Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Shelf Styling 101

 Hey guys! Today, we're talking about shelf styling! The styling is the finishing touch to a room, but one of the most important parts to how the space feels in the end.

 While it can seem a little overwhelming looking at a completely empty shelf and needing to fill it, I love that challenge. Rarely do I ever just place things on a shelf and have it feel perfect right away. Usually it takes some time to move things around until the shelf looks balanced and organized. But I usually like it to still look a little random--nothing too stiff or symmetrical.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before you get to the arrangement, you have to think about what to even put on your shelves! My favorite shelves usually have a mix of books, leaning frames, and accessories that are (or at least look) collected overtime. Oh, and flowers. But every room needs flowers, right?

Here's some examples of beautifully styled shelves that incorporate some of these ideas!
Southern Living found via A Life's Design

Lonny
Lonny- design by Lynn Nigro
Amanda Teal Design
Amber Interior Design
I love how this one incorporates kid storage on the bottom two shelves without looking too cluttered.
Emily Henderson

11 comments:

Diane Streicher @ Diane Again said...

court. i love to talk about styling shelves!! of the ones you posted, i love the second one most..everything about it is perfect.

and here is another one of my all-time faves...enjoy!

http://www.bhg.com/decorating/storage/organization-basics/ways-to-reduce-clutter/?sssdmh=dm17.529068&esrc=nwdc060111&email=3471023127#page=10

The Chatty Housewife said...

I love the kid toys idea and the last photo especially. Hey, I have a request, can you send me the link for the last photo if you have it? I'd like to ad it to my Pinterest board, but your source link only goes to the main website, thanks! chattyhousewife(at)gmail(dot)com

Unknown said...

I was just dreaming up shelf ideas for my room this afternoon - your post is so timely! This gives me so many new ideas :) Thanks!

Love,