they look good to me. I can see taking what they have there and then doing wood shelves in a really nice wood and taking it up to the next level. Just buy some raw wood, cut it to size and stain, lacquer or whatever. When i have spare room for thing like this i'll check it all out/

I enjoy the look of these -

I saw this idea in a design book/magazine way back in the early 80's and used Garage Shelving as a Media Center/bookshelves in my very first apartment 25 years ago...

...that was the same apartment where I purchased 6' long by 24" deep restaurant shelving and a great length of maple butcherblock and created my own huge Kitchen Island for relatively little money.

I have one from Lowe's in the garage. Very sturdy, cost about $60.

The ones from Wal-Mart (like those pictured right) are incredibly flimsy. My husband's vocabulary during assembly was more colorful than usual, and we had to screw our three units into the wall for added stability because they wouldn't be very safe (especially around children) if they were just free standing. They were only $30 a piece for us, but for a long term product, we should have spent more for the ones at Lowe's. Wal-Mart's seem more like aluminum than steel.

Oh, and even though we bought all three units at the same time, 2 sets of shelves have a nice, sanded finish on the tops and edges, but one set is very rough and unfinished. We should have taken it back but they were such a PITA to assemble that we decided against it.

I got some from Triboro in Williamsburg. Quite reasonable and customizable. Nice people there too. Only drawback is the charcoal gray powder coat color.

I really like the look of a very industrial piece like this in a modern space - sort of adds a very raw element of design.

My in-laws have the Costco shelves in their basement. Very sturdy. I hadn't thought of it as a decor item before, but that photo from Design*Sponge looks pretty great.

I used to have industrial shelves in my bedroom for years but moved them out when I wanted to give the room a warmer feel. But the good thing is that those shelves are always useful and super sturdy (now used in basement for storage). Got mine from Home Depot for $60 or $80. If I had to use them again, I'd probably paint them a fun color.

Actually had a question about the rug. I've been eyeing similar one at Pottery Barn but wonder if they're scratchy. Anyone know?

I wouldn't get the walmart one. I don't have these shelves, but every piece of furniture I bought from Walmart has ended in disaster. Flimsy, cheap, terrible stuff.

Love the idea of hacking these with nicer wooden shelves. I've done something similar with Ikeas wire/board shelves (not on their website any more)

We used one of these in an alcove between the bedroom and living room. Covered the plywood with felt grey fabric so it looked better. The shelves can hold a lot of weight, so the bottom one had our 40 gallon aquarium, and the middle one the entertainment center with the TV on a lazy susan so we could watch it in both rooms. It was indestructible, and really nice to have these elements shared in both rooms.

The shelves do become sturdier with more weight on them. If you were "just putting a few decorative objects on them
and maybe your Harry Potter books, they might seem a little wobbly" -- as Books At Home mentions -- and I agree.

They are great for serious book collections and deep enough that you can go 2 rows of books deep if you have the need.

We actually bought 3 sets of the Walmart fashion so that we could add more shelves to the double set in our living room. With the leftovers that we didn't use from the third set we were able to make a short (half the original height) shelf for our bedroom.

All-in-all, a great deal.

-Abby Low

I have three of these shelves from Wal-Mart, which I bought about three years ago. They fit perfectly in an alcove in the living/dining room of my apt. They are pretty flimsy, and were a bit of a pain to assemble. The little tabs on the metal shelf supports were tricky to insert just right. They were wobbly when empty, but definitely are more sturdy once they are loaded with books and boxes. The shelves are deep, so you can put two layers of books, and on some shelves I store boxes of art supplies and holiday stuff in boxes behind a layer of books.

If I ever move, I will definitely reuse them in a garage or studio, if they survive being disassembled. I'd definitely recommend them to anyone on a very tight budget who needs lots of vertical storage. (And I love the idea of covering the shelves with felt!)

if you are in NYC you can get great industrial shelves made to size/order and offered in battle ship gray, white or red -- at Davids Office Equipment Inc 327 Canal St New York. I had an odd little nook that I had to use/fill so I went in with the measurements and paid maybe only $100 for a 9 foot high, 2 foot wide shelf - so pleased with them I also had another one created as a tv/media 'bench' for my wonky shaped living room.

Linen N Things is going out of business here in Austin (and I'm sure many other places) and they are selling their shelving. Their pieces are more of the wire style industrial shelving though.

I haven't had that type, but I used the metal shelf type that bolt together. $10-15 at Walmart. They're a major pain to put together, but incredibly sturdy if you bolt them together (and use every single brace! no shortcuts!). I cut the standards down a bit, which made them look less like standard garage furniture. And I still use them in my basement, long after I've moved up in the furniture world a bit.

I have bought quite heavy duty battleship grey steel shelving in semi customizable sizes from Tri-Boro Shelving in Brooklyn. They support a LOT of weight and dont look bad. The only draw back is very obnoxious assembly involving heavy pounding (which has drawn my landords attention from 4 floors below.

I have the 5-shelf black ones from Kmart (no wood, just metal) and they look great! Kmart had those square canvas bins on sale too, which fit perfectly on the shelves. I bought the dark purple and black bins which makes the shelving unit look really sharp. If put together properly, they are sturdy.