Transforming bookshelves from a stuffy library to a beautiful design element in your home requires a little insight and practice. It’s worth the effort, as almost every home needs some kind of shelf decor to avoid the “stuffy soldier” look. Here are some quick tutorials on how to style a bookcase! With some practice, you can transform cluttered shelves into warm design details. Tip: Don’t think you need to run to the decor store for this easy update – you can find most of the items you need to style bookshelves in your cupboards, closets, and tabletops!
Shelf Decor: How to Decorate a Bookshelf
Emily Henderson’s perfect 3-step process to follow to learn how to decorate bookshelves is to introduce items other than books! Adding art, collectibles, or even a plant or two adds life to your display, and the contrast in shape and texture adds interest. Want to add plants? Awesome idea! Check out our post on the best low-light houseplants over at TGG.
Mix things up. Have some of your books vertical, and some in a horizontal stack. This one trick alone can add a professional touch to your display. Room for Tuesday knows all the tricks for shelf decor when you have more books than things.
Use a variety of shapes, but try to keep all your items sticking to a color, theme, or style. The Everygirl shares perfectly done shelf decor, and maintains the color consistency with the books by turning them around. Brilliant, right? You notice that this styling actually does line up the books, against some of the tips you may have heard up until now. That’s because, my friends, they aren’t so much rules, just guidelines. And while the books may line up, the individual vignettes are less symmetrical.
Don’t be afraid to move things! Remember what I said about practice? The only way to get it right is to change things around, try new ideas, and to keep moving things until you find a shelf decor style you like.
Got shelves? Take 15 minutes right now, bring in a few well-loved display items from other rooms, clear off the shelves, and start again with the guidelines you just learned. Pretty shelf displays bring balance to any room. Give it a try, you could always put back the mess if you don’t like it. (But why would you?) Now jump right on over to our posts on 15 Home Decor Ideas That Are Free and our Boho Living Room Tour. Also, check out 13 Indoor Plant Shelf Ideas over at OhMeOhMy!
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