Cube Shelves

With a little imagination and a day or so to spare, it's easy to turn a plain wall in your home into a striking feature with lots of storage too.

In this dining area, the wall served little purpose but now, painted in shocking pink and lined with two white flat-pack shelving units from Ikea, it really makes a big statement.

How to:

The wall was painted a colour called Scarlet Ribbons, which is a really intense pink from Dulux. We applied a grey undercoat first to give maximum body and coverage to the colour.

While the paint was drying, we assembled two white bookshelves from Ikea from their Expedit range, these ones were 149cm x 149cm each.

To add interest, we fitted small spotlights overhead in some of the openings (also from Ikea). These are easy to install yourself and can be screwed in place and simply plugged in directly to a nearby wall socket or power board.

For extra detail, we backed some of the openings using panels of 3mm MDF cut to the same size as the openings, covered with gorgeous papers, then nailed on. To cover the boards in paper, it's best to use a quality glue such as Mod Podge or Jo Sonjas' All Purpose Sealer, as well as sturdy papers, all of which you can find from specialist art stores.

As we used two shelving units, we braced them firmly together at the back before filling them with a selection of beautiful items emptied from the kitchen cupboards and around the house. Creating a decorative display like this not only relieves the kitchen cupboards, but also keeps most used things within easy reach.

A really simple and effective project you could do easily in a weekend.