When you are decorating your home, it is quite possible that the last thing that might come to your mind is to add a couple of shelves. Start prioritizing their installation now. Aside from adding a bit of sophistication to any room, these shelves can also provide you with a lot of much-needed storage spaces. These days, stainless steel floating shelves are becoming all the rage. If you are thinking of doing a bit of remodeling in your home, then you might want to give these a try yourself.
What are Floating Shelves?
A floating shelf is designed with minimalism in mind. Unlike traditional shelves, floating shelves have their supporting brackets hidden within the shelf itself. Because there are no visible shelf brackets, they create an illusion that they are floating on air; hence, the name.
Floating shelves tend to look thicker than traditional shelves because they need the space inside to hide the supporting brackets. The supporting brackets are usually beefy aluminum or stainless steel rods that are screwed into the wall and then the floating shelves are supposed to slide over them. Sometimes, retaining screws are used underneath the shelves to keep them in place. However, most of the time, the shelves fit snuggly enough over the supporting brackets.
Decorating Using Stainless Steel Shelves
Kitchen
The most appealing feature of stainless steel floating shelves, aside from aesthetics, is that they are easy to clean. This makes stainless steel floating shelves the perfect addition to your kitchen. If you have stainless steel countertops, or if your kitchen appliances are all stainless steel, then it only makes sense to use stainless steel floating shelves in your kitchen as well.
Place floating shelves beside your cupboards so that you can have a place where you can store your most used utensils. Now, you can easily find whatever cooking utensil you need without having to rummage through your cupboards and drawers.
You can also install rows of stainless steel floating shelves on the walls of the dining area where you can showcase your fine china. This is much better than having to keep them inside a dusty old china cabinet. It also makes getting your fine china (when you do choose to use them) easier since they are already out in the open.
You can also get floating stainless steel shelves that come in right angles. These are for installing shelves on the corners of the room. In the kitchen, these corners are often left open because it is difficult to make cabinets that fit into the corners. By placing a couple of levels of floating shelves at all the corners of your kitchen, you provide yourself with plenty of additional storage while giving the room quite a visual upgrade as well.
Living Room
Instead of a separate bookshelf, you can just install four or five levels of floating shelves on one wall of your living room. The great thing about these shelves is that you do not even have to install them perfectly aligned with each other. You can actually install them at a staggered pattern to give the room a bit more visual appeal.
If you have a fireplace, then placing a floating shelf above it will give you a space for your various knick-knacks. During the colder parts of the year when the whole family cozies up to the fire, you can admire your collection together, or better yet, you can place actual decorative pieces on the mantel that everyone can actually enjoy.
Instead of end tables, why not install floating shelves on the walls on either side of your couch? This will give your living room a more modern look and feel, much more at least than what traditional wooden end tables can do. You can also install LED mood lights underneath the floating stainless steel shelves to add ambient lighting that will work quite well during your movie marathon nights at home.
Bathroom
As mentioned earlier, stainless steel has lots of advantages over the traditional wood or HDF shelving, one of which is that it is waterproof. This makes it the ideal material for shelving in the bathroom. Install a couple of floating stainless steel shelves on top of the bathroom sink so you will have space for your towels. You can attach a couple of hangers underneath the lowest shelf for additional storage for your bathroom staples.
Bedroom
Instead of a nightstand, why not place two floating stainless steel shelves on both sides of the bed? Just like the end tables idea for the living room, you can also install warm-toned LED lights underneath to serve as mood lighting for your bedroom.
You can also install a couple of layers of long-span stainless steel floating shelves above your headboard where you can place picture frames, figurines, and whatever knick-knacks you want to give your bedroom a more cozy atmosphere.
Conclusion
Stainless steel floating shelves, although they look quite simple, are actually versatile pieces that add a modern touch to any home. Aside from fitting the decor of any room of the house, these shelves are also quite durable, so you can expect them to still be hanging on your walls for many years to come.
