Simple and Effective Decor - Apartment FRIENDLY!
Wow, apartment life feels a lot like how I pictured a full college life to be. Walks downtown, fun patio, simple living. We quickly got used to not having all the maintenance that a house brings, but making this place a HOME is something still in the works. Thankfully, Luke allowed me to still fill this place with all the cozy AND with minimal nail holes. Here is how!
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This hack was not only relatively budget friendly, but it was so simple to install! Run to your local Home Depot, find your wood, *** have them cut it if you need!!! *** and you are half way there! If you want to know HOW we did this simple DIY, WHERE we got all the goods and WHY you need to go and hang some shelves in your house or apartment… keep on reading, friend!
Why Hanging Shelves should be the Next Item on your To Do List
Unlike how I have been highly encouraged by others.. I will be working backwards from that ^^ above ^^ list. Here are just THREE of the many, many reasons why hanging some shelves could be the answer to your home decor prayers :
COST EFFECTIVE - All together, we spent roughly $50 while hanging 4 separate shelves through out the apartment. This includes the wood and the brackets. Keep reading to see the exact measurements and brackets we used!
Do you have a drill? Then you are well equipped. Shelves are relatively simple to install - sometimes an extra set of hands is handy (see what I did there).
Unending opportunities for decor and change ups. Sometimes it takes a while to know the exact look you want. Throw up a shelf and you never have to worry about switching out plants, picture frames or any kind of nicknack.
Are you convinced now? Okay — here is what you do next.
Where to get all the Goods to Hang Small or Large Shelves
Tools — So here is where Luke comes in.. I know he used a tape measure and a drill, also probably a pencil.
Wood — Home Depot. I am not going to lie, I am a full blown Menards girl. However, Menards doesn’t live in the south. Also, Home Depot will cut your wood down for you - making it very easy to get the size you need. I will tell you the exact sizes we went with for all the shelves below!
Brackets — For the large shelves we used these 6”x6” brackets from Amazon . It is a pack of (4) which was perfect for our 2 large shelves! (2 brackets per shelf). For the small shelves - again, 2 shelves and 2 brackets per shelf - we used this pack of (4) brackets from Amazon.
Side note - Use an ANCHOR! Especially if you use wide planks like we did and put heavy stuff on there.
One last tip - the screws that the brackets came with were silver, but a little sharpie did the trick!
Here is EXACTLY How we Chose and Hung these Shelves
This is so simple! For starters - here is the wood we chose to go with and exactly why. Just because we went this route, does not mean you have to!
Just remember, depending on the size of wood you get will determine the size brackets you need!!
WOOD SIZING —
The best part - the Living Room and the Bedroom both have the same size shelf! We chose to get a 12 foot board from Home Depot and have them cut it right in half. A 6’ board just worked perfect over our couch and our bed based on their sizes. They are 2” thick because I wanted them to look defined, sturdy and like a solid piece of furniture. These are both 8” deep. We chose this depth so that we could easily and safely put large planters, big frames, stacked items, you name it! It is deep enough to hold your goods without being so deep that your friends are banging their heads on it.
The shelves in the kitchen are petite and simple because they are just a simple statement on a small wall. We need a bit more storage space and hanging these there just worked perfect. We handled the sizing of these a bit differently. We based these on our peg board that we purchased from Walmart LINKED HERE. They are about 24” wide. We did the same with this board and got a 4’ piece and had the nice Home Depot man cut it in half. These boards are only 1’ thick to keep it petite and 6” deep. I knew I wanted to put some canisters on there so they needed to be a bit deeper.
SO NOW HERE IS WHERE TO HANG THE SHELVES —
As far as choosing where to hang, I always just wing it. Luke will get out the level and make sure it is pretty straight, but as far as where to place it on the wall is an eye-ball action. Rule of thumb, higher is not always better. If you place something high on your wall where it is closer to the ceiling, it gives the illusion that the wall height is limited, feeling shorter.
But if you hang your items shorter - ESPECIALLY if you plan to place taller items like big frames on these shelves which I HIGHLY recommend - then shorter is better. Just make sure no one is bumping their head. So for both the living room and bedroom, we chose to center them on the two large pieces of furniture they are over : ie the bed and couch.
The kitchen shelves were placed center of the small wall & just tall enough to fit what we knew we wanted on each shelf. Again, higher is not always better.
HOW WE HUNG THEM, YOU ASK —
Now you know your placement, so grab the wood and hold it there. This is where the buddy comes in handy. Once you have it where you want it, put the brackets under as if they are holding the shelf itself. Wherever you put it under the shelf, match it on the other side. USE A TAPE MEASURE. I am not sure the physics behind this to know if there is a specific placement recommended. I do what looks good. I would say that if you do larger than 6’ then I would do a third bracket!
Once you are holding the bracket up, level off the shelf and feel confident, color in the circles of where the screws go so you can set the wood down and install the brackets to the wall. Use an anchor!!
Now that the bracket is one with the wall, place your wood shelf on top and screw into the bottom of it! You could also screw the bracket onto the wood before you put it back up on the wall and do it that way. I think one way is easier than the other if you are doing it by yourself or with a buddy.
Finishing Off your New Shelving
From here, the world is your oyster. We chose to go unfinished based on a decor look we were going for, but if you want to paint or stain them — go right ahead!! I would probably do that before you hang the shelves, but honestly it only matters how messy you are! lol
Staging them is the fun part and I cannot wait to dive into that part of it. Fill it with all your special finds, photos of loved ones and much more. I have a fun frame project coming up, so be sure to stay tuned to the upcoming shelving posts to hit the blog!
This will get you started so we can decorate together.