What Should I Do With These Shelves? Good Questions

Q: I bought these shelves at Ikea and have no idea what to do with them! I'm putting together a nursery for my soon-to-be born daughters. The room is in neutral tones with splashes of purple, green, red, yellow, navy, and baby blue. Their cribs are black. Should I paint the shelves in one of the bright colors, paint them black, or just stain them to match the walnut furniture?

Sent by Faith

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Comments (6)

I would paint them black and hang them low on the wall for bookshelves they can reach!

I would also go towards black or walnut. Be careful with those corners though. I like the idea of using them for very accessible bookshelves, but I worry about your girls' (or mama's knees) getting bumped.

I'm always for painting in color, but if you have a changing table you could paint them to match that and hang over the table for toys/storage/supplies. I found I always needed more space for stuff within arms reach when I was changing my newborn. Good luck with the twins!

I wouldn't put them too low because of the corners. That's an accident waiting to happen. We installed similar shelves from Ikea in a corner up high (three shelves in all) to manage the library's worth of books my son has. Those shelves you have would be good for books because of the hinges on the ends.

I have the exact same shelves and put them above the change table for extra storage and painted them to match the change table. We also took black and white art cards and stuck them to the bottom of the shelves to keep our little girl entertained while changing her diapers.

If you were to put them above the change table make sure they are high enough so that when your babies start to sit up they wont bump there heads.

Thanks for the comments everyone! We ended up painting the the three shelves--one navy, one red, and one blue. I hung one over the changing table. I'm still considering what to do with the others.