Introducing the 'Shelf Skirt' — The Aesthetic Way to Hide Your Clutter and Add Softness That You Can (Probably) Make in a Weekend

You might be familiar with the idea of the sink skirt, but the shelf skirt is something a bit less common. But while it’s not something you see every day, it’s a recurring design concept I’ve come across in interior designers’ projects that I feel is overlooked.

It does double duty — yes, it brings a sense of softness to your shelving ideas in a way that’s hard to replicate, as well as different textures of fabric, color, and (if you so desire) pattern, but it’s also an ingenious way to add some out-of-sight storage to a space, and make use of those awkward, underutilized spots lower to the floor.

With shelving storage, it’s hard not to have everything on show, but the idea of the shelf skirt offers you an opportunity to hide those less aesthetic moments without having to invest in an expensive joinery project. In fact, this is the perfect weekend project, requiring just a curtain wire and a set of short curtains that you can hem to size (or even use hem tape if you’re not sewing machine-minded).

Here are four designer projects to inspire you to bring this idea home.

1. Low Priority

Interior designers Muriel Gregoir and Frédéric Vankeijmeulen of Duo Grevan still needed to find living room storage for their books and board games in their Provence home, so they added this striped fabric skirt under a low ledge. “The soft curves of the skirt also bring a touch of romance and roundness to the more geometrical corner.”

2. Shock Value

In this Madrid apartment, studio Casa Josephine used this skirted shelf inspired by village farmhouses with a shock of fluorescent color. “The decoration we used is heavy in style and period, from religious sculptures to 17th-century tapestries, so we necessarily felt that we needed to balance all that seriousness with brighter colors,” says co-founder Pablo López Navarro.

It feels like a slightly uncomfortable color with these rustic decor objects, but this tension is what makes for such a dynamic design.

3. Split Screen

Applying the idea to this gridded shelf in European interiors brand Dusty Deco’s show apartment gives a fresh twist to the classic gallery wall. It’s ideal for when you’d rather not display objects at floor level — adding useful storage while keeping the decorative rhythm intact.

4. Hall Pass

For a different take on skirted storage, the architects of this East Hampton home designed joinery for the modern hallway between the primary bedroom and bathroom. “It was designed to house the client's linens,” explains Maureen McDermott, founder of Winter McDermott, the studio that interior designed the home. “The curtain hides the laundry baskets,” she explains.

It's an interesting take on the sink skirt trend, that I feel has a little broader appeal. Textiles and water don't always work well together, after all, and I've always been offput by non-outdoor fabrics in a steamy bathroom or where you're dealing with food waste.

This idea, however, I can get on board with.