Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » diy wednesdays: tea shelf

shelf1
recently, we’ve been exploring the amazing selection of loose leaf teas at our local hippie coop grocery store (oh, san francisco….). We’ve been collecting little samples of calming herbals, invigorating blacks, and exotic mixes of every plant and herb you can imagine. taking a cue from grandpa’s garage workshop, we put together a simple organized shelf where we can hang and display our current selection of teas and the cute accoutrements that go along with them.

happy tea time!
derek & lauren

CLICK HERE for the full instructions after the jump!

here’s what you’ll need:
a thin shelf (we used a white “ribba” art shelf from ikea that is about 21” long)
3 small glass jars
3 short screws
spray paint for painting jar lids (optional)
2 cup hooks
cordless drill or screwdriver

shelf2

1. paint jar lids if desired.
2. using a small drill bit, drill a hole through the center of each lid.
3. measure, mark and drill pilot holes for lids and cup hooks on the bottom of your shelf.
4. secure lids and cup hooks to your shelf.
5. hang shelf on wall using appropriate hardware.
6. attach jars, hang cups and fill shelf with your favorite teas and accessories.

shelf3

Awesome! Thanks for this post. My grandpop used to organize his shelves in his workshop like this. All sizes and kinds of screw, nails and other doodads in little baby food or other glass jars with the lids attached to the shelf. Aaahh, nostalgia!

I love this! I’ve been wanting something creative to do with tea, my husband works at starbucks and he brings home a box of tea every week, and they are really starting to pile up in my pantry! Thanks for all the great projects!

What a wonderful idea! But I have to caution one thing… teas should be kept in a dark and airtight container, otherwise they go “bad.” Hard to believe, I know, but take it from someone who has a “tea problem,” you learn the mistake early…

OOOOHHHH I love it! I need more decorative storage in my kitchen. I’m going to do one for tea and one for spices like Jenn P. suggested. Some super cute wallpapered labels and colorful lids to easily spot what you need/have on hand!

ugh! i’m kicking myself right now for recycling all of my daughters baby food jars! she’s one now and rarely eats food from a jar. but i’m totally going to do this in my kitchen. and maybe my shed too!

I would like to do this for the gazillion of beads and beading supply in my daughter’s room. She could use the hooks to hang up her scissors.

I also really like the idea of a spice rack for the kitchen.

My youngest is still consuming tons of applesauce out of baby food jars. I just used about 50 with candles for a party in our garden.

I love this idea. I built one this weekend using a bamboo shelf I got at Target for $10. I love the way it looks, plus it’s great having all my tea supplies in one spot. No more searching for tea balls just as my water is starting to boil.

I’ll post pics in a follow up post!

I’m totally making this! I was trying to solve the keeping tea in a dark place problem while keeping the look of the jars and I have two ideas. 1) line the inside of the jars with dark tissue paper for appearance and wax paper or parchment paper to hold the tea. 2) (my favorite) paint the outside of the jars with chalkboard paint so that you can write what is inside and erase it when you change out the tea.

Hi great idea I created something similar as a spice rack using Schwartz refill jars, looks great in the kitchen, only thing might be worth putting two screws offset slightly from centre in the lids??? as after a while of tightening jars the lids will spin round a single central screw. Still great though

I finally made one! Love it love it love it! It’s up on my website. To address what Chris(UK) said, I agree – either use 2 screws or use some heavy duty glue around the lids – construction glue that can fill in gaps. That has worked so far.

Write a Comment:

Design*Sponge reserves the right to restrict comments that do not contribute constructively to the conversation at hand, contain profanity, personal attacks or seek to promote a personal or unrelated business.