Hide The Eyesore Of Wire Shelving Around Your Home With These 7 Design Hacks

Wire shelving is affordable and (in some ways) practical, but it's not all that pretty. Common in pantries, linen closets, and walk-in closets, this utilitarian shelving can, quite frankly, be an eyesore. The good news is, wire shelves are easy to cover up, so there's no need to replace them! After all, wire shelving is functional, strong, and long-lasting. These shelves offer good ventilation, which makes them ideal for long-term storage, and it's also nice to be able to hang items from them without hassle. So they're worth keeping in case your storage needs change in the future. If you're a renter, you don't have much choice other than to just cover them.

To help, we've rounded up a few design hacks to hide wire shelving. From purpose-built products to DIYs you can make using cardboard from the recycling bin, there's an option here for every budget. None of these DIYs will damage the wire shelving either, so they're renter-friendly too. If you're a homeowner with distant renovation plans, these hacks can help you spruce things up in the interim until you're ready to implement those dream laundry room shelving ideas, DIY your own open kitchen shelving, or settle on the perfect pantry shelving idea for your space. But before we get ahead of ourselves, here's how to hide sad wire shelving in serious style.

The easiest way to hide wire shelves is to buy a wire shelf cover. These nifty products address this common complaint, hiding wire shelves and making them look more contemporary. You'll find them in a few colors and sizes online, for example, the Everbilt shelf cover costs $27.09 from The Home Depot and has a snap-on design. Wayfair also sells a shelf cover kit for $65 that's easily customizable to different shelf dimensions. Of course, if you're not a fan of the price tag, you can also build your own custom shelf covers with some of the ideas ahead. 

Instead of going for the wood look with premade covers, why not make your own out of the real thing? This is a great way to mimic wood shelving, without needing to take out your wire shelves. Building from scratch means you have lots of room for customization. You can make the covers the perfect size, which is great for shelves with non-standard dimensions, and you can stain or paint the wood to your desired hue. This project uses a piece of plywood and a narrow wooden plank, attached with wood glue and nails, all materials you can grab at most hardware stores.

If the DIY above feels a tad too plain, all you need is a bit of molding to dress it up. Instead of using a plain plank for the front of the shelf cover, this project uses a piece of decorative trim. Just remember the tip from this video: Make sure the trim is wide enough to cover both the front of the wire shelves and the wood plank on top. In this video from @yeg.family, they use baseboard trim, but any trim or molding with flat backing that you can attach to the wood shelf will do.

Don't fancy working with wood? Or maybe you're just looking for an even cheaper option. You can use foam board instead! This project follows along the same idea, creating a cover that sits on top of the wire shelf and disguises the front as well. This is another customizable option you can measure to your space to get the best fit. You can personalize the look with contact paper, opting for a traditional wood or marble motif, or even going for a bold pattern. And when you're sick of one design, simply apply another layer of contact paper to change up the whole look.

Cardboard is a fabulous alternative to foam board if you want to spend as little as possible on this project or are looking for an eco-friendly upcycle. If you're nabbing materials out of your recycling, you'll want to rescue an undamaged piece that's large enough to cut to the size of your shelves. Also make sure that it sits flat. Again, you can decorate the cardboard however you like; an easy-to-clean, water-resistant contact paper or peel-and-stick wallpaper would be our decoration of choice.

Pre-made or DIY covers make it possible to hide wire shelves, but if you don't like your storage area in general, you might want to do something more. Enter the curtain door. It's one of our favorite unusual ways to decorate with curtains. It's much easier to install than a regular closet door, and it's renter-friendly too if you use a tension rod. Always wanted to add a bit of color or pattern to your space? This is a great place to do so. Choose a pretty decorative curtain to cover the contents and hide your cluttered shelves in a beautiful way.

If you don't want to cover all of your shelves, you can opt for this in-between solution. After all, sometimes it's just nice to have easier access to certain sections of shelving. Similar to the previous hack, this involves a curtain rod. A tension rod or adjustable shower curtain rail ($9.99 on Amazon) is ideal for a damage-free option. You can get a curtain and cut it to size. Alternatively, if you don't want to do any cutting (and possible sewing), you can repurpose a tablecloth for this job.