Rope Shelves

Getting organized can be a daunting task. Doing it stylishly and inexpensively is even more challenging. I've had this idea for putting hanging rope shelves in my room for ages and finally did it! I'm really happy with how they turned out and how easy they were to make. No joinery or furniture making skills necessary!

I had a space in-between two built-in shelves that housed a bulky, not-so-hot looking desk/shelf thingy. (I was too embarrassed to include a photo!) This made installing these shelves easy as I could hang them off of the built-ins rather than having to use brackets and put holes in the walls of my rental. But brackets would totally work if you don't have any other option. I'll go over that alternative in step 3.

Let's get started!

Decide where you want to put the shelves. This will determine the length and depth of your shelves. I had a gap of 34 3/8" so I made my shelves 34 1/8" long to allow for a bit of wiggle room. The built in shelves were 8 1/2" deep, so I made mine the same (that required me using a table saw to cut down the wood. If I had left the pieces their original store bought depth of 9 1/2", that would have also looked great so if you don't have a table saw, don't sweat it.)

Also determine how many shelves you want to have. This will dictate how many pieces of wood to buy / have cut.

This was my shopping list:

• 1x - 38"x 10" x 1" pine (top support board)*
• 5x - 34 1/8" x 10" x 1" pine (shelves)
• 32' of nylon rope**
• 4x - 1 1/2" wood screws

Tools I used:

• measuring tape
• pencil
• table saw
• drill press
• sand paper

*Most hardware stores will cut wood to length, so don't worry if you don't have tools to do that at home.

**I chose to use nylon rope because it doesn't stretch the way cotton rope does, which allows for better control over shelf placement. How I figured out how much I needed was by measuring how high my shelves would be (6'), adding 2' for the knots to each length. You need 4 lengths total, one to go through each of the corners of the shelves, so this meant I needed 4 pieces that were 8' long = 32'.

Measure and cut your wood to the dimensions you determined in the previous step.

If your shelf lengths are similar to mine (34"), drill your holes for the ropes to go through close to the board ends, giving you maximum usable shelf space. (I drilled mine 1 1/2" in from both edges)

If your shelves are longer, you're going to want to drill the holes in a bit further so your shelves don't sag in the middle over time.

To drill your holes, use a bit that is just a teensy bit bigger than the thickness of your rope. You want a snug fit without making it difficult to pull the rope through.

For my top shelf that rests on the tops of the built-ins - and is what the rest of the shelves hang off of (the 38 1/2" one), I also drilled small holes where I would be screwing it down into the tops of the built-ins. This is so customized, I didn't include these measurements. You'll have to freestyle this depending on your circumstances. If you're going to use brackets to hang your shelves off of, you'll need to drill 'rope sized' holes in the arms of the bracket instead of a top shelf like I did.

Use a medium grit sand paper (I used 220) to soften all the edges of each shelf.

I left my wood unfinished as it is all going indoors and won't come in contact with any moisture, but feel free to throw a finish on yours.

If you have supports you're hanging your shelves from, put your longer 'keystone' shelf in place.

Screw your support shelf in place.

Cut your rope into four equal lengths.

Using scotch or masking tape, wrap up both ends of each rope length so they're easy to put through the holes in the shelves and don't fray.

Take your first rope length and put one end up through a hole in your support shelf.

Tie a simple knot and pull it tight by using both hands to pull down and up at the same time with as much force as you can muster.

Remove the tape from the end.

Repeat with the remaining three rope lengths.

Place a thin belt around the support shelf. You'll use this to keep the next shelf up and out of your way so you can tie the next set of knots.

Take one of your shorter shelves and put the rope ends into the corresponding holes going in from the top.

Shimmy the shelf up the ropes, pulling them through the holes as you go until shelf #2 is well above the height that it will end up. Wrap the belt around shelf #2 and do up the buckle. This will keep the shelf out of your way while you tie your next knots.

Tie a knot in each rope just above the height you want shelf #2 to end up at. Try and tie all 4 knots at the same height.

Undo the buckle on the belt and lower shelf #2 onto the knots you tied. Using your eye balls or a level, adjust the knots until your shelf is level. Once it is, pull down on each end of the shelf, tightening the knots, until it is 'just' above the desired height*.

Remove the belt from the top shelf.

*When you put items on the shelves, adding weight, the shelves will settle a little bit more so you want to allow for that.

Don't cut the ends off the ropes yet! Load your shelves up first so that they settle and you can make sure they are all where you want them.

Once you're happy with where all your shelves are and you've tested the 'stuff' weight to see how they will settle, cut off your rope ends and brush your fingers through the end bits so they look their best!

Voila! You now have really good looking shelves that were cheap to make and easy to build.

If you end up making a version of these, I'd really love to see photos and please click the 'I Made It' button!

Happy making!