30+ Functional Wall Decor Ideas for Organizers and Shelves

Make your DIY wall decor both beautiful and functional with these wall decor ideas for organizers and shelves. Hide cords, add storage, stay organized with these wall organizers and DIY wall shelves. 

See more DIY wall decor ideas here and large wall decor ideas here. 

Our whole goal with Deck The Walls is to give you lots of ideas for how to fill up your walls to make your home beautiful in *your* style. But there are some areas of the home that need to also have a little bit of function tied in the stylistic form of whatever is on the wall.  So today, we have over 30 ideas of functional wall decor, to help you get the most of our your wall space!

Functional Wall Decor Ideas to Add Storage

Jump to:
large wall memo boards
command centers
home office wall organizers
wall organization for kitchen and home
wall cubbies and wall organizers
wall shelves

 

I love the look of natural plywood, so an easy plywood pegboard shelf is a great and beautiful solution for wall decor that’s also storage and organization!

This is one of my favorite easy ideas — a narrow wall shelf hides cords and electronics (or whatever else you need hidden) and a hinged art canvas serves as a door and a diguise (from Mamma Mekko)

See more ideas for hiding cords and electronics.

Add a little bit of storage to any space with this easy idea from BHG — just cut wood bowls in half and secure them to a board!

Large Wall Memo Boards & Chalkboards

A memo board is perfect for a family menu board, family message center, or keeping your notes organized and visible.

This barn wood pallet memo board looks great anywhere — especially with that paper flower garland 😉

This shows a menu board, but this large paper roll would be perfect for keeping family lists or calendars organized, or for writing reminders, too! (Design Milk)

Build a similar version from scrap pallet wood with The How To Home.

This glass message board (BHG) is sleek and easily customizable to your space — and we have the building plans for you right here!

Build a chic farmhouse wall-mount chalkboard organizer for just a few bucks — the horizontal dowels let you add baskets for storage, while also dividing the memo board for neat organization.

You can build a regular DIY chalkboard cheaply, too — plus tips for writing on a chalkboard so it’s part art, part memo board.

Or if you want to go BIG — see how we built this extra large chalkboard!

DIY Family Command Centers

A command center is a great way to keep your family organized, but it doesn’t have to be boring!

See how to build this large rustic command center here (plus 10 more command center ideas here).

And see how we hung this family organization station in just a few hours:

Home Office Wall Decor Storage

Most of us don’t require an entire room for a home office space — use just a corner with this small-space desk  paired with a colorful corkboard and organizer for a cheery workspace (via BHG —  and we put together plans to make your own wall desk here!) This would make a perfect teen homework station too

More homework station ideas here.

This fold up table (for purchase here) becomes a large wall frame when folded up

and you can build a DIY version with this tutorial — perfect for a kid’s homework space or a craft area!

Also for the office area, make an easy colorful pen holder from a scrap of wood (tutorial here).

Make your own vintage-style wall cubby shelf with this woodworking plan — perfect for organizing craft supplies as shown here at Just Jonie!

And I couldn’t find the original source for this image, but how dreamy is that colorful wall full of colored pencils!!

Functional Wall Decor Organizers for the Kitchen and Home

For the kitchen and beyond, wall organizers can keep necessities at hand, while also looking great!

In the kitchen, you can display your knives on a fancied-up rustic wall rack (eHow)

or use an old gate to hang pans and spices on (Bachman’s Summer  House via Hammers and High Heels)

In a family game room or playroom, turn the game boards into wall decor (Infarrantly Creative). It’s both fun decor and saves you from having to try to save the boxes that are inevitably crushed throughout the life of of a favorite game! (The game pieces are stored in bags on the back of the framed board game boards.)

Laundry room decor can be tricky, but an easy-to-build wall drying rack is the perfect combination of function and style. (Tutorial from Centsational Girl)

Jewelry makes the perfect wall decor for the bathroom or bedroom (Bless’er House) — and see more jewelry organizing ideas here.

