Radiator shelves are a fairly simple DIY solution if you want to create extra storage space. All you need is a prefabricated shelf, mounting brackets, a few screws, and a bit of patience. We already put up a radiator shelf in our kitchen at the beginning of the year, as you can see in the picture below.

This was before Marchie got really sick, when she was still able to accompany me everywhere. It’s still so heart-wrenching to look at pictures of her … my darling girl. My therapist suggested to create a place in our apartment dedicated to her memory. Since she always wanted to be where we were, this obviously had to be in the spot where we spent most of our time – on our couch in the living room. Immediately I thought that behind the couch on top of the radiator would be the perfect place. She’d have loved to look down on her queendom while being just in reach of her humans for intense cuddle sessions.

To be honest, we had a couple of hiccups installing the radiator shelf this time around. I had ordered the framed picture of her before I bought the material for the shelf. This meant we had to adapt the height of the shelf to fit under the picture, when it would’ve been easier the other way round. In the end, we shortened the brackets with a metal saw. In addition, the radiator in our living room is closer to the wall than the one in our kitchen. That meant that it was really difficult to mount the shelf on top of the bracket.

It took us several attempts-slash-meltdowns to finish this DIY, and I’m pretty sure Philip was ready to adopt me out at several points. In the end I’m glad we persevered. I cried when I first saw the finished “shrine”. Partly out of grief, but partly because I was happy that we could give Marchie the place of honour that she deserved.