Come in if you have Ikea spice racks as book shelves

[spk926]

If you use these to hold books like this:



How do you attach them to the wall? I know Ikea doesn't provide anything so I'm looking to see how you did it. We're going to Ikea this weekend for something else and I think I'll pick some up.

Also, anyone paint yours? Was it easy? Did you sand them first?

[carolinagirl831]

I didn't purchase the spice racks, but I purchased Ikea's picture frame ledges they have by the frames. They are perfect! we have them in our play room and the backs are all ready to go on the wall.

[acr]

I used screws with anchors. I think they may have actually been included, though, but it's been a few years since I put them up and my memory is fuzzy.

[ilikedonuts]

I'll text my husband and ask what he used.

[carolinagirl831]

Look like this

Attachments:

[rugbywife]

I have three waiting to paint. I was just going to paint them, no sanding. And I hadn't thought about how to put them up. Happy I read this!

[Deleted]

I didn't paint them. Attaching them to the wall was a real PITA I'm not going to lie. I tried for a while and then gave up and my husband did it. It's such a tiny little space to get exactly on the bracket. I drilled like four holes in the wall before throwing my hands up.

[robyn]

Here is a picture of ours. Sorry it's so big, I don't know how to resize DH used the screws and anchors. I think it came with some, but he went to the hardware store and bought some more heavy duty anchors I believe. He spray painted them. Six months in and they have held up well, although they don't hold as much as I would have liked. We are maxed out on space now (this picture is from before she was born).

[electricmayhem]

I used anchors and screws.  Some of them were harder than others to hang due to the hanger spacing, but I managed.

[Deleted]

Related- does anyone use gutters as book shelves? I have a friend who did and she loves them, but just wondering how sturdy they are.

[chickens987]

Jan 27, 2015 9:21:13 GMT -5 spk926 said:

If you use these to hold books like this:



How do you attach them to the wall? I know Ikea doesn't provide anything so I'm looking to see how you did it. We're going to Ikea this weekend for something else and I think I'll pick some up.

Also, anyone paint yours? Was it easy? Did you sand them first?

Ikea sells a box of screws and mollies: www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00169249/

[MNH2013]

Do your kids pull up on them? I was wanting to get these but afraid M would rip them out of the wall trying to pull up on them.

[catsarecute]

My husband used screws and anchors.

The hanging of these is actually a wonderful memory. You have to line the screws up just right in order to place the rack accurately. He was having a beast of a time trying to get them to line up. Cursing up a storm, getting so angry. I had a method to share with him but he wasn't being very open to ideas so I kept my mouth shut until he calmed down.

I told him about the tape method (use painters tape to measure the distance between the screw holes on the object and then use that as a ruler to make your holes on the wall). He tried it and it worked the first time. He got mad at me, asking why I didn't share that 30 minutes ago but I told him he wasn't really approachable and wasn't open for suggestions. He learned his lesson.

[robyn]

Jan 27, 2015 10:17:15 GMT -5 @republicrat said:

Related- does anyone use gutters as book shelves? I have a friend who did and she loves them, but just wondering how sturdy they are.

A friend of ours used gutters and she loves them also. Not sure about sturdiness, but she has them in her 2 y.o. son's room and they haven't been destroyed yet so I think pretty sturdy. They are probably more sturdy than the spice rack shelves. I don't have too much faith in those once DD is mobile and can get ahold of them.

[spk926]

Jan 27, 2015 10:40:17 GMT -5 robyn said:

Jan 27, 2015 10:17:15 GMT -5 @republicrat said:

Related- does anyone use gutters as book shelves? I have a friend who did and she loves them, but just wondering how sturdy they are.

A friend of ours used gutters and she loves them also. Not sure about sturdiness, but she has them in her 2 y.o. son's room and they haven't been destroyed yet so I think pretty sturdy. They are probably more sturdy than the spice rack shelves. I don't have too much faith in those once DD is mobile and can get ahold of them.

Yeah some classrooms in my school use gutters. My neighbor also has them in her play room. I don't care for the look of them though so I'm looking for something else.

[greencrayon]

I've got three in a package waiting to go up! Thanks for posting this.

[hw77]

We bought these but havent installed them yet... we also need to install new blackout curtains ... i think we'll need lots of patience before we start.

[magpie]

Jan 27, 2015 10:17:15 GMT -5 @republicrat said:

Related- does anyone use gutters as book shelves? I have a friend who did and she loves them, but just wondering how sturdy they are.

We have rain gutters as shelves in DD's room.  I painted them, so they look pretty.  They are perfect for us.  I think the sturdiness depends on how you attach them.  We have weird plastery walls (no drywall), so everything that goes into the wall has to be screwed in with masonry weight screws and is attached really firmly.  I was worried that DD would rip them out as she learned to walk, but they've held up wonderfully.  DD loves them too.  She can easily choose her own books and bring them over to me.  

[Deleted]

I used screws and anchors as well and my kids have not pulled them down yet.

[aspentosh]

We have the ledges that carolina posted and love them. I have a spice rack for DD's kitchen but I can't imagine it holding that many books. With the ledges I can fit about 8-10 books (big books!) on them with space to move them around.

[Deleted]

I see this idea on Pinterest and here on MMM frequently. I would need seriously 20 of those to hold our kid books.

[bugandbibs]

We used screws with anchors. We keep one by each bed and by the rocker in the nursery.

We have traditional bookcases too in the living room and in the playroom. We have a gazillion books in our house. We use the spice racks to rotate what we are reading right now- not to hold our whole library.

[spk926]

Jan 27, 2015 14:36:15 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

I see this idea on Pinterest and here on MMM frequently. I would need seriously 20 of those to hold our kid books.

It wouldn't hold all our books or even 1/4 of our books. We have actual bookshelves for all of them. But when you display books where children can see the covers and are easy to grab they're more likely to read. Plus it looks nice.

DD pulls her books off the shelves in the living room to read all the time. But I want a cute display in her room next to the glider so she can easily pick her nightly books. 

[hw77]

So I havent taken these shelves out of the packaging but did realize they dont seem to come with any hardware to hang them on the wall, so thank you for this post!!

[anna7602]

My answer to all IKEA stuff that doesn't seem to come with the right hardware is to use Taskrabbit. I farm out the work, provide all the specs for the IKEA piece in question and then reimburse the person for his trip to Home Depot.