Banish your storage woes with shelves

Shelves and clever wall storage can declutter your living room and add an element of style to it. We present simple styling tips for shelves that pull more than their weight.

It seems like you are in constant need of storage space all over your house. The problem of less storage space becomes more acute in the living room, where you are loath to add storage cabinets wherever you find space. Instead, why not try a cleverer storage solution from IKEA? Here’s how –

* Create a niche just above the couch, and add shelves there.

The wall above the couch is often. But there’s no reason to have it bare and without any use whatsoever. You can create a couch-length niche in the wall extending right up to the ceiling and add a series of shelves in the space. These shelves can hold magazines, flower pots, other knick- knacks that you want to display, etc. You can add glass shutters to the shelves and use the niche as a book case as well.

* Ceiling-level shelves are cool.

Who says shelves must always be at reachable height? You might have certain items in the living room – bulky encyclopaedias, large decorative vases, artificial plants – that do not necessarily need to be at floor height. Build shelves just below ceiling height, preferably above door jambs and window frames, to add shelves that you can display these items on and also get them out of the way for a clutter-free floor.

* Shelves under table tops and seating surfaces provide smaller storage space.

There are always certain items that are smaller and need their own little drawers. They lie around the living room and make the space look messy. Think shoe accessories, or jars containing ketchup and other sauces, etc. If you have a seating bench near the dining table, you can add a shelf under it to stow away small jars, spoons etc. Or the seat you use for sitting down and wearing your shoes can have a little shelf under it to hold shoe polish tins, brushes, swatches, etc.

* Create shelving around a large painting, for better effect. 

You may have a glamourous painting in the living room, but instead of mounting an ornate frame around it, how about mounting shelves all around it to create an interesting frame? For instance, create long shelves on the tops and sides, and a series of smaller, equidistant ones on the vertical sides. These can hold a lot of small and large items, and create a stunning frame for your painting. The same can be done for a large mirror in the living room.

Want more shelving ideas? Look up IKEA living room decoration ideas, and IKEA wall storage ideas if you want alternatives to shelves.