How to change up wire shelves for less than $10

How to change up wire shelves for less than $10

I am still working my way through the house purging, organizing, and cleaning. I showed you the kitchen and pantry before/after pictures and some big changes in there. Next on my list was the linen closet and I was excited about something specific I recently found that I knew would fix some big problems I had in there.

Here’s our linen closet before…

One of the things that I don’t like about our house is a lack of storage. But I am thankful for this little closet. I don’t actually store a lot of “linens” in here since towels are stored mostly in the bathrooms they are used in and can I just admit this…. I don’t have a second set of sheets for our bed! I really do need to buy a second set but the entire time we have been married, I have only had one set – I just launder and put back on the same day. I do have a second set for the guest room but I store them in a small bench/chest in there.

So this closet is used for extra storage for other things – I like to keep a stock on hand of extra shampoo, hairspray, and all kinds of toiletry items. I buy them when I have coupons for them and when they are on sale at 1/4-1/2 the price saving a lot of money in the end. I always joke to my husband when he says he is out of shampoo or toothpaste, “I will run to the store and be right back” and go and get it out of the closet. :)

BUT wire shelves and bottles DON’T get along. They fall over the place…

and end up in the floor.

So I recently saw a tip on covering wire shelves with foam board. You know, the thicker foam board you find with poster boards in the store.

I picked up 5 sheets of foam board for $1 each – you can find these at Wal-Mart, craft stores, even the dollar store. I measured my shelves and then cut foam board to shape.

And the little scrap left behind – don’t throw that out. Cut a 2 inch strip the same length as the shelf.

And use clear packing tape secure it and make it into a “L” shape.

Now you have not just a shelf liner, but a “faux” shelf cover! You can stop there if you want but I chose to take it a step further.

I found this gray and white chevron contact paper at Wal-Mart. If you can’t find it in the household/kitchen section – then look in the paint department. I think it was like $4.97 for the roll. So I spent $5 on the foam board and $5 for the contact paper and have over 1/2 the roll of contact paper left.

I covered the top and front of my “shelf cover”. I didn’t cover the bottom – but if you wish to do that you can. Cut your contact paper with about an inch overlap to wrap and stick to back and if it doesn’t seem to be sticking well especially in corners – just use a bit of packing tape on the back to secure it down.

Soooo much better!

Of course after I had my cute looking shelf over in there I noticed that for some reason we never painted the closet before we moved in and a fresh coat of light gray paint sure would help too! #whydoesonethingalwaysleadtoanother??

So I popped the wire shelves off the hooks in the back and did a quick coat of gray paint – seriously took like 20 minutes even with cutting in around clips, corners and edges.

Look at that cute closet!! Paint color is Silver Screen by Behr.

Then it was time to purge, organize, and put things back. A big bag went to trash, a pile of stuff went into the yard sale pile, and I added a few more bins and thrifted baskets to help organize things.

Oh and the bottles – they stand up so nice!! Perfectly in line, not falling over. And the baskets and towels just slide right out with ease. And if something was to spill or leak – a quick wipe with a damp sponge would clean it right up instead of it leaking all over everything on the shelves below.

Here’s the before and after!

before + after linen closet

And my mini “store” of our shampoos, hairspray, contact solution, etc.

Oh and for those that ask what hair products I use for my curly hair – this is it! My hair is naturally curly and I just get layers cut in it and use these products (a LOT of them!) and a diffuser attachment on my hair dryer to dry it.

This is my guest shelf – extra towels and little basket that I move into the bathroom when they are here filled with more hand towels and washcloths and extra sample/travel-size toiletry type items they may have forgotten or need. And now I could even tell a guest there are extra towels in the closet if they need them without them opening the door and an avalanche of bottles falling on their feet!

$10 and about 2 hours of time… so worth it!

Do you have wire shelves in your home? Love or hate them? If this was our forever home, I would totally change all the closets out to wood shelves but I will save that for our next house. Until then my “less than $10 chevron shelf covers” work perfectly!

Original article and pictures take thefrugalhomemaker.com site