Wall shelves are a perfect decorative accent and design solution for any blank wall, as well as a functional and helpful storage tool for organizing and displaying a wide range of home accessories throughout your home. What’s great about wall shelves, is that they can work in any room of the house, as well as any size and shape of room. Whether you are choosing custom wall shelves perfectly designed to fit your space, or opting for a self-contained wall cubby for your entryway, there are an infinite number of wall shelf types and styles. Although the shelves can be interchangeable when it comes to application, following a few guidelines when it comes to selecting wall shelf styles and materials can prove to be beneficial.

Use these questions to help you select the perfect wall shelves for your blank walls.

Where are the shelves going? For most spaces, this will simply help you select the right style and look of wall shelves for the room that they will be used in. For example, if you are looking to hang wall shelves in an entryway, shelves with hooks and cubbies for hanging keys or storing mail would be helpful for eliminating clutter. However, for rooms like the bathroom or garage, the conditions of the space may influence and dictate the material or type of shelves. Humidity of a bathroom may not be best for wood shelves, and the constant exposure to the outdoor elements and heat of a garage may call for more industrial grade metal shelves.

What are you planning on putting on the shelves? Are you planning to line framed artwork against the wall? A photo or book ledge would be best for keeping prints in place. The lip in the front of the shelves will secure the frames on the shelf and perfectly angle the art for viewing. Heavier and more substantial objects require stronger brackets and shelves in order to prevent from sagging. It’s a good idea to also mount the shelves on wall studs. For displaying a collection, tiered shelves will keep all of your valuables in a single line of vision, as intended. Shelves designed for storing books or DVDs could benefit from linear floating designs with dividers and built in bookends for organization.

What effect do you want your shelves to make on a space? Looking for a light and airy wall unit? Freestanding, or floating, shelves have interior mounting systems that enable them to appear as if they simply float on the walls, without any distracting or unattractive hardware.

Shelves with decorative mounting brackets are more rustic and can even border on utilitarian. By exposing the hardware that makes the shelves work, you create more of an industrial and architecturally-driven space.

Box shelves or cubbies allow you to easily design miniature wall vignettes throughout your home. If looking to create more of an eclectic and collection-driven home, than these designs are perfect solutions.

One of the greatest things about wall shelves, is that they get your things off the floor and organize them at eye level. Not only do you keep your floors clutter-free, but you are then able to admire all of your acquired and collected precious trinkets at a closer glance, as well as keep them at a safer distance from the floor.