# A dashed line labelled REACH splits a shelf unit in two

> An elevation of a four-shelf unit on bone — hollow outlines below a dashed REACH line, solid packed shapes above it, and one object caught mid-move.

August 21, 2026 · https://justog.club/stories/the-thing-you-moved-out-of-reach

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](/stories/the-stair-gate-that-stayed-up) or [a
window catch added for one animal is never the first fitting anyone thinks to
remove](/stories/the-window-you-keep-shut-now). 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](/stories/the-ramp-somebody-made) — 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](/shop).

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