Styling a Bookcase or Media Unit
Styling your book case or shelving gives you a great opportunity to not only show case your favourite items, or family treasures, but also reveals your personality and style. It is very much a personal statement and not just about the books. It’s also an easy way to refresh a particular room or space. The best way to start is to completely clear the shelves or space, create a blank canvas so you can visualise the layout.
Colour Scheme
Choose a colour palette that complements your room - whether it is neutrals or something else you love. If you do go with neutral colours or monochrome you can still add a statement through a piece of glass or decorative ornament in a bolder colour.
You could also create a backdrop of colour by painting or adding wallpaper to the back of the shelves - a considered backdrop frames your books and decorative pieces, and can give older furniture a gentle refresh.
Place your Larger Items First
It helps to place larger items like vases, art, baskets or large books first - to help you create separate zones with enough distance apart to not feel too cluttered or chaotic. Stagger these larger items in a zig-zag pattern across different shelves to avoid one side from looking too heavy.
Don’t forget you can use the top of your bookshelves too - place baskets or large pots, for example, to add height and visual interest.
Displaying Books
As well as being great indicators of your tastes and interests, books add some all-important height to your displays. We prefer to place books in groups, some on their side and some vertically. You can then add in decorative items to break up these groups.
Stack coffee table books on their side in ascending size and place an object on top - it could be a family keepsake, something from your travels, or an interesting vase or decorative object - importantly it fills the space above the books and provides visual interest. You could also use some book boxes stacked together - these provide handy storage too.
You can also use bookends or other interesting objects to flank a vertical display of books, making sure you leave some space between the set of books/object and a nearby vignette so it doesn’t feel too cluttered and gives the items room to show off!
For those of you that have a more extensive collection of books to display, think about grouping by the spine colour, or tie in books with beautiful spines alongside the colours you have chosen.
Odd Numbers
Styling items in ones, threes or fives is important to remember when styling your shelves. Why? Our brain finds groups of odd numbers more appealing and memorable. When arranging items to style your shelves, group them together in odd numbers – ideally three, and experimenting with different heights and materials. A simple tip, but one that will help to achieve a pleasing aesthetic.
Art on the Shelves
We love to place (or “lean”) a piece of art, or photograph or print against the back of the shelf. As well as drawing your eye to the rear of the unit and making it seem more open and deeper it also gives another opportunity to add colour, shape and height. Once you have selected your piece of art, choose one to three items to layer in front to make a small collection, ensuring they are varying heights sizes and colours.
Layering Objects
Styling your shelves is the perfect opportunity to display your favourite pieces and reflect your personality - it could be some much loved vintage glasses, or a keepsake from your travels, or some beautiful candleholders - just make sure they are of varying heights and sizes with the smaller pieces at the front. It works well if you can incorporate a mix of shapes - square round, oval - and of varying textures - wood, metal, glass, fabric - to keep things visually interesting.
Add Greenery and Texture
Plants add different visual interest and make a room feel homely. Look for smaller varieties with eye appeal, such as succulents or trailing greenery - you don’t want them to overwhelm the shelves and detract from everything else. A similar colour palette when choosing pots will help ensure a cohesive look if you choose to have several plants on display. Baskets and textured items also bring life and warmth to the shelves.
Martini anyone?
You could also consider using a shelf as a drinks station - display beautiful glassware, bar tools and your favourite tipples.
Don’t forget about lighting
Lighting is a must to enhance your favourite items. It can be tricky if you don’t have a socket nearby, or have trouble finding a small lamp for the space.
Think about using a rechargeable LED lamp, or we love to use the LED pillar candles on shelves and bookcases. They add great ambient lighting and there are no safety worries. They can be placed in groups of three or five or used in votives and lanterns.
Now you can step back and relax, check for balance and breathing room between items. Make some adjustments if you need to. Then maybe take a moment to have that Martini.
Kara and Mark
Useful links to our collections:
Decorative Ornaments | Vases and Planters | Candle Holders | Photo Frames |
Coffee Table and Lifestyle Books | LED Candles | Lamps and Lighting |
