Make an Adjustable Macrame Shelf for Home Storage

How to make a hanging macrame shelf with easily adjustable shelves and use it to decorate your home, use as a bedside stand, or as a plant holder.

I’ve been giving the bedroom in our camper at the pond a refresh over the past few weeks. The room is very small, as you can imagine in a camper.

I wanted to have some storage space near the bed to use as a nightstand. There isn’t any room in the space to put a traditional bedside table that stands on the floor.

So, I decided to make a small shelf that hangs next to it. Or is it a table? Or a nightstand?

I guess at this point I would call it a floating bohemian bedside table.

Bohemian Floating Table

I’m a beginner to intermediate macrameer. Is that a word? Probably not. Anyways, I do a little macrame, but I wouldn’t consider myself an expert.

I started with a metal ring that I could hang it from, and used three different knots to form the top of the macrame framework for the table.

Then, I used some wood I had left over from another project to make the shelves.

I finished it by threading the macrame framework through the shelves and my favorite part…adding macrame knots to the framework so they can be moved up and down to adjust the shelves!

Supplies to Make an Adjustable Macrame Shelf

• 4mm Macrame Cord
• Wooden or metal ring (I used 1 1/4 inch)
• Wood for shelves
• Stain or Polycrylic (for wooden shelves, if you want)
• Paint brush
• Circular saw with blade
• Kreg Accucut
• Jig Saw with blade
• Drill and drill bit
• Sandpaper
• Measuring tape

Step 1: Measure and Cut Wood for Shelves

First, I measured the space where I was going to hang my macrame shelf, next to the bed in our camper. I decided to make each shelf approximately 11 inches x 11 inches.

Next, using my Kreg AccuCut, I cut my plywood to that size. I cut out three wooden shelves.

Note about wood for shelves: I used scraps of hardwood plywood that I had laying around my garage. If you are not interested in cutting wood here are a couple of options: Most craft supply stores sell many different shapes and sizes of wooden craft panels. Also, many home improvement stores carry precut wood panels. I have not tried using these precut panels on this project, so I don’t know how it would turn out. Message me, in the comments below, and let me know how it works if you try it.

Step 2: Finish Wooden Shelves

I knew my hanging shelf was going to be close to the bed and I didn’t want to run into it and get stabbed by a sharp corner. So, I decided to round the corners of my wood shelf pieces.

To do this, I used a glass from my kitchen and traced around the lip of it onto the corner of the wood with a pencil. Then, I used my jig saw and carefully cut along the pencil marks I had just traced onto the wood.

To give the wooden shelf a finished look, I then applied edge banding to all of the edges of my plywood shelves and completely sanded them.

Lastly, I wiped the dust off my wood with a damp cloth and applied a coat of Polycrylic to protect the wood from water and staining.

Step 3: Make the Hanging Macrame Shelf Pattern

I started the macrame frame for this floating shelf with a 1 1/4 inch wire ring. Alternately, you could use a wooden ring.

I cut eight pieces of macrame string to 18 feet long. I usually use a measuring tape to measure the first string and then just use the length of the first string to measure the remaining strings.

In this macrame shelf pattern I used three different macrame knots. The crown and wrapping knots for the top of the shelf. And the square and wrapping knot for the remainder of the shelf.

Crown Macrame Knot

I used my, new favorite, crown macrame knot first, for the top of the macrame shelf frame. I learned this knot a few months ago and I am in love with the stylish look it gives macrame projects!

If you haven’t made this knot before, it can look a little confusing at first. Take it slow and be patient, it’s worth it.

Thread four of the 18-foot macrame cords through the metal ring horizontally and the other four through vertically, so it looks like a plus sign in the middle of the ring. The ring should be in the middle of the rope lengths. So, there should be equal amounts of rope on each side horizontally and vertically.

Now, working in a clockwise direction, place the 12 o’clock strings over the 3 o’clock strings. Next, place the 3 o’clock strings over the 6 o’clock strings. Then the 6 o’clock strings over the 9 o’clock strings. Finally, place the 9 o’clock strings through the space you created with the first string placement.

Next, pull the strings that are facing vertically away from the metal ring. And do the same with the strings that are facing horizontally, to start to tighten the knot.

Tighten the knot all the way and repeat twelve more times. You should have something that looks like this:

Spiral Macrame Knot

Once you have completed the crown knot, it’s time to move on to the next section of the pattern.

Use a measuring tape to measure, four of the strings, down about 3.5 inches. This will be an empty space of just string before you begin your next knots.

Take those same four strings and, at 3.5 inches, start your first knot. Pull your first string over the 2nd and 3rd strings.

Then, with your 4th string laying over your 1st string, push it under the 2nd and 3rd strings and up through the space in between the 1st and 2nd strings. Pull tight.

Repeat these steps to make the spiral knot 19 more times. You should end up with something looking like this:

I also added a wrapping knot to the end of these spiral knots.

Step 4: Assemble Macrame Shelf

The first step in assembling this floating shelf is to drill holes in each corner of the wood shelves.

For this step, I made a jig from a piece of scrap wood. In a corner of the piece of scrap wood, I measured with a measuring tape, in one inch, from each side of the wood. I drew lines, in pencil, with my square. At the intersection of the two lines, I drilled a 5/16-inch hole.

To use the jig, I lined it up with each side of the wood in a corner of my wooden shelves and drilled a hole. I repeated this in all twelve corners of the shelves. This is where my macrame string will be threaded through.

Next, I sanded with 220 grit sandpaper in and around each hole.

Then, I threaded one of the macrame sections that I had knotted in the previous step (four strings from original pattern) through each of the corner holes in the wooden shelves. I repeated this for each of the three shelves.

To make this process go smoothly I would recommend securing the ends of the four ropes tightly with tape (I used painters’ tape), twisting the ropes back and forth to get the rope started through the hole, and pulling the rope through gently and slowly.

Step 5: Make the Shelf Adjustable

To make this shelf adjustable I added macrame knots to each of the macrame framework strings under each wooden shelf.

That sounds confusing. I just tied spiral macrame knots onto the strings in between the first and second shelf and second and third shelf so that they were tight but could still slide up and down to adjust the heights of the shelves.

Then, I added a wrapping knot to the bottom the knots that I just tied.

See above how the knots that I tied around each of the cords between the shelves allow the wooden shelves to be adjustable! This is the one hanging macrame shelf that I made with shelves in different positions!

I’m really happy with how my adjustable macrame shelf turned out. I love how it looks, how it fits in with the modern bohemian vibe of our camper decor and how it fits the space and functions well as a little nightstand in the little camper bedroom.

Could you use a shelf like this in your home? What would you use it for?

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