Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Tuesday's Tip


~Wire Shelves~

UGH! These shelves can be such a pain, especially when they are in your pantry. Cereal boxes tip over, cans sit uneven, things don't slide easily....etc.

I would love nothing more than to have my closets and pantry with the wooden shelves, but unfortunately, our house didn't come with those! :( Neither did our first house, but we found a solution.

Self-adhesive vinyl floor tiles. No particular brand, just whatever is the cheapest. I, personally, like the self-adhesive, but they don't have to stick. This box was only $12 at Family Dollar and we were able to do our entire pantry, and 2 shelves in our laundry room. So easy. Just peel and stick. You may have to do a little measuring or cutting, but it's worth it.



The end result. Everything sits evenly on the shelf. No tipping over and so much more easy to organize.




And, by the way, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

56 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE that idea! We've got the wire racks too. That looks so much neater and cleaner than just the wire. Great tip!

Unknown said...

Thanks Kristen. I hope I inspired you (just a little)! Thanks for keeping up with our family.

bubbysoo said...

Wish I had seen this idea a few months ago. I just replaced all my wire shelving in my pantry with wood shelving because the wire was driving me crazy! Could have saved a lot of money!!

Anonymous said...

Great idea.... but does the sticky bottom side attract dust, etc..??

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for stopping by our blog. I'm glad you found this tip helpful. I, too, would love to have the wooden shelves, but didn't want to pay the price.

As far as the sticky bottom creating dust, I haven't noticed this at all. We did the same thing in our pantry over 10 years ago in another home and I never noticed dust then either. Since it's on the bottom, I don't know how you would ever see it anyway.

Thanks again for stopping by!

Jessica said...

I love this idea! I hate wire shelves, but this just might make them bearable. Thank you!

Unknown said...

I love this idea thank you!

Anonymous said...

Does it actually stick well to the wire shelves? Thanks! Great idea!

tracie said...

got the tiles today. going to work on the pantry tomorrow

Unknown said...

I am in shock at how many folks have actually pinned this tip to their pinterest board! You all will enjoy your end result once your project is complete, I promise! And yes, the vinyl tiles that we used stick very well. Good Luck! I guess I need to get busy posting my next tip! HA!

Jennifer Leigh said...

GREAT idea! I have these wire shelves in every closet in my house. They are such a pain. Thanks for the help!

Mindy said...

I've used these types of tiles for years in my cabinets and pantry, regardless of whether they were wire or wood. I always hated cleaning the cabinet shelves where the oils went. Cleaning the vinyl is so much easier to clean! Fitting them is no problem either, just measure and cut with a box cutter!

sls23 said...

You could probably do this with wood shelves too to make it look custom and unique! Great idea.

Mavis said...

Love this idea. I have the wire shelves too. In my pantry, I ended up using thick plastic shelf liners. Will have to try the tile idea in other areas of the house.

Patsy said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you. We couldn't afford to put in wooden shelves when we built our closets. This is a great fix for those horrible wire shelves. To me wire shelves never look neat, know what I mean. I can't wait to do this project.

Anonymous said...

I have wood but they are all stained and scratched up. I would like to try it on them but worry if the sticky side would be messy and hard to remove. I like the clean look of this

Kara said...

What a great tip!! I'm featuring this today on my Tuesday's Tips!! Love you blog and I'm your newest follower. I can't wait to read more!

Jessica said...

This is a great idea... we are renting, do you know if the sticky side tears the white coating off of the shelf?

Unknown said...

Hey ya'll! Thanks again for the comments. I'm glad you found this tip helpful. Couple of replys....

@lorikinderteacher: You know, I'm not sure about putting the tiles on wood shelves. If you wanted, you could always place them on your shelf, but not remove the sticky back. Honestly, if it were me, I would remove the shelves, if possible, and refinished them to give them a fresh clean look. If that is to much trouble, maybe you could use some cute contact paper. When the contact paper is dirty or you want a different look, just replace it with another cute design! :)

@Kara: Thanks for the blog feature. I need to check out your blog as well.

@Jessica: I don't think it would tear the vinyl. Since the wire shelves are a vinyl coating and not painted it should be fine. You could always try a spot in the back to see. If all else fails, leave the tiles there when you move. The next person would enjoy having them too. Of course, check with your landlord first to make sure they approve.

Thanks again everyone! Happy Blogging!

Unknown said...

UGH! I have wire racks in my pantry and HATE them.. I love this idea... :)

Anonymous said...

I use plexiglass from large poster frames and so that the light will flow through to the lower shelves.

Unknown said...

I am a remodeling contractor. I hate wire shelves and my clients hate them. This is a great idea!

Nastassia said...

are you able to put it on the face side of it as well? or will it fall off?

Rachel Brown said...

Any further thoughts on the ability to remove these without causing damage when you leave an apartment?

Also-- don't suppose anyone has any ideas on a quick fix for similar shelving in closets that makes it impossible to slide hangers around other than the few inches in between the wire "dividers"?

