Shelves for the Animals and Dollies

I found this idea on Pinterest, and I've been plotting to duplicate it ever since.  I thought it would be a great home for our well-loved stuffed animal population in each of the kids' rooms.  The shelves remind me of little swings for the animals.

Of course, I couldn't find the original source or directions on how to do it, so I just had to figure it out myself.  It looked to me like the creator used D-rings, strips of cute fabric sewn together, and boards cut to fit.  I decided to use two layers of 1 1/2" grosgrain ribbon instead of fabric, and IKEA EKBY shelves, which are already the right size.  I've been pondering how to do it for a long time, but the actual project didn't take very long, or cost very much.

And here are what D-rings look like in the packages.

I used a stud finder and marked the studs that I wanted to use to anchor the D-rings.  Here's what that looked like up close, with the ribbon threaded through the D rings.  (I added a second nail later, to secure the top D.)

Here's the first shelf I hung in Grace's room, with the studs still marked.

I made sure it was level and centered.  I had spent some time deciding how tall I wanted each shelf to be, and how high above little hands, and what size stuffed animals would fit.  Each one is between 14 and 16 inches tall, but I can adjust that later if I need to because the ribbons are just like a belt on the D rings.

For Grace's room, which is very polka dotty, I used polka dotted ribbon to hang the shelves.  They aren't exactly the way I pictured them, but Grace likes them, and they'll be easy to modify if I want to later.  And the animals and dollies look happy, right?

For the boys' room, which just has bright colors and boyish things, I used robot ribbon and red solid ribbon.  Jonathan told me it would have been better if I found ribbon with gears on it, but that doesn't seem to be a popular theme on ribbons, so robots had to do.  The shelves in both rooms are the same width, but the studs in the wall are farther apart in her room than in his, so the shelves look a little different.  The boys love them.  Now that they can see their animals better, Benjamin has been requesting different ones to sleep with a lot more often!

I'm thankful to have one more house project done.  After three months living here, I think I *almost* have the kids' rooms the way I want them.  I'm going to tackle hanging up their pictures next...now that I know how much wall space I have.