The Best Way to Style Your Shelves

Believe it or not, shelves are a big thing in the interior world. The hashtag #shelfie has over 2.1 million posts and has loads of offspring like #shelfiesunday, #shelfiedecor, and #shelfielove.

The shelves under my stairs are still my most liked post on Instagram and any posts with a shelf or bookshelf in it do well.

Why is that? I don’t really know the answer but I think people just like “stuff” cleverly displayed together that doesn’t look like sh!t.

A bit like gallery walls, I often get people messaging me saying they want to put a shelf up but don’t know where to start when it comes to styling it, so I thought I’d put a quick blog post together to give you some inspiration.

I’ve recently put up these amazing Link Shelves by Fy! and you can read about my office/play room revamp here.

Stuff

That’s right, stuff! You’ll need lots of stuff to style it up. Now, you’ve probably gone and bought a shelf or a bookcase to put, you know, books on them! But there’s still no reason that it can’t look stylish.

If you have just bought your bookcase to put books on them, then this blog post probably isn’t for you! But if you’ve bought some shelves because you want to jazz up a corner of your room and impress your Instagram followers (we ALL want to do that, let’s face it!), then read on…

How to layer

Start with larger items first like baskets or art/prints so you can see how much space you have to play with. If you want to put some books (shock horror) on a shelf, then place them next.

Don’t feel like you have to put them all together on one shelf, they look better mixed up and in odd numbers!

Next, fill your shelves with plants which add a pop of colour and life to a shelf and if you have hanging plants, this will help determine what to put underneath them.

Finally, the decorative objects can easily be slotted into the spaces that are left.

And what about a theme?

I think it all depends on the room they are in. If the room is quite neutral, then keep it neutral with monochrome art and a few plants to give the shelves a bit of life.

If you have a color scheme running throughout the room already, add pieces onto the shelf that reflect that scheme.

My office already had lots of green and pink, plants, and natural elements like wood and rattan in the room so I decided to keep my shelves similar. I get asked a lot of questions about color and what to put in a gallery wall or shelves and I think you just have to go with what you love.

If you already have a collection of items ready to go, lay them out and I think 9 times out of 10, you will already see a theme running through them, so stick with it.

A colourful retro feel in the kitchen. Image credit: @nest_number_9

Now, what do I put on them?

I’d start with baskets or boxes or anything to keep your “not worthy for insta” stuff hidden away! We have large baskets at the bottom of our hallway bookcase which holds all our shoes, scarves, gloves, and whatever else the kids decide to throw in (think Lego pieces, discarded apply cores. Yes, my kids are total grotbags) and they are the best addition to our house ever. Fact.

Art/prints

Next on the list are your art pieces. Go for different sizes and place them on different shelves. The bigger or taller art pieces should go at the top as they are great for adding height. I tend to put the smaller pieces at the bottom so they are easily seen.

Again, keep the color theme of the art or prints the same as either the room or the items going on the shelf. Unless you’re going for full-on rainbow!

Books

What shelves were made for! I always try to add a few books on any shelf and mix it up. Stack them vertically and horizontally and instead of keeping them all together, space them out over the shelves.

You can also add height and layering by placing small items on top of your vertical books like a small candle or decorative item.

I absolutely love how Martha has styled her colorful books on her shelves, matching the books with colour-coordinated vases! She has also written a book called Shelfie on how to style your shelves!

Plants

Plants are fabulous at adding life to your shelf, just like they are in your home. I think the best kind of plants to use on a shelf are succulents, cactuses, and hanging plants like English Ivy, Pothos, String of Pearls, and the Lipstick Plant.

There are so many plant pots to choose from these days, they can also add color and texture to your shelf.

Typography

Typography is hugely popular in the home and I think it is also a great way to add interest to your shelves. Go with your favorite quote in a frame or add letters or words as a stand-along piece.

Candles

Where are you going to put that huge collection of candles that are currently gathering dust in multiple drawers? Your shelves of course. Again, they can be a fabulous decorative piece in their own right, or they look great stacked on top of vertical books.

Just remember to take them off your shelves when you light them to save you from burning the shelf above like I did! I wondered why the scent smelt so “woody”

Vases of stuff

I also have a few vases dotted around the shelves which have faux flowers, peacock leaves, and pencils in them. Again, vases are a great way to display objects and add color and texture to your shelf.

Metallics

This leads me to metallic homewares! I love metallic items like brass, gold, copper, and silver. They bounce light back from the shelves and again add a real feature and focal point to the shelves.

You can place metallic candle holders, plant pots, vases, and letters, just make sure you stick to the same elements like gold, brass, copper, etc, or silver and nickel.

And finally, the fun part!

Fill the left-over spaces with decorative items! Anything goes really, display all the little knick-knacks that you have collected over the years from colorful bottles, paint tester pots, animal ornaments, or a favorite pot.

Play around with your styling as at first, you might think that something will not go with the rest of the items on the shelves. But when you stand back, you realize it was always meant to be there!

You’ve styled your shelfie!

As you are adding pieces to your shelves, it is always a good idea to stand back and make sure it is working for you. There really are no rules when it comes to styling, these are just guidelines to help you get on your way.

To make your shelves really work, keep to the same color palette as the room. Or, if the room is very neutral you could add some brightly colored items on your shelf to really make it pop!

But, most importantly, display items you love. I always get asked so many questions about how to style a room, create a gallery wall, or use color in general.

I think if you stick to items and colors that you truly love, you will find that the scheme will develop naturally.