Anne-Marie said...

@Rachel: Closetmaid sells hooks that clip right onto those shelves, into which you can then snap a (metal) rod, enabling your hangers to slide (mostly) unencumbered.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_36853-362-55629_0__?productId=3032914&Ntt=closetmaid+rod&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dclosetmaid%2Brod&facetInfo=

Unknown said...

Would this work well in a refrigerator with wire shelves?

Janae' said...

Genious!!!! I love this, I have tiles extra from a project and these awful shelves! Thank you!!

JH said...

Is this easy to remove? We live in Air Force housing and will have to take them out when we move. :/

Unknown said...

Woo what a groovy idea! I love LOVE my shelves, but yeah, stuff tips over all.the.time. I use mine as our pantry.

Angelia said...

This has got to be the best freakin' tip I've found on Pintrest yet. I bought tiles today and now my pantry's wire shelves are no longer sagging in the middle and everything is sitting up nice and straight. Pure genius!! Thanks!!

LNB1104 said...

This is JUST fabulous! I hope you are still reading comments on this post! I have already called the local family dollar to see if they have the tiles in stock--they do. We are in a new home, and the wire shelves in the pantry are driving me nuts. I have a question...how large is your pantry? Ours is probably about 4-5 feet (if I had to guess) across with 5 shelves. Do you think that one package of tiles will be enough, or would you go for two?

Unknown said...

Hey! Yes! I still read the comments and glad to have them. I hope I'm not too late responding to you. Yes. One package should be plenty and actually, you should have some leftover. Sounds like we have the same pantry. We also have 5 shelves. Have fun! You won't regret it! :)

Unknown said...

Great idea! Can't wait to do this in all my closets!

Shabby Marilyn said...

Hello, saw this on Pinterest! Just wanted to say thanks, going to do this on my ugly wire shelves in the pantry!

KatieB said...

This is a GREAT tip. I had vinyl tiles left over from another project. Just did this on my pantry shelves. It was super easy and now the cans don't fall over.

As a bonus, I checked all my home-canned food, and two of the lids had popped. I threw those out since they aren't safe to eat now. So now, all my pantry food is up to date.

Unknown said...

Fast, cheap and easy! Thanks!

Unknown said...

I was just thinking the other day when I set something on my wire shelf in the pantry how much I hate that I have to set things just right so they don't tip over! I am so doing this!!
Metal Roofing

Unknown said...

Hello,
Being a new blogger, I would like to tell you that you have given me much knowledge about it. Thanks for everything.
Wire Shelving Racks

Kandasmom said...

Found this on Pinterest & had to give you a huge thanks for your blog. All my closets have those annoying wire shelves & what I was using was not quite working. Have only done 3 shelves so far in 1 closet, but I love it! No more items falling over, so thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Joseph and Kamber said...

I just moved into a new home. (Well new to us.) I went from a fabulous walk in pantry with wood shelves to a smaller wire rack pantry. I will be doing this as soon as I'm ready to organize the pantry. Right now everything just got unpacked and thrown in. Thanks so much.

scrapmom said...

I have got to tell you, this is wonderful!! Putting tiles on the wire shelving makes it sssoooo much better. GREAT TIP thanks, Stephanie

jetsy said...

I was planning to change all shelves since they r wire shelves but after this greatest tip I decided to give it a try thank so much for save my money!!

Unknown said...

I had a beautiful shelf in my bathroom that had wire shelves. It not sits in storage because everything kept tipping over with the slightest touch or bump. Genius! Thank you!

Gail D. said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Dianne said...

Great idea found on pinterest. Can't believe it didn't occur to me.

Richella Parham said...

This is brilliant! Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful idea. I've pinned it and I'll be using it! :)

JohnsonFamilyof5 said...

I have my husband working on this right this minute. I pinned it a year ago and he is just now getting around to it! LOL!

Mary new woodworker said...

I love this idea as well. What I really like is I already have the tile left over from my floor so what will be nice it will match my floor as well. Thanks as well for the great idea.

Unknown said...

Would this work in the fridge? Im a renter and HATE the shelves. Would they warp from the cold or be ok?

Thanks!

Unknown said...


Thanks

GitanoQueen said...

Where did you get those little fence things. Those would be great to hold things on the shelves while traveling.

GitanoQueen said...

They also have the drawers on rails you can use to put in closets like that but they are kind of expensive. I would probably make my own.

Unknown said...

We did this about 10 years ago in all of my bottom wood cabinets, where I keep all of my cook wear and bake wear. They still look great and so easy to clean.

evalentine said...

My husband lined all our kitchen and bathroom drawers with these tiles. So easy to wipe clean, and once a year (or so) I lift up and vacuum underneath them. Easy peasy.

Unknown said...

Will this work for already sagging racks? Please lemme know. Mine are in terrible shape, and I would love to try it this weekend!

Unknown said...

Will the tiles stick to the fronts as fascias? Linda johnson