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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Industrial Pipe Shelving

I think shelves made of plumbing pipes are pretty amazing.
This was my first encounter with them. A few years ago I happened upon the blog,
The Brick House and was blown away by the mounted wall shelf.
Again from The Brick House. It looks different depending on how it's styled.
More from The Brick House
Roeshel of The DIY Show Off made over her pantry area just before Christmas. 
I'm totally in love with her pantry. She took a very boring small room and made super special. 
I'd like to keep my cereal here.
I'm not kidding...I might be sending my cereal to Roeshel to keep in style.
When Mandy posted this office makeover she did a few months ago...I was awestruck.
I love everything about this office space. 
I just think the combo of pipe and wood are so chic.
I really wish I had a spot for on of these shelving units.
A few years ago, my Mom showed up saying she had the answer to my lack of closest space.
She proceeded to bring in many many lengths of long 3 inch white pvc pipe.
She began construction of a monster clothes rack in my back bedroom
that took up a full fourth of the room when finished.
She seemed very pleased with it herself.
She really thought she'd solved all my lack of closet space problems.

Well, I hated that thing! It was like a monster in the room. 
It made me never want to go in the there.
I never even hung more than 10 things on it.
It probably would have held 300 items or more.
I just could not embrace it.
It was awfully nice that my Mom had built it for me but if I'd had any idea 
how huge it was going to be...I never would have agreed.
Love how the radiator is included in the above unit.

So I never used the big pipe clothing rack my Mom made and last year when I found out she 
was going to have open heart surgery and would need to live with me for at least a month.
Well, what could I do? It had to go so that there would be room for her in the guest room.

I quickly tore the thing apart and carried it out of the house.
My Mom took all the pipe back to her house to make something else out of.
To this day I don't think she understands why having a giant clothes rack...
like 8ft tall by 8ft long and 6ft wide in my back bedroom was not working for me. 
This is pretty with the wallpaper behind.
Building these pipe shelves are exactly the same concept as what my Mom built but I love all these.
I might say ok to a clothes rack made out of metal pipe.
PVC... no

As you can see by the above picture...you don't have to make a large shelf out of the pipes.
Tall and narrow works nicely beside a piano.
 via
the pipe shelves work out great for a bar
Perfect for a desk too
Now if my Mom had built me this....I'd probably still have it. 
Do I have room for it...no...but if I did I'd go for it!
Love the look of this shelf over a vintage stove.
A nice shallow shelf on wheels would be great in a dining room or kitchen.
 via
Really like how shallow this one is.
 
 over a desk works nicely
smaller wall version fits nicely under some windows.
No room for a big unit? Make a side table for the living room!
 via
or small shelves for the kitchen!
 via
These shelves provide lots of character for this kitchen. 

No...I don't  have a place for any of this and it doesn't go with the vibe of my house but 
that doesn't make me stop wanting it. 

Perhaps I could make something for outside?
That is a thought...for sure.

13 comments:

Curtains in My Tree said...

You sure found a lot of pictures of the plumbing shelves.
Seems to me they always just look good in a warehouse apartment type place. The industrial look
Your Mom tried to help you out ? right LOL

Cindi Myers said...

This is very timely for me.
I put together a very large white rack, 6ft tall and 3 ft wide and I had it in my kitchen. I liked the white against the white. Even my niece commented on how much she loved it but the fact that I had stuck my china hutch into the laundry/dog room kept bugging me so I had to switch it out.
I think if it had been this cool pipe/wood combo, I could have lived with it.
Thanks for this post!

Brenda Pruitt said...

I really love and embrace this look. Did Mom ask if you put it back?
Brenda

At Rivercrest Cottage said...

loved the story of your mother building you the rack! my mom visited me back in the early 80's and decided she would make me a footstool out of a milk crate. We still laugh over the sorry looking footstool. Thanks for the laugh.

Unknown said...

Wow! Doesn't go woth the vibe of my house, too. But I look at that pantry and my head nods "Yes, yes, why not, good idea".
Give a thought to the idea for "something for outside". I sure will.
Greetings,
London Domestic Cleaner

Unknown said...

Love this- totally planning on doing some of these for our daughter's room :)

Amy Chalmers said...

Love this post Nita! I sent it to Justin. We want to do something similar in the shop for shelving and you found so many wonderful examples. thx!!

Ronnie said...

Great stuff! Thanks, as always. : )

Scribbler said...

Wow, you really assembled quite an array of these shelves. I was just showing these to my husband, and he said maybe we could build some. (I didn't ask "where?") I do think this would be a really neat idea for many applications, and of course the wheels were turning -- paint them bright colors for a little kid's play space?? Fun.

karen@somewhatquirky said...

Great collection! I'm trying really hard to figure out how to get some of these in my house!

Unknown said...

These are AMAZING!! I just love the look of the rustic wood with the beauty of the pipes!! Something like these would be perfect for my boys' room (I think they would think they're cool)! Thanks so much for sharing & for the inspiration--♥Angie

LivingVintage said...

I love industrial and rustic wood shelves so much, we installed one in our home office. One of the photos you featured was our inspiration!

Aailyah Adebayo said...

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