Are you preparing a unique space for your little one? These DIY shelving ideas perfectly add extra storage to your baby’s room while fitting your nursery theme.
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Tips For Installing & Styling Shelves
Safety Over Design
It is always important to consider the weight, location, and materials of shelves and shelving decor items. You also want to make sure that you are properly securing shelves into walls and placing them in a safe spot.
Make sure that you are not putting a shelf where the contents could fall on the child or where the child could hang.
Find Studs
Anchoring shelves into studs is the best way to ensure their complete security. Depending on what you plan on displaying, you may be able to get away with drywall anchors. Check out this Family Handyman article for more tips on installing shelves.
Hanging shelves at eye level is a great place to start. You can even see your plan by mapping it out with painter’s tape or a sketch of the room.
Accent With Color
Whether you’re looking for completely fun painted shelves or brightly colored decor, these nursery shelf ideas provide creative ways to have fun with color and pattern.
Add Your Unique Decor
Do you have a personalized sonogram image? Or a special book for your little one? You can personalize nursery shelves in your baby’s room in endless ways.
The examples below show all the different items used to add style to the shelves.
Use What You Already Have
There is no need to go out and buy all sorts of new items for your nursery shelf decor. Babies come with various cute things and memories that can work as decor.
Just make sure that you do not place anything too heavy, breakable, or unsafe on those shelves. Babies can start scaling walls before you realize it.
Assess the spaces where you may possibly put nursery shelves. Will you be using wall shelves, floating shelves, or bookshelves? You could even combine these to create a practical storage solution for your family.
14+DIY Nursery Shelf Ideas
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Farmhouse Style Nursery Shelves
This baby girl nursery idea has just enough pink without being too much. The bracket shelves above the changing table showcase vintage treasures and important picture frames.
These small shelves are the perfect place for smaller items in this beautiful nursery. From the nursery furniture to the rich color scheme, we love everything about this baby room.
Learn how to build your own larger set of nursery bookshelves inspired by the Ikea spice racks in the next idea. Creating wall bookshelves allows your books to act as decor as well as added storage in your child's room.
These Ikea spice rack bookshelves are such an easy way to store children's books. Paint them each a different color to add a pop of color to those neutral walls. You can even store a few extra cute soft toys to complete your look.
This boho-styled nursery demonstrates how you can mix different textures and styles of shelving for your nursery theme. There seems to be just the right mix of pops of colors with natural elements.
Do you have limited closet space in your baby nursery? Why not make the baby clothes part of your nursery wall decor? The matching wooden hangers and classic colors add room organization and style all at once.
Create a unique piece for nursery book storage. We love this neutral green color and the bright bookends. Who would have thought that books would fit so perfectly in this great piece?
Are you looking for a bigger storage unit to help organize a lot of stuff? Keep those baby toys easily accessible with these DIY storage shelves. This great storage solution is functional and decorative at the same time.
Combine a mural and shelves for your own unique nursery statement piece. You could choose any image to make the perfect backdrop to your additional storage wall shelves.
The light blue diagonal accent wall and bracket shelves create a clean look in this nursery. Adding shelving decor that isn't just baby items is also a great way to have the decor grow with the room.
It depends on the purpose of the shelf. If you are creating a wall bookshelf, then you want your shelves to be low enough for a child to reach. If you are hanging above furniture then 2 feet above is a great rule of thumb. Adjust this height accordingly and make sure you are not hanging shelves where a baby could stand and pull up on. Always consider safety over design in a nursery.
How far apart should my shelves be?
A general rule is about 10″-18″ between shelves. Consider what you will be displaying to decide if that is enough room for the look you are going for.
Whether you plan to create simple wood shelves or more elaborate wall shelves, adding shelving to your baby’s room is a great way to add storage and style.
Erin Nutter is the DIY enthusiast, writer and photographer behind TheDIYNuts.com. She loves sharing her passion for do-it-yourself projects along with her husband, Eric. As an artist, mother, and lover of all things DIY she hopes to inspire you to be creative to make a life and home you love.