I was decorating a living room recently where there was an awkward wall space leading from the front door to the kitchen. The existing homeowner had placed a couch here, which I felt was cumbersome and blocked the walkway. But the space needed something. Simply putting some pictures on the wall was not going to suffice.

What it really needed was a cabinet built-in, but the budget was limited and that was just not going to happen. So instead I found some Target shelves on sale ($7 each!) and created a built-in type feel for the wall. It was simple, cost effective and fit the space perfectly!

The key to making these shelves look great was minimizing the amount of items on the shelves. Adding too many knick-knacks can make it look cluttered and messy. Picking items that fit in a color scheme and keeping it simple makes it look more polished.