IKEA Fabian Shelf Turned Into a Cheap Hanging Garden Shelf

Just moved to a new house and have a few old Fabian shelves that do not really match the new house's deco. However for the backyard it works perfectly well! I have been looking for some reinforced metal shelves (like Gruntal) but it doesn't quite match the garden.

Salvage the old Fabian shelves (the cheapest in IKEA completed with its own bracket), drill some holes and reinforce the shelf to the wall with some extra brackets and voila!

Step 1: Drill Some Holes

I treated the wood plank with a coat of clear gloss for better weather resistance. You might want to do that too if it's to be installed at outdoor.

Drill holes with drilling bits at about 2cm from the edge of the plank. With the size of my hanging pot I think 3 holes are just about perfect. With smaller pots we may make it to four holes. Be sure you space the holes proportionally.

I used Utsaga S-hooks from the kitchen (it's now discontinued but any S-hooks will do) to hook on the holes.

Step 2: Attach Extra Tiny L-brackets

Get some tiny L-brackets from the hardware shop and screw it on the other edge. These brackets will reinforce the connection on the wall to prevent it from falling/sagging due to the pulling weight of the heavy pots.

Step 3: Hang the Shelf on the Wall

Now hang the shelf on the wall. The extra brackets were used to attach the shelf on the wall in addition to the original brackets.

Step 4: Hang Your Potted Plants

Now your favourite hanging potted plants have some place to hang on to! The shelf above can be used for extra plants too!