Rope Hanging Shelf for Succulents

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This Hanging Shelf was a quick, weekend project that my oldest daughter and I tackled last weekend.  She had some cute faux succulents that she wanted to display on her wall and after pondering whether we wanted to go with a floating shelf or hanging shelf, we went with a Rope Hanging Shelf.

My oldest daughter’s bedroom definitely has a beachy feel, so the fact that this hanging shelving has rope just adds to that nautical feel. You will not believe how easy this DIY project is!  Literally it took us under 30 minutes from the time we walked out to the garage to look for a scrap piece of wood, until it was hanging on her wall!  This is a project that if you have the tools – YOU can do this project! It’s a super cute way to get some extra storage, in this case for her faux succulents.

What You’ll Need To Make Your Own Hanging Shelf

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• miter saw
• piece of pine wood – this one is 6″ wide
• drill
• large drill bit
• sander
• rope

How To Make Your Own Hanging Shelf Instructions

I created a rustic, wooden swing shelf for above my bathtub a couple years ago. In that post I went into all the the details of how to make one of these great wall shelves.

Step 1:

You need to select your wood. We went with pine for her shelf. I would recommend solid wood and not mdf. We used our miter saw to cut the 6″ board to a length of 12 inches.  You can totally customize this to whatever size you want though.

Step 2:

Drilling the holes for the rope.  Once you pick the rope you will be using, you need to select a drill bit that is slightly larger than the thickness of your rope (so you can easily slide the rope through your drilled holes).  You want to drill the holes about 1 inch in from the sides (you don’t want the wood to split).

Step 3:

Once all the holes are drilled you want to give the board a good sanding. My daughter decided she wanted to leave her board natural, but if you wanted to paint or stain your shelf now would be the time to do that.

Step 4:

It’s time to rope your shelf. I started with the backside of my shelf (the side that will be against the wall).  You start by inserting the rope through one of the holes going from the top of the shelf down to the bottom.  Then you want tie off the end of the rope, on the bottom side of the shelf.  Next step is tying off the rope on the top side of the shelf.  At this point you have one hole completed.

What Length Should I Cut The Rope?

Step 5:

Now you need to determine how long you want your rope to hang. This part takes a little playing around. Ours is about 12 inches from the shelf up to the hook it’s hanging from. So if you want about the same size here’s how I did this. I doubled the length – so 12″ up and 12″ down plus you need rope for the 2 knots on the other side plus through the board. So at this point you have 1 side tied off and then I measured out about 30 inches and cut my rope.

Now you want to measure out the length you want from one side of the board to the other.  For mine I went with 12″ up and 12″ down – so 24 inches.  At 24 inches I start to tie a knot, but I make it super loose.  (I want to be able to slide that knot up or down after I tie off the bottom knot on that side.)  Now slide the end of the rope through the hole on the other side and tie it off near the end of the rope (on the bottom side).  Then you want to finish your top knot off on that side, sliding it down snuggle against the board.

Step 6:

It’s time to repeat the process on the front rope. On this rope you’ll need to make the length a little longer, a couple inches, since the front rope needs to reach back to get on the hook.

Once you’ve finished the front rope, you’re DONE! You rocked an amazing DIY project that will look awesome in your home decor!!!

How Do I Make The Rope Stay Secure?

Have a knot on the top and bottom of the board really does keep it secure. Just make sure to tie your knots snuggly.

We hung this cute hanging shelf on an old knob I had. I found a nail with a small head to it where I was able to twist the knob onto the nailhead. We used a stud finder so that the nail would be secure in the wood. She wasn’t going to put heavy room decor on her shelf, but better to be safe.

You could make multiples of these shelves and use it storage in your bathroom. Cedar wood would be great for that. I want to make some for my office to display some succulents and candles. These rope hanging shelves are perfect for decorative objects.