Style your shelves like a pro
If you follow our work, you’ve probably figured out that we love a great shelfie. Shelves offer handy storage in almost any room, from a kitchen to a home office, and allow you to make use of otherwise wasted space like corners. Changing up the contents is a great way to refresh the look, and we have some quick tips to style your shelves like a pro.
How to style your shelves for Pinterest-worthy results
Start fresh
This can be the hardest part because it feels overwhelming, especially if your shelves are cluttered. Take everything off of them, stack the items neatly, and clean top to bottom. Now you’ve got a blank slate to work with. Next, turn your attention to the stacks you made when you cleared the shelves. Make three groups: “must haves,” like favorite books or photos; “maybes,” such as decor that you really like and want to keep if possible; and “goodbyes,” which are the items that you don’t love anymore, seem past their prime, or just don’t go with the space. This gives you a workable foundation, and you can layer the “maybes” in with the “must haves” as you go.
Think vertical
Shelves (usually) run horizontally. When you’re styling them, you need to balance that with vertical configurations that draw the eye up and down, not side to side. That doesn’t meant that everything has to be upright, because you want some variety to break things up and add visual interest. Play around with different configurations of groupings and stacks of books along with objects, like vases or frames. There’s no right or wrong, so move things around until they start to click for you.
Balance it out
Like everything else in design, a well-styled shelf needs balance. Don’t second guess yourself too much here; most of us have a sense of when something feels a bit off. As you’re placing books, pottery, plants, and other objects, you start to get a sense of when it’s coming together. What does that mean? Mix up horizontal and vertical groupings so that they create some symmetry without being mirror images of each other.
Personalize it
Here’s the main thing about styling your shelves: you don’t want them to be too “perfect,” or else they’ll feel like they belong in a magazine, not your home. When we photograph our projects, we remove personal photos for privacy reasons, but these are some of the most lovely things to add to your home as decor. They evoke memories of the most important people and times in our lives. Mementos from vacations, keepsakes from beloved relatives, really anything that makes you happy can go here. How fabulous is the vintage typewriter in our Society Hill living room?
You can also use things like baskets and pretty boxes to store essentials out of sight. This has the added bonus of keeping frequently-needed items right at hand while staying tidy and polished.
Are you itching to style your shelves now? Do you have any particular questions for us? We’d love to hear them!
Header image: Wyndmoor home office by Glenna Stone; Photo by Rebecca McAlpin
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Glenna Stone Interior Design is an award-winning Philadelphia interior design firm serving Philadelphia, the Main Line, and surrounding cities. Utilizing her background and training in interior design, architecture, and engineering, Glenna specializes in creating interiors for residential and commercial design settings. We invite you to visit our website, view our portfolio, and catch up on the latest interior design concepts on our blog!