Chad “chaddyboy_2000” Krizan over at BoardGameGeek.com built the shelves you see below, and I definitely have to say I am jealous! Due to the cumbersome shape of the boxes, displaying and storing board games properly requires custom (and deep) shelves. I am friends with a couple of board game collectors who I plan on sharing the following information with. I hope Chad’s great example helps somebody out! The following text is Chad’s:

Alright, now we’re actually to an exciting part! I got all the boring stuff done, like painting and sawing everything to size, so it’s time to assemble some shelves.

Once the shelves were up, the instant gratification part of me told me to fill the shelves up with games! Since these were the 17″ deep shelves, all of the big games made it into this section. The really big games on the top shelf will probably be moved to the more plentiful 13″ deep shelving that I still have to build, as they don’t require 17″ of depth to sit up there, and I’ll need that space for future game acquisitions!I also have some details to take care of, such as running some crown molding around the top, and some other molding to finish it off. However, it’s functional for now, and I’ll be finishing everything else first before going back and making it all look prettier.

Source: BoardGameGeek.com

My friend Fraze sent me these pictures of his shelves forever ago and I’ve been sitting on them for just as long. Sorry, Fraze!

About 2 years ago I too struggled with how to store my gaming and movie media. I specifically wanted something I could mount to a wall but was properly profiled and looked nice, opposed to putting up those dollar brackets and a shelf you can get at Home Depot. Originally I wanted them to specifically hold DVD’s, BluRays and various types of games, but that’s expanded to pictures and other items. I currently have 5 of these now holding various types of media in various rooms in my house. They work very well and they are all identical in size and dimension. Forgive the details as I am better at building them than explaining how to build them.

The reason I put holes evenly all across the bottom was to allow for easy mounting to a wall, but it turned out to be aesthetically pleasing as well. *Most* rooms are built and studded 16″ off center but…depending on your house stud finders etc, things dont always line up that way so this allows you to hang it pretty much anywhere you want on a wall and not filling your wall with holes finding studs. Anyhow, all you do is mount the pre drilled rail pieces and then the shelf attaches to them.

Thanks again for the e-mail and the photos, Fraze. Keep the submissions coming folks!

Shelves speak to me. This one says, “we are out of room in this house.”

I love shelves as much as the next guy (probably more) but … I dunno. Not only might these push the wifey over the edge, but the books don’t look all that easy to access. I suppose for displaying a toy collection or something it could work.

Pictures of “The Cave” have been floating around for a few years now.

I’ve actually always kind of liked the idea of reading in small, claustrophobic spaces. I think this could be turned into a kick-ass gaming setup as well. I think you could build one of these to hold games, and mount a flat-screen television in there … that would be awesome.

The biggest problem with “The Cave” is “The Price” — more than $5,200 Euros, which (currently) translates to roughly $7,500 USD (plus shipping). For $7,500 I could build a shed in my backyard to store my books, and have enough left over to have someone read them to me each night.

Ok, so like, seriously — who, after watching Scooby Doo, hasn’t wanted a secret door like this one in their house?

Unfortunately, this link came to me from makezine.com, who linked to a story from Lifehacker, who linked to another blog … which is now gone. Only the picture remains. One of the goals of LoveThyShelf is to capture those articles and store them. Looks like I was too late for this one.

Instead, here’s a link to a New York Times article about hidden rooms. Enjoy!

Link: NewYorkTimes.com

Ana-White.com posted a set of instructions on how to build these lovely shelves.

As the instructions note, it would be pretty easy to alter the dimensions of this shelf to meet your own personal space requirements. They may cost a little more than the Sauder ones from Walmart, but they look like they would support a heck of a lot more weight.

Check out the link below for a complete set of instructions.

Link: Ana-White.com

Of all the types of available shelves out there, these metal adjustable ones may be some of the cheapest, quickest, and easiest to assemble.

I’m sure you’ve seen this type of shelf before. Assembly happens so quickly that it’s almost a non-issue. You can buy the support rails and wooden shelves at any home improvement store. As far as tools go, you’ll need a stud finder, a level, some screws, and a drill. Using the stud finder, find and mark the location of the studs in your wall. Then use the level to line the wall supports up, and use the drill and screws to attach them to the wall.

Now, put the shelf attachments any height you like. One nice thing about these types of shelves is you can make shelves of different heights, and change them later if your needs change.

Toss the wood on the supports, and you’re done. One thing I don’t like about these types of shelves is that without things on them, I don’t think they look very good. However, after you fill them up and add some lighting, they can look pretty good. The vertical wall supports will run you about $5 each, and brackets are about 3 apiece. Plus you’ll need wood.

Link: BrightBulb.com

If you’re into video games and you’re into shelves, you’ve probably run across these in one form or another.

The problem? These (the unpainted ones) are $700.

These, with the colored backings, are $1,300. Plus shipping. Or, I believe you can order them for $120 per block. For the record, for $120 you can easily buy a non-functioning Tetris arcade cabinet and just store stuff inside it.

Instructables has instructions on how to build your own Tetris shelves. I’ve never tried it, but it looks like a lot of right angles to me. I can’t imagine they would be that difficult to crank out. If you build some, I would love to see them!

If you are broke, untalented, and/or lazy, you’ll have to settle for these: Tetris Ice Cubes.

No, you haven’t died and gone to Heaven. Needing a place to “store his large book collection,” the owner of this 560 square foot Japanese home turned to the Kazuya Morita Architecture Studio, who covered essentially every available wall with shelves.

The only thing that could make this house more awesome is if there were smaller shelves that went inside the bigger shelves, and then little tiny baby shelves to go inside those.

Goodwill Hunter is back again with some great looking DVD/Video Game shelves for his basement. Unlike his previous, floor-standing shelves, these were designed to hang from the rafters in his basement. Check it out!

My gameroom has once again reached “unholy mess” status. Unfortunately, I have run out of gameroom space, and am forced to confront the reality that all of this stuff won’t fit in a single room anymore.

Continue reading Goodwill Hunter’s Rafter-Hung Shelves →