How to style a shelf

It doesn’t matter how big or small your space is, there is always room for a shelf somewhere. Shelves are wonderful space savers and also makes your living space feel more individual, especially because you can style it with things that have a special meaning to you. Make it distinctly you. In this blog I’ll give you some ideas on how to style a shelf.

Shelves are very versatile. You can almost always put a shelf somewhere in your space and it will be needed and used. Not only can shelves be used to display beautiful things, but you can have dedicated book shelves and many kitchens these days use floating shelves to display pretty crockery or containers.

Here are some ideas on how to style shelves:

If you have wires running on the shelves from lights or speakers, put some artwork or books in front of them to hide the unsightly snaking of wires.
Want to add interest on the shelves? Add plants, pretty pottery or sculptures together. Think in groups of three but remember to add different heights for interest.
Add pretty baskets or containers to store loose items. Have a look at this blog for ideas on baskets.
Although shelves are not only for books, they are ideal for books, so change how you stack books – horizontally or vertically. You can also put them in alphabetically order or order them in different languages, themes or even colours. In one of our bookshelves we have a shelf with English books. another featuring Dutch books and another Afrikaans books.
Add artwork on your shelves and layer them with smaller items in front to add some depth and interest.
Very important: While styling keep stepping back and rearranging items until you find the right balance and look you’re after.
Also, if you have custom built shelves put in, decide beforehand the distance between the different shelves. You don’t need to have the same amount of space between each shelf. That is the joy of made-to-measure shelves. You can decide what you want where and the space in between.

The one thing I love about styling shelves is that you can change the look of them when you feel like it – maybe every season – and make them look interesting and new, part of the decor in the room.

Happy styling.