Dear James: I have accumulated a lot of stuff that's sitting around on the bedroom furniture. With a small bedroom, what are some ideas for shelving to get the stuff organized? — Leigh K.
Dear Leigh: Stuff does seem to multiply on its own. Sometimes you need to get rid of the stuff cluttering your life, and sometimes all you really need is to organize the stuff cluttering your life. Thankfully for you, this situation seems to be the latter.
Since you are not ready for a garage sale and want to install some shelves, you have choices to make. There are many styles of shelving that are simple and easily installed by an inexperienced do-it-yourselfer. The easiest type of shelving to install is the standard and bracket shelving. For this shelf, the brackets fit into U-shaped, slotted metal strips, called standards. Some standards even come with numbered slots to make assembly easier.
Many hardware stores sell precut boards specifically designed for shelving. These are more expensive than buying the wood and cutting the pieces yourself, but they can save a lot of time. The best kind of shelving board to purchase is a one made of laminated materials. These are great because paint, oil or even spilled hair gel won't attack the finish.
Once you have your boards, you need to choose the standards and brackets. Both of these come in many finishes and can be purchased to hold shelves from 4 to 24 inches wide.
To install your new shelves, determine the height above the floor for the bottoms of all the standards. You must make sure to attach the standards to a wall stud so they can hold heavy items without tearing your wall apart.
To find the studs, which are usually 16 inches on center, use a battery-powered stud finder. Use a level to make sure the standards are straight. This is a very important part of the installation because, if you do not do this or do it incorrectly, items will slide off and fall onto the floor. Next, secure the standard to the wall with screws.
Place one end of the level on top of the secured standard and mark the position for the next standard directly over a wall stud. Again, secure the standard to the wall using screws.
After you have properly attached the standards to the wall, hook the brackets in place at the desired height. This is where the numbered brackets come in handy and make positioning them easy. Using a hammer handle or rubber mallet, tap the brackets down so they fit securely into the slots. This is another important step in installing your shelves because if you don't securely fasten the brackets, your shelves may be wobbly.
The final step is to lay the boards across the brackets and put up your stuff wherever you think it looks best. Now, it will hopefully stop cluttering your bedroom and your life.
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