Lace Edging for Shelves

Style

• Lace edging lends to a feminine and romantic atmosphere in most rooms of the house, particularly in the bedroom for a soft and lovely layered look. Match lace shelf trim to trim around lampshades and window ledges to create a harmonic look. In the rest of the house, lace is most at home in country style and vintage décor because it looks very homey and gives a hand-crafted touch, or Victorian décor, which is very ornate and frilly.

Types

• If you’re just lining the edges of a shelf, lace with scalloped edging makes an attractive look. If you are lining all edges of a shelving unit, consider a strip of straight-edged lace for the vertical edges. Double- and triple-layered lace edging or lace with a ribbon inlay can give the edging an even softer, fuller appearance.

Colors and Contrast

• If you don’t want the lace to be too bold, choose lace edging the same color as the shelf, or at least the same color as the edges of the shelves. Pick out a color of lace that matches your shelves. Alternately, paint or paper the shelves if desired to match the lace. If the lace color is different from the shelf edge color, it’s going to be very noticeable. You may welcome this contrast and pair a bold red or blue shelf with white lace, or a chocolate brown shelf with cotton candy pink.

Measurements

• Measure encased shelves from one edge to the other. If your walls are not set in nook or casing, wrap the measuring tape around both side edges so the look will be continuous. The width of the lace edging you choose should be slightly wider than the width of your shelf.

Adhesives

• A hot glue gun is an effective adhesive for lace, and the benefit is that it will readily peel off most surfaces cleanly, even if years have passed. For metal, wood, painted or laminated shelves, it is an excellent option. Another option is white craft glue because it dries transparent. Double-sided tape is an option, though will not come off very cleanly and will leave a tacky residue behind on your shelf edges.