Bookshelves are a fun accent for any room and they can be a great place to keep treasures from your travels, store your favorite books, or display your favorite decor items. (Or like us, it’s a home for too many plants!)
While shelves are obviously great for stuff, they can also become overcrowded or not styled correctly. We want your shelf to make a statement that reflects your style and personality, but we know that filling a bookshelf and making it look nice can be a daunting task, which is why we gathered our top 10 tricks for making the shelf-decorating process as enjoyable and painless as possible!
1. Stay away from the “Terrible 2’s.”
You don’t want your bookshelf to look like a parallel race track. Asymmetrical design helps the eye flow through the shelves and leaves small impacts on each shelf.
2. Staggering is key.
Don’t put everything in a straight line! Staggering your items can create a balanced look and allow a few items to properly fill the space.
3. Variety works best!
Have a mixture of books and plants and vases. No one wants to look at 3 of the exact same thing.
4. If you have a cluster keep it in groupings of 1 or 3.
Clusters of items can make your items look purposeful, but when doing this, try to keep your cluster in groupings of 1 or 3.
5. Less is more.
Keep is simple when decorating shelves and don’t be afraid of negative space!
6. Start big.
Begin decorating your shelf with larger statement pieces and then work your way down to the smaller and more detailed items.
7. Layer your items.
Layering different pieces can bring an aspect of depth and detail. This could look like thick decorative beads on a tray or a plant on top of a stack of books.
8. Bring in some bling.
Make your shelf pop by mixing metals.
9. Art.
Art can fill in the gaps of a shelf and be a beautiful statement piece.
10.Take a step back.
When you are finish decorating with your shelf, always take a step back to see if anything looks funky. Then you can edit things in or out, or move things around a bit. Ask yourself is anything is missing or if there are items that are overpowering and should be moved around.
Shelves can be tricky to decorate, especially because you need so many different and unique items! Choose a few of your favorite statement pieces and then fill in with items such as books, plants, and pictures. We can’t wait to see what you design!
Happy Sunday!
Xoxo, Renew Home