Labeling a Wood Shelf

I often think of organizing as “inventory management” since all things in the home cost money and cost effort to procure them. Being able to keep up with, use, and enjoy possessions is a way that I like to make sure that the money and effort was not wasted. It sometimes helps me to think of organizing closets, kitchens, and pantries as if I was running a store, a commercial kitchen, or a nurses’ station. I want things to be super clear for everyone who handles the inventory, i.e. my family! Ha!

Which brings me to talk about labeling, and in this case, labeling a shelf instead of labeling a bin or basket. In my own master closet, I have ten felt bins from Target (which I love because they slide smoothly across the finish of the shelf) but I didn’t want to label these in particular with my usual bin clip label obsession (though I totally could have and it would have worked just fine).

I have liked these metal clip-on-shelf labels at The Container Store and figured this was a good time to try them out! They can fit a shelf up to 3/4” thick. You could conceivably forgo a clip altogether, but then it will be an ordeal to remove adhesive or writing from a shelf, and it doesn’t look as polished. I much prefer having flexible organization that can be moved around as things change.

The labels came with paper but I wanted them to be black so they would show up well on the shelf. I used a white chalk marker (we love this Martha Stewart chalk pen) to write the contents of each basket. I love the finished product, see a few more photos below!

— Tara