowing the shelves to fade into the background in comparison.
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