IKEA Hack - Planting Shelves

For months I have been looking for a matching shelf and spice rack combination for my kitchen. I had a very precise list of things I wanted…

 

1. The spice rack had to be a series of small shelves which were not too deep.
2. The spice rack had to be expandable in the future, as you always keep acquiring more and more stuff to put on there.
3. The shelf had to be about 800mm (31”) long and about 200mm (8”) deep.
4. The shelf had to be very strong in order to carry my cook books.
5. The shelves had to be constructed from matching hardwood and have a ‘rustic’ appearance to match my kitchen.
6. They had to be cheap!!!

 

I hunted everywhere and found a couple of things which I liked, however, they cost £100s and even then I would still have to ‘modify’ then to suit my needs.

 

Then one day I was in IKEA (it happens quite frequently) and I spotted these:

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/70066097

 

These plant pots came in a variety of convenient sizes, were made of hardwood, had a rustic appearance, are quite well constructed and they are cheap. Perfect.

 

I purchased a pile of them and set about ‘planting’ my shelves and writing my first Instructable!

In order to do this you will need:

- The plant pots of your choice,
- Drill
- Drill bits
- Screw driver
- Screws and suitable wall plugs
- Tea and biscuits (cookies)

Step 1: The Layout

I was in two minds as to how to place the plant pots on the wall. In the end I decided that it would be better to stagger them. This was for two reasons. Firstly, the boxes are all, ever so slightly, different sizes and therefore wouldn’t line up (which would annoy me a lot!) and secondly because they created in-built book ends.

 

I also wasn’t too sure about how to attach them to the wall. I could screw them all together in my desired array and then screw them to the wall, or I could screw each box individually to the wall.

 

Because of the weight of the books and the poor wall construction, I decided that attaching each box to the wall individually was the way to go.

Comments

[22tpring]

LOVED this and looked for them online, in the US location and they don't seem to carry them. Maybe they are an item one has to get while in store in the US?

[peachblossom]

I love this. Simple, rustic looking, effective, customisable, expandable. Hadn't spotted those IKEA planters before, and they are so cheap! Thanks

[TucknDar]

Looks really nice! We're going to get a new house soon (hopefully), and I'm sure saving this idea for our new kitchen. Thanks!

[sweetnienna]

It look very nice, thank you for sharing the idea :)