Stylish DIY Ways To Cover Up Ugly Wire Shelves And Upgrade Your Closet

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The wire shelves in your closet are both unattractive and impractical. These thin, gangly beasts are often a bright, off-putting white that isn't fun to look at, and they're typically in heavily trafficked areas of your home. Whether in your pantry or linen closet, they constantly remind you of how unsightly they are. To make matters worse, wire shelf designs are frequently disruptive. With all that space in between each wire, items often don't sit level and can be difficult to organize properly. This is especially true in the kitchen, where you probably have smaller, oddly shaped items such as spices, baking products, and bags.

Unfortunately, building entirely new shelves can be expensive, especially when the shape and size of the shelves themselves are perfectly usable — the main problem is their appearance and small gaps. On the bright side, if you're tired of your dated wire closet shelves, there are several neat ways to cover your wire shelves, and we're going to dive into five of them. These methods are all very doable for the average DIYer, so you don't have to worry about taking on a difficult project you can't finish.

Full disclosure: This is the most difficult of these projects and requires the most tools. But if you're decent at working with wood, it's probably the most satisfying and visually appealing solution. Basically, you make a simple wooden cover that sits flush on the top and front of the shelf, hiding the wire entirely from view. If you aren't the most handy with wood or don't have access to the necessary tools, you can buy premade wooden covers on Amazon or on Etsy from handyctcom (though going this route might be more expensive). If you choose the Etsy route, you can have the casings made specifically to the dimensions of your shelves.

To build these chic covers yourself, you'll need ¼-inch-thick wood (for the base pieces), 1-by-3-inch wood (for the front covers), wood filler, sandpaper to smooth everything out, and a stain to make everything look perfect at the end. Before you buy any supplies, measure your shelves to determine how much wood you'll need. Using these measurements, cut a base piece to the length and width of the shelf and a front cover to its width. Now, screw or nail the front cover to the front end of each piece of base piece — the result should look like an "L" when you look at it from the side. Make sure the heads of the screws or nails are in deeply, and then fill over the top of each one with the wood filler. Sand and stain the cover, and you've got a gorgeous piece to hide your ugly wire shelves.

For an affordable DIY that instantly upgrades any closet, you can use foam core board and contact paper to make simple, stylish covers for your unappealing wire shelves. This method is remarkably easy — it only takes a few minutes. Additionally, if you don't want to buy foam core board, you can also use cardboard that you have lying around your home for a similar effect. This hack can be even more fun if you choose patterned contact paper or, if you want to get craftier, fabric or leftover wallpaper.

To begin this DIY, cut your foam board or cardboard to the length and width of your wire shelf, and cut a smaller strip to cover the front lip (as you would when making a wood cover). To cut effectively like Do It On A Dime (above), use an exacto knife or box cutter. Start by making an initial slash or two, then fold the board a few times before making a final cut, which lets the material separate cleanly. Then, cover the board with contact paper, fabric, or wallpaper. Finally, use packing tape to attach the strip cover to the front of the main shelf piece by their inside edges, place the cover over your wire shelf, and voila! You've got a simple and classy way to hide those pesky wires.

If you don't hate the appearance of wire shelves and just want to make them more practical, you can use a sheet of plexiglass to give them a smooth cover. The material is easy to clean, tough to break, and gets rid of the difficult ridges that prevent items from sitting properly. Plexiglass also adds a really sleek and clean look to your shelves, with the gloss of the glass distracting from the wire with its simple practicality.

If you're looking for a similar effect to plexiglass but want something a bit heavier, you can also use a purpose-made Resilia closet shelf liner for wire shelves, which is made of a semi-opaque vinyl with a similar appearance to frosted glass. To apply these covers, you'll need to either find material that's the same size as your shelves or cut the material to size yourself. As long as the medium isn't too thick, you should be able to slice through it with a scoring knife or a box cutter. Just be sure to make several passes through on each side with the knife. Once you've cut almost all the way through the material, swiftly break the glass along the cut — it should separate neatly and be ready to use.

To create a smooth and clean-looking surface, you can purchase some peel-and-stick vinyl floor tiles for very little money. This is a great hack because you can grab a pack of whatever pattern and texture you want. Peel-and-stick vinyl floor tiles are also very durable — they're made for the floor, after all, so you shouldn't have any issues using them in your pantry.

Ideally, you've found tiles that can fit the size of your wire shelves. If not, cutting them is simple. All you need to get started is a utility knife, pen, and ruler so you can measure and cut straight lines. Using the pen and ruler, mark out some sections that fit the size of your shelves and then cut across the lines with slight pressure. For thicker tiles, you may need to cut across the lines several times and then fold along them to separate the pieces, but it's still an easy process. Cut pieces for the top of your shelf and narrow pieces for the front, then apply the adhesive to the wire. Your wire shelves will stay nicely hidden, and you have a classy cover to boot.

If you don't want to go through the hassle of making or cutting something, sometimes the best cover for your wire shelves is just baskets and containers. They're simple, unassuming, and provide stability for all of your belongings. Even if you choose to add a cover, baskets are a great way to organize your shelves and keep things neat and tidy. The best thing about this trick is that you might already have all the containers you need around your house — they just might not match.

If you want to make sure your shelves look nice, you can always buy multiple of the same model to create a nice, tidy appearance. These Curver large plastic storage baskets, for example, look nice sitting next to each other and slide in and out on your shelf for easy access. You can also use storage dividers to keep things organized or sift through the different storage items that can easily pull double duty in your home. With a bit of an eye for detail, these are a nifty solution for hiding your wire shelves.