Resemblant of a ladder itself, wooden ladder shelves are a lightweight and portable option of shelving that offer a single unit with multiple storage steps - so much so that these can be placed pretty much anywhere in your home. Now, most ladder shelving units are a triangular shape, and self-standing with shelving steps running down on either side whilst other styles will have a single fleet and lean up against a wall. There are even ladder shelves that can be integrated into the wall. So depending on the space and design of your home, theres different options to suit.
Now, of course, ladder shelves serve a very practical purpose of storage, but remember, they are also perfect for enhancing the decor and design of homes too. And in fact, because they're open, you'll want to make sure that they aren't just filled with exposed clutter. Instead make them the centre of your rooms with logical and well thought out designs. So start with thinking about where your going to place your ladder shelf and allow us to give you some inspiration on how you might go about designing it. Within this blog, we'll highlight 5 ideas to help charge your decorative spirit and answer what to put on ladder shelves.
Beautiful Bathroom Shelving
Why is there never enough room and storage space within bathrooms? It always seems to be the case that bathroom toiletries are scattered everywhere and this can make for a very clustered space. Its why shelving is essential and why bathrooms are one of the rooms in the home where storage space is invaluable. This is why bathroom ladder shelves are a great option to help systematically organise your towels, shower gels, skin care, and shampoos for example without even taking up masses amount of space - a small tip is to use small jars and wicker baskets to tidy up the shelves and ensure an appealing finish. Now, if you are one of the lucky ones and you have enough storage space in your bathroom, use a ladder shelf filled with bath bombs, salts and body oils to provide a mini health club feel and a relaxing escape in your homes.
Make Yourself a Mini Library
Another great approach for using and decorating ladder shelves is to organise your books and create your own mini library setting. Having a place to store your favourite books is both practical and appealing as you can keep them safe and find them whenever you need. Maybe thats through a systematic and strictly organised design with books sectioned into certain colours or themes or maybe even heights. Or alternatively, the ladder shelves may have books scattered over the shelves for a more natural feel. But there are some decorative points to consider to ensure that ladder shelves look good no matter what. Varying how your books are stacked is important, so place some up right vertically in a line and have others laid down flat. To break up the monotone of shelved books, incorporate some small ornaments or objects like clocks, ceramic bowls or plants for example to help keep the design interesting. And then make sure that you put your own personality and stamp on the shelf.
Plants, Plants, and Plants
Add life to your rooms with a little or a lot of greenery. Ladder shelves are a great opportunity to add natural elements to your indoor spaces and therefore provide the perfect space for housing your indoor plants and shrubs. To help increase its appeal, place your greenery in white pots as it helps to provide contrast and makes the plants stand out whilst on the shelf. As well as this, incorporating different sized pots and plants on the same shelves will help to create interest and variation in the overall design. So whilst it may be that the larger plants are further down the bottom and the size decreases with height, try scattering some smaller ones in and around. So use these tips to add colour, variation and to create a natural and authentic focal point in your homes.
Go Modest and Minimalist
Perhaps your home decor revolves around the saying 'simplicity is key'. Now, if thats the case, then just keep your ladder shelving simple and sparse. So go ahead and use any items that you may wish to have on your shelves, such as photos, books, clocks, ornaments or baskets but carefully select your items and don't decorate with to many. If you already have a ladder shelf and you're looking to change to a clean and minimalist design, it's worth taking everything off and starting again from scratch. And, whilst it's a simple design, put some thought into it before choosing and arranging your objects. Try to use just a few colours to keep the shelf looking open and the design crisp and fresh. Use both small and large items and decorate with a small assortment of different objects.
Organised Chaos
On the other hand, perhaps a small amount of chaos and a lot of creativity is perfect for you and your home design. So without overcrowding your shelves, make sure to fill them with colourful fabrics, bright coloured ornaments, candles and abstract items. For example, pottery and ceramics are great options, as well as stacks of different coloured books or quirky shaped collectables work really well too. Make sure to layer your shelving items too with the larger objects towards the back and then filling in the spaces with smaller pieces. Also, varying your colours and creating contrasts work really well when opting for this design. All these small details can help to create a captivating ladder shelf that's full of character and charm. Also, something else to consider is if you're wanting to hide your small but useful nick-nacks, try using small wicker baskets to store these as they can be placed on the shelf.