Your shelves offer up so much functionality and storage, but they can also give you some awesome styling opportunities, too! Whether you’re finding yourself stumped, staring at a particularly uninspiring bookshelf, with a brand new set of floating shelves on your hands or an eye-sore of a disorganised display cabinet somewhere in the corner of a room, these tips are going to come in very useful. Read on for a few professional tips and secrets for decorating your shelves beautifully, in every room of your home…
Look at the room as a whole
First, you should take a step back and have a good look at the room in question as a whole. Too many people leave this step until the end of their decorating process, only to take a look at the big picture and not really like what the see! Save yourself the trouble of starting over and do this right at the beginning. Assess how much visual weight you’d like to apply to that particular area of the room, think about tones, textures and overall design direction to guide you to accessories that will actually blend with your home.
Clear the decks, and clean them after
Once you’ve had a good look and a good think, it’s time to take action, but necessarily the action you might enjoy the most. Yep, you’re going to have to clear and clean. You just cannot add sufficiently to a room or a piece of furniture whilst you’ve got clutter clambering around. Particularly when it comes to shelves. Take absolutely everything off your shelves, bookcase or display cabinet in question. This will give you a brilliant understanding of the space that you’re working with, and also gives you an opportunity to have a good clean. Dust and dirt gathers quickly on crowded surfaces, particularly those that are higher up, so this is a must.
Think about style vs function
Although you’re wanting to decorate your shelves beautifully, you should also remember that those surfaces are meant for function, too. Gather your accessories but don’t forget to place those essential items that you need to store on your surfaces, this might include books, family photographs, work or decorative pieces. Placing these first will give you an idea of how much space you have left to play with your additional enhancements.
Keep it personal
Try to always stick to more personal items when you are styling a shelf display. It is so easy to get caught up in chasing a professional looking home, only to find yourself in a space that feels more like a set than a place to really relax and enjoy yourself. Add collectables that you’ve curated over the years, personal artwork or photographs, your favourite flowers or plants and even a trophy or two to display your pride. Anything that reflects you and your family’s personalities is going to work brilliantly.
Work within a theme
Lastly, remember that in order to strike the right balanced between polished and personal, you should do your intimate styling within a design theme. Categories include aesthetics such as Minimalism, Hamptons, Industrial, Shabby Chic, Country and French Provincial. Chances are, your home already follows one of these, if you know what your direction is then you can simply work within it. Feeling a little confused? Hop online and do some research to decipher your home’s design persuasion and to discover the rules that you should follow when styling your shelves in order to get it right the first time.
And there you have it! Follow these tips for effortless and effective shelf styling, every time.
