A dashed line labelled REACH splits a shelf unit in two

A four-shelf unit, drawn in elevation. The bottom two shelves hold objects as plain empty outlines. The top two hold the same kinds of object as solid, filled shapes, packed close together. A dashed line runs between the second and third shelves, labelled REACH. A small curved arrow shows one object crossing it, bottom to top.

Nobody sorted this shelf by size or by how often anything gets used. It's sorted by height.

Why is the shelf split into hollow and solid shapes?

Because it's drawing two different states, not two different kinds of object.

Hollow below the line, solid above it: the same household possessions, drawn as outlines where an animal could reach them and as filled, present objects where it can't. It isn't describing what the objects are. It's describing where they're safe to leave.

What does the word REACH actually mark?

A boundary set by one animal's height, not a shelf that came built that way.

The line sits between the second and third shelves because that's where this particular animal's reach happens to stop — a fixed height for as long as it's relevant, and one that would sit somewhere else entirely in a different house with a different animal, or the same house years earlier or later.

Why does the top of the shelf look crowded?

Because everything the household used to spread across four shelves now competes for two.

The packed, solid shapes above the line are the real cost of the arrangement — not the bare bottom shelves, which cost nothing to leave empty, but the top ones, which now hold twice what they were built to hold. A shelf unit doesn't get bigger just because half of it stopped being usable.

Does the bottom of the shelf ever go back to being used?

Often not for a long time, even after the reason for the line has passed.

A boundary set for one reason tends to outlast that reason, the same way a stair gate stays fitted long after it was needed for anything else or a window catch added for one animal is never the first fitting anyone thinks to remove. Nobody schedules the moment a shelf gets un-sorted. It just tends to stay how it ended up.

Does the arrow matter, or is it just decoration?

It's the one mark on the shelf that shows a decision actually being made, rather than a state that already existed.

The hollow-and-solid split shows where things ended up. The arrow shows the moment an object crossed from one side to the other — somebody picking it up off a low shelf and setting it down on a high one, on purpose, because of where the line sits. Without it, the drawing would only show a result.

Do I need permission to draw a shelf unit like this?

No, if it's a plain four-shelf frame with no manufacturer's design details, no branded hardware and no recognisable retailer's product line drawn into it. A generic shelf, drawn generically, belongs to nobody in particular.

Isn't reorganising a whole shelf around one animal excessive?

It reads as excessive only from outside the house doing it.

From inside, it's the same kind of small, repeated adjustment as a ramp knocked together in an afternoon out of one plank and two offcuts — nobody drew up a plan first. Something got knocked off a low shelf once, or nearly did, and afterwards things went on the top shelves as a matter of course.

Does it print well?

Yes — the contrast between hollow outline and solid fill is a strong, simple print that survives fabric well, and it's also the whole idea, so nothing about it needs softening.

Keep the outlines a thin, clean line with no fill at all, and the solid shapes a flat single tone with no shading inside them, so the eye reads "empty" and "full" instantly rather than working it out. Bone, pale grey or a warm cream all keep the dashed REACH line legible without it fighting for attention against the shapes either side of it.

How do I get one made?

Describe the shelf at JustOG — how many shelves sit below the line, and what's crossing it. Pick a direction, drag the crop frame, see it composited on the real garment, and it's made to order and shipped.

Designs other people have published are in the shop.

A dashed line, one word beside it, and a shelf unit that now holds everything on half its shelves.