A Hanging Rope Shelf

Ronja Lotte
by Ronja Lotte
I think I’m starting to come down from my ultra-minimalistic home decor trip. A few months ago I was defending every empty spot in my apartment vigorously and now I am suddenly planning one project after another, to fill those white areas. Still very carefully and subtle but I am planning. First I built a hanging rope shelf. These shelves were totally popular in the 70´s and they definitely had a great revival over the last year!
You need four boards with the following measurements for your shelf: 7 cm X 80 cm. Since I still have a few IVAR shelves lying around, I sawed my smaller boards from a single IVAR board. After sawing the boards I sanded them down slightly.
In addition, you need 8 Meters of string or thin rope. You have to divide the rope into 4 X 2 Meter.
Let´s get started: First, your mark with a pencil where you want to drill, two spots each at both ends of your boards. The bit top of your drill can´t be wider than your rope. My rope was as wide as a 4-bit. Now drill your holes.
Now take your rope and wrap some adhesive tape around the ends on one side. This way you can pull the rope much easier through the holes in your boards. First you must pull one rope almost completely through a hole and then you need to make a knot in the rope at the short end. This is now the bottom board of your shelf. Repeat this step with the other three holes of this board. The rest now is only pulling rope through holes and making knots. Whenever you reach a spot where you want a board, you must first make knots in all four ropes at the same height and then you pull the ropes through the holes of the board.
Finally, your knot the two ropes of every side together and mount the shelf on wall hooks. I would be very surprised if your boards were all perfectly level on your first attempt. I assembled my shelf a few times completely new and almost whimpered in despair, until I figured out that I did not have to start all over to correct the knots. Lay a water level on a board and push the board with your elbow against the wall while you adjust the knots at the right place. This way you work your way from board to board and when all of them are finally level, you beat your chest and shout as loud as you can: I AM A GOD! It’s worth to show your neighbors from time to time who is the boss!


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Ronja Lotte
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  • Bunny Bunny on Apr 15, 2016
    What kind of wall hooks...you didn't list them in Materials...can you show picture of hooks...name doesn't help much. Would sure appreciate the help. So pretty on the wall...love it!
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  • Gwen Gwen on Apr 20, 2016
    Just a little slow on the (my) uptake. It all went over my head eventhough I lit the candle. Its all good.
  • Nydia Nydia on Jun 11, 2016
    What a great idea .I Love It! I am definitely going to try this one, its just what l need for my bedroom wall! I was wondering what kind of shelves that wouldnt be too wide was i to put up for my small objects . I will pin it and save it in my DIY board!Thank You for sharing Ronja.👍🏼
    • Ronja Lotte Ronja Lotte on Jun 12, 2016
      @Nydia60 Thanks! I am glad you like it and thanks for your sweet comment :-)
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