5 crazy simple steps to update a storage shelf

5 crazy simple steps to update a storage shelf for under 10 Dollars

When we moved into our house, one of the basement rooms was used as a workroom / storage room, because the previous owner set it up like this. He built a storage shelf and ripped the carpet out and painted the walls an ugly brown yellow. I didn’t really care until last week, when we decided that we could actually use this room as a playroom.

O.k. great idea let’s make this room pretty, I love to update rooms. But where to start and what to do first? I loved the idea of a playroom but I still liked all the storage space I had and needed to use the existing shelf for all my boxes and stuff.

After painting the walls and putting a new floor in I started to inspect the shelf. It is a very sturdy shelf and absolutely no big deal to make this ugly thing pretty, although my husband wanted to get rid of it. No way – I can do this transformation.

So here are my 5 crazy simple tips to update a storage shelf for under 10 $:

First step:

I got rid of everything on the shelf, brushed the dirt of and washed it down.

 

Second step:

I painted the whole shelf white before I decided on an actual paint color. I had left over white paint, that is why I used the white. If you have a primer, use a primer.

Because of the dark brown boards I had to paint them light or prime them before applying the actual paint color.

 

Third step:

Deciding on the actual paint color. I have a lot of half empty paint buckets from previous paint jobs, this is why I wanted to use the paint from my paint collection. I decided on a light blue which fits nicely to the darker laminate floor. Also I didn’t wanted to make it too dark and too colorful because of all the “toys” we were planning on putting into this room.

Fourth step:

A little glam always looks nice and the surface of the boards aren’t that pretty anymore.  I used a roll of gift wrap on the top shelf boards to add a little glam. Normally I would use a pretty floral paper, but this room will be  mainly used by my son, friends and husband, so of course I can’t make it too girly. Unfortunately.

It is pretty simple to cover a board with wrapping paper. Just cut out the edges and use some double sided tape to tape the paper on to the bottom of the board.

Fifth step (optional):

Put all your smaller things into bigger size boxes. If you want to hide the ugly boxes or clutter,  just paste a paper shade on the front board. This paper shade curtain comes in various sizes and has an adhesive side already attached to it. It is very easy to stick onto the shelf.

Of course instead of the ugly plastic containers, there is always the option to use pretty boxes. Using pretty boxes would eliminate the need of a curtain.  But the plastic containers work well for me and everything stays nice and clean inside. This is why I use them.

 

Where can you find what you need:

Here are some options for pretty boxes if you want to spend some money on them:

I found these boxes on Amazon, but you can get them also at Walmart, Target or Office Depot:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=gift+boxes+with+lids&crid=ET2OYD28YSAZ&sprefix=gift+boxe%2Caps%2C134&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_9

Or you just get regular bankers boxes and wrap them with gift wrap to make them look prettier. Easy to do and so much cheaper and you can put your personal touch to them.

This project was pretty simple and took me only a couple of hours to do. The paint I was using was leftover from other paint jobs, so this didn’t cost me anything. I only paid $ 2,99 for one roll of gift wrap and for the paper shade $ 5,39. That was it.

If you need to buy a shelf, then you can get similar ones at Ikea.

This one isn’t as sturdy as mine, but will also do the job if you need a place for storing your stuff.

 

 

If you don’t have an extra storage room or a garage where you store your Christmas Decoration and all the other stuff which you only need once a year, dedicate a room where you can add a storage shelf and make it pretty. Put labels on the boxes outside so you know what is inside and you have just created a great organizing system for little money. And this is a great project even if you are not a DIY person. You can do it.

Interested about how this basement remodel started? Here is the link to the How to install laminate floor on concrete blog post. This wasn’t such an easy task I thought it would be.

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