Making shelves more aesthetic?

[PAndaemonium89]

So I built some wooden shelves to handle the Costco totes for storage. Now Im finishing and painting the walls, and essentially taking everything down…it made me think the wooden shelves don’t look that “nice.”

I know, it’s a garage…but I want a nice tote solution. Everyone has cabinets I’m envious over but not super applicable to me.

I did buy some overhead racks, and thought about building a fold down table top. Any other ideas to make this look better?

Photos are before…haven’t started painting yet

 

[The Cobbler]

paint goes a long way to sprucing the looks up . also a pair of doors would add some aesthetics to it as well

 

[smackey05]

I'm with the Cobbler. A nice gray paint would look good on that wood.

 

[PAndaemonium89]

I'm with the Cobbler. A nice gray paint would look good on that wood.

Good to know, I’m thinking about rolling over leftover gray wall paint over these

 

[southalabama]

Paint the wood gray. Eventually swap over to all matching totes.

 

[4xdog]

I converted one wall in my spare bedroom to wooden shelves (IKEA Ivar) to hold the plastic totes from my family and personal archive. To make the shelves a little less cluttered looking in the room and to protect everything from UV, I hung neutral-colored blackout drapes (from Costco) on IKEA curtain rods fixed to the top front and top side of the shelves. It works fine for inside the house -- protects the contents and makes the whole archive less conspicuous.

Not sure that would work in a garage, but offered to keep the ideas flowing.

Here it is in process (all I have right now). I'll take a finished photo and update this post.

 

[nadogail]

A good coat of paint makes many things look better.

 

[ItsNemo]

Just to help with the painting it inspiration...here was my workbench before painting:



And here it is after painting:

 

[Metal-Marc]

Don't forget to paint the drywall too.

 

[wssix99]

If you fill up the shelves with bins that match, it will also look great. Just buy them now and set a rule that nothing goes on the shelf unless it fits in a bin.

 

[Jinks]

Use a router on the edges, or cover with casing/baseboard trim of your choice, then paint.

 

[RalphInCA]

Paint helps, but some sense of organization to the stuff that actually goes on. The shelves helps too. Matching totes, organized stuff.

Not just junk thrown on the shelves in a seemingly random way.

 

[ItsNemo]

Let me continue to help with photo inspiration...matching bins on my shelving:

 

[LeeG]

Paint works great. A subtle two tone (I like Light and Dark Machine Grey) looks good too. For thinner shelves, I face them with a piece of aluminum bar stock, and add drive screws to simulate a riveted appearance.



Lee

 

[dave*99]

You could builds this (paint it too) for those bins. I currently have steel shelves - Muscle rack.. And in one spot I have wood shelves like the OP. It bothers me to lose 3" to 5" of vertical space per shelf. This arrangement is more space efficient.




Or buy this from Costco, although its less space efficient.

https://www.costco.com/proslat-heavy-duty-12-tote-rack.product.100785477.html

 

[P0234]

If you want to throw a little more money and take it up a few notches, some T&G boards are pretty cheap, in my case they were about the same price as decent plywood. And then stain.

But on a budget, I'd get some nice quality paint and call it a day.

 

[kyrbz]

In the non metal working parts of my shop where I have a lot of wood shelving, tables, and benches, I'm really into using the Simpson Strong Tie bench and shelf brackets. They're a quick way to make strong reasonably ok looking shelving, benches, and work tables, and I often change the configuration of my shop/studio so they can be taken apart and reused in different configurations. That being said, I don't really like seeing all the visual clutter of my hoarding tendencies crammed onto shelves. To hide the visual clutter on shelving, I made panels out of 1/8" white shower board. I rounded the corners and drilled two holes on the top of each panel and then I used a grommet usually used for canvas on the holes and then hang the panels. The grommets keep the holes in the shower board from deforming and rounding the corners keeps the corners from getting smashed. The panels are also light which makes it easy to take them on and off.

 

[Hank11]

kyrbz,
I like your set up a lot!

 

[PAndaemonium89]

Just to help with the painting it inspiration...here was my workbench before painting:



And here it is after painting:

wow that looks great!

 

[zendriver]

I'd make sliding doors out of two peices of pegboard, (on wood rails) and put pegboard on the end.

In fact, that's what i'm going to do - someday, with sililar ugly cluttered looking shelves, in my garage.

Everything piled on top, you're on your own.

 

[Kail]

This is the thread I am always hoping to find when I casually browse GJ.
I agree with others, Doors and Paint are number one.

I am subscribing in hopes for future creative inspiration. I have a plywood cube shelf wall in my future.

 

[CJ7VFR]

Just to help with the painting it inspiration...here was my workbench before painting:



And here it is after painting:

And there you have it!

From drab and plain to holy **** that is nice. And it just took some paint and some time. It really does not get better than that.

Jim

 

[Monza Harry]

A formerly cheap plan was to add a face board with a table saw slot and some Masonite sliding doors. Smooth, clean and helps protect the contents from dust and over spray of a working shop. Today's widely fluctuating prices may take some sale hunting with much patience to achieve "cheap(ish)". Harry
There are a few different versions of these that are good for sliding doors: https://www.homedepot.ca/product/prime-line-sliding-closet-door-finger-pull-4-pack/1000736937

 

[devilish]

Use a router on the edges, or cover with casing/baseboard trim of your choice, then paint.

Do you have an example @Jinks ?

 

[devilish]

Just to help with the painting it inspiration...here was my workbench before painting:



And here it is after painting:

Did you prime and paint, or just paint?

 

[nadogail]

If it moves, salute it; if it doesn’t move Paint It.

 

[yhprum]

On the prime and paint, does anyone get their primer tinted to match the paint so any chips don’t show?

 

[ItsNemo]

Did you prime and paint, or just paint?

Was just some cheap CIL outdoor rated paint...for the most part single coat with a few touch ups.