6 ways to work open storage

Stunning shelving tips and tricks so striking you'll want everyone to see

white wall with shelf on wall and bottles
(Image credit: TBC)

shelf with grey color and album covers

(Image credit: TBC)

1. Make a musical montage

Don't hide away your record collection in cardboard boxes – keep your favourite musical memories on display by creating an LP shelf. This dark grey paint sets off the bright album covers and the library ladder is an ingenious touch so you can always have the perfect track easily to hand, whatever the occasion.

white wall with shelf on wall and books

(Image credit: TBC)

2. Add a splash of colour

Bright shelving is an easy way to add bright
pops of colour to a room without changing the colour of your walls. Set
off neutral tchotchkes against a contrasting storage box or group
together objects in similar colours for serious impact. The sunshine
yellow of the unit above will get everyone smiling – and admiring your
pretty things!

 

shelf with shoes and table with chair

(Image credit: TBC)

3. Show off your shoes

It seems such a shame to buy beautiful heels and keep them shut away in wardrobes for most of the year. Instead, take a cue from the room above, where the owner has made her shoe collection into a focal point of her dressing room. Keeping the decor feminine with pale pink walls and a pretty vanity table makes this the ultimate girly haven.

tiles on wall with shelf and boul

(Image credit: TBC)

4. Bring it back to basics

For those with a more minimalist approach, this simple wooden shelving turns culinary basics into a feature. As well as making finding your favourite mug or the right saucepan a breeze, the open look in such a used part of your home will ensure you stop cluttering your kitchen up with chipped wine glasses and lid-less Tupperware.

garden area with shelves and plants

(Image credit: TBC)

5. Create an indoor garden

If you're planning on keeping your storage open, why not kill two birds with one stone and give your houseplants a new lease of life? Clusters of green plants, succulents or bright bunches of flowers will add something unexpected to your house. Plus, keeping so many in one place makes remembering to water them all that much easier.

white wall with frame and pot

(Image credit: TBC)

6. Frame your favourites

A quick an easy way to hop on board this trend? Find a large frame and create your own shelves inside it. By sticking to one colour theme and painting the frame to match the walls your guests won't know if they're looking at storage or art!

Video

Holly Walsh
Contributor

Holly Walsh was Content Editor at Ideal Home from 2021-2024 but joined the brand back in 2015. With a background of studies in Interior Design, her career in interior journalism was a no-brainer and her passion for decorating homes is still as strong as it ever was, now she is a freelance interiors writer and shopping editor. While Holly has written for most of the home titles at Future, including Livingetc, Country Homes & Interiors, Homes and Gardens and Style at Home, Ideal Home has always been her ideal home, and she can still be found sharing her expertise and advice across both the printed magazine and the website, while also raising her two young children.