How to Make a Rope Shelf; Dollhouse Style
Have you ever DIY’ed your own shelves? I’m always surprised at the cost of open shelving, especially since they are so popular and easy to make. Yesterday I was walking the isles of Hobby Lobby and happened to see a set of fun rope shelves. They looked so cute! Then I looked at the price tag. Whoa, I couldn’t believe a few simple slabs of wood with a little sisal rope would cost nearly fifty dollars. You know what’s coming next; I decided to create my own rope shelves but with a twist. I’ve got a fun idea up my sleeve and I want to show you how to make a rope shelf; dollhouse style.
You are probably wondering what in the world I mean by “dollhouse style.”
My four year old daughter has loads of baby dolls ranging from big to small. She loves to sit them up in a row so she can see them. Why not create my own rope shelf for her to use?
Currently, her dolls are scattered all over her room. I’m a huge fan of organization, and I wanted a dedicated place where she could see all of the dolls rather than on the ground :(.
HOW TO MAKE A SET OF DIY ROPE SHELVES:
- Cut the wood to the dimensions you want for your shelves.
- Mark one hole on each side of the wood for the rope to run through.
- Drill the holes through the wood. You can use a spade drill bit, spiral flute drill bit, or if your wood is super thin you can probably get away with a regular old wood drill bit.
- Once the holes are drilled, grab your rope and tie a knot at the bottom.
- String the rope through the first side of the first board so that the bottom of the board sits on the knot.
- Decide how much space you want in between each shelf and then tie another knot.
- Run the rope through the second board until it sits snug on the knot.
- Continue this process until the rope is through one side of the shelves.
- After one side of the shelves were secured with the rope, I hung it up so I could make sure to level the shelves as I was adding the knots to the other side.
- Once you’ve run the rope through the sides of the wood, tie a knot at the top and you should be done.
NOW THAT I’VE WALKED YOU THROUGH HOW TO CREATE A SET OF ROPE SHELVES, LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT I DID WITH OURS!
I can’t wait to show my daughter her new shelves! I’m hoping this will help her doll organization a little. If it doesn’t, oh well she has some cute shelves now!
Side note; you might recall this space from a while back when I made over her room.
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DeeAnn Cecchetti (Yard Artist) on Oct 07, 2019
Cute! ;-)
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Abby Rexroth on Nov 11, 2019
You should call it "The Tree Swing Shelf".
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How in the world do you keep the shelves level while tying knots?
So cute! I also wonder how you kept the shelves level when you tie the rope. I’ve seen similar projects and wondered but never asked. I love the use for your daughters dolls!
Great share