Add lots of storage without taking up any floor space by adding between stud storage like we did in the bathroom.

See more brilliant in-wall storage ideas

For storing essential oil bottles or nail polish in the bathroom (or for spices in the kitchen, or kids small toy collections) you can’t beat this simple and super easy DIY wall display shelf!

Every entry needs a bit of organization, and this Pottery Barn inspired DIY wall organizer is a nice blend of classic style with the hooks and shelves to keep coats, hats, and bags tidy.

DIY Wall Cubby Organizers

A wall cubby or wall basket organizer is the perfect functional wall decor where style meets function!

We loved these hanging DIY wall bins we built in our Texas house

and we built an even simpler version of the wall bins here — a great wall storage solution for any room in the house (whether you hang it on the wall or stand it up like we did).

 

Chalkboard + wire basket makes for a perfectly industrial DIY wall organizer.

Make a decorative wall cubby shelf — it can also organize spices, craft supplies, or small electronics.

This upcycled cardboard wall caddy organizer is great for a kid’s space or a college dorm (from Brit.co)

This pegboard organizer from Addicted 2 DIY looks great in a kid’s room, and it has the added benefit of a magnetic chalkboard for notes and reminders.

This inexpensive decorative ladder is great for towels, extra blankets, magazines, etc. Tutorial here. 

I couldn’t find the original source on this, but the colorful combination of the IKEA spice racks for books and decor and the paint chips is great!

See 25 more ways to use these IKEA bekvam spice racks around the house

Organize coats and scarfs in a chic upcycled way with this reclaimed wood and faucet handle coat rack by A Piece of Rainbow.

And you’ll never lose your sunglasses again (hopefully!) with these easy wall organizer (Lisa Denoia).

If you don’t count the cost of the purchases 😉 this organized wall of shopping bags is free! (and of course, you don’t have to shop at Tiffany to get shopping bags!) (by lezoemusings)

Wall Shelves You Can Make for Functional Wall Decor

Wall shelves are one of the easiest and most versatile ways to decorate your walls — store what you need, add some decorative elements, and you’re set!

See 25 more DIY shelving ideas here plus 50 cool wall shelves here.

Build a floating shelf — a sturdy, classic shelf you can build yourself!

Easy and cheap — $5 leather and wood shelves from Shanty 2 Chic!

When we whipped our office into shape, these easy rustic wall shelves made all the difference!

I couldn’t find an original source or tutorial for this blocky corner shelf, but it’s a fine modern vibe that I’m sure a creative DIYer could recreate!

Hanging shelves are a fun and easy solution — the ombre colored shelves on this set is perfect for a kid’s room! (Ducklings in a Row)

IKEA brackets are an inexpensive way to put up a wall shelf — and who says you have to put them UNDER the shelf? See how to hack the brackets for a new look here.

Pegboard is a versatile building and decor item (see 15 ideas here) — but this DIY pegboard gives such a nice modern look to this shelf setup! (Apartment Therapy)

Floating shelves are a nice modern/minimalist look, and you can fake the look with these faux floating shelves (Turning It Home).

Use scrap wood and a couple of knobs to build a versatile wall shelf for wherever you need it.

Geometric display shelves are great for holding books and other small necessities — build 5 different shapes here.

The large letters on this personalized wall shelf from That’s My Letter make it into more than just a shelf with hooks.

Wood boxes as floating bedside shelves? Perfect! (BHG)

This bathroom pipe shelf by Ana White is a great combination of industrial and modular storage.

Seeking Lavender Lane combined industrial pipe with a rope shelf to make these shelves!

How about a hanging industrial shelf? The use of bolts makes it easy to adjust shelf placement later on, too. (Lowe’s Creative Ideas)

Think outside the box and make old drawers into wall shelves.

Suitcases? Yes, suitcases make for a fun and unique statement wall of shelves. (Red Hen Home and The Weekend Country Girl)