7 Shelf Styling Tips For A Perfect Display

One of the things that I absolutely love about interior design and interior styling is that, no matter what your budget, you can make a home beautiful. One of the easiest and cheapest ways you can start, is by styling what you’ve got. You don’t have to own priceless objets or works of art; your favourite postcard or pound shop vase can look just as gorgeous. What I believe is important, is that you should love the items that you have on display. You’re never going to be satisfied if you don’t like what you’re looking at! This point leads me nicely into the first of my 7 shelf styling tips for a perfect display.

Styling Tip 1: Curate Your Collection.

First up, take a look at what you’ve got. If there’s anything in that collection that you don’t like/need, then don’t include it. If I’m starting from scratch, then I’ll separate everything out to take stock: artwork, books, magazines (Yup, I include magazines!), decorative items, vases, framed photographs and plants. I like to have a good mix of the above. Even if my display was predominantly books, I would still mix in decorative items to break up the monotony.

Also, consider the colours in your collection. I like my decor to be cohesive but not totally match-matchy. If anything really stands out like a sore thumb I would reconsider it’s inclusion.

Styling Tip 2: Mix Styles

In my opinion, a mix of styles always looks better than one. To ensure a tastefully styled display, you want to avoid a ‘theme’. Do this by mixing new items with vintage, combining materials and textures and avoiding falling into the trap of ‘colour co-ordinating’. By all means, choose items that ‘go’, just don’t over-do it. Two or three items from the same colour family are enough. We don’t want to look like a high street window display now, do we?

Styling Tip 3: Consider The Shelves Themselves.

If your shelves are a bit basic and not the most attractive, paint them the same colour as the walls. This will not only disguise the shelves, but will highlight your display. I painted my shelves the same colour as the walls and I love it. Check out the difference below. Suddenly the display becomes the main feature. Click here for my bookcase DIY.

Bonus Shelf StylingTip! If you plan to paint laminate shelves or previously painted surfaces, I would totally recommend Zinsser primer. It doesn’t need sanding beforehand and provides a super strong key for paint. I’ve used it a couple of times and it is brilliant! You are welcome!!

Styling Tip 4: Ensure Functionality.

One of the most important things, before we get into the ‘pretty’ part of shelf styling, is making sure that it will work for you. There is no point in putting books that you read (or in my case, look at the pretty pictures) all the time on a shelf that is inaccessible. Similarly, plants that need watered or boxes that you store stuff in, should be within reach. Try to mix functionality with aesthetics. It’s lovely to have pretty shelves, but if that’s all they are, it kinda looks a bit ‘forced’. Decorative bowls or trays provide an immediate resting spot for keys or the crap from your pockets (because, come on, we all chuck it somewhere!), whilst boxes are great for hiding the ‘things you need but seldom use’*. Boxes can also provide little platforms for smaller objects that might otherwise look lost.

*spare headphones, ticket stubs, a random battery, the thing cute thing you got from a Kinder Surprise but haven’t the heart to dump… yet.

Styling Tip 5: Start At The Back And Layer Forward.

Often overlooked, the back of your display is a great place to start styling. Whether propped up, pinned up or traditionally hung, artwork can make a great backdrop for styling. I like a mix of the techniques, so that it looks a little less ‘planned’. The trick is to make it look like styling  comes naturally. ‘Just leaving this casually propped here for now. I’ll hang it later. Maybe. If I can be bothered…’

Once you have your backdrop, start adding in your functional items; the stuff that needs to be within reach. Try to space it all out so that it is dispersed throughout your shelves. Split books up into blocks within your shelves. I like to have some standing vertically, whilst others may be piled horizontally, biggest on the bottom to smaller on top. I like to pile magazines high. They’ll look more like a collection that way.

Bonus Shelf Styling Tips!!

• When I’m styling up and dividing books on shelves, I do it by colour. Blocks of similar colours look much nicer than a mix. I also remove the dust jackets from books that don’t tie in.
• When arranging in blocks, ensure that you don’t fill half a shelf. It draws the eye and looks odd. Fill under, or fill over, but never half way. It’ll hurt your eyes and you won’t know why.
• Only pile magazines if they have a spine that ties in colour-wise. Otherwise I’d use magazine files or boxes to store them hidden away neatly. We are not complete animals.

Add in your decorative items, vases, plants framed photographs, around (or on) your functional items. Place larger items towards the back, smaller towards the front. Don’t just place ‘things’ in rows. Use your boxes and book piles as stages to display items too. Layer forward and layer upwards.

Styling Tip 6: Balance your Display

When styling up, you need to create balance, so that your eye isn’t drawn to just one area. The easy way to do this is to include a variety of different heights throughout your display, placing taller objects next to/behind slightly shorter pieces, with even smaller towards the front. If you have a weighty object (a large vase or a collection of books, perhaps) at one side, then you should balance the other side with a similar visual weight. This could be through one object or a collection of objects.

The same tip goes for colour. Space out similar colours to provide further balance.

Styling Tip 7: Add Lighting.

Lighting is an important part of any interior (we have nine light sources in our living room!) and will help to bring your shelf styling to life. It’s that extra layer that will make the difference. Consider functional lighting (so that you can actually see!) and decorative lighting (to set the mood ;)) Remember, you want it to look good, day and night.

This isn’t a hard list of shelf styling rules, more of a friendly selection of shelf styling pointers. It’s so easy to stand in front of a naked shelf and think ‘where do I start??’, so hopefully at least one of these tips should provide a little guidance. I’ve popped a summary below. Call it cheat notes if you will.

Top Tip Summary

Tip 1: Curate your collection. Display only the items that you need/love. Consider colour and whether or not it will work.

Tip 2: Mix styles. Avoid the matchy-matchy high street look by mixing vintage with new.

Tip 3: Consider the shelves themselves. If they’re going to distract from your gorgeous display, paint them.

Tip 4: Ensure Functionality. Make sure your styling works for you. Functional items should be easy to access and storage should be added in for smaller items. If your magazine collection is fugly, files or boxes will keep them neatly in order.

Tip 5: Start at the back and layer forward. You may be shallow but your shelf styling doesn’t have to be. Layer items from back to font, taller down to shorter. Artwork should be hung or propped at the back for further depth. Block-group books in manageable chunks rather than filling full shelves. Remember!! Do not ‘half fill’ a shelf with books, as it will cut it in two and look crap. Think ‘one third’ or ‘two thirds’, if that helps.

Tip 6: Balance your display. Mix taller and shorter items for interest and to keep the eye moving around your display. A heavy or taller item at one side should be balanced out with similar at the other. This could be through a grouping of smaller objects rather than one large one.

Tip 7: Add lighting. For both functional purposes and to make the place look pretty, day and night.

Happy styling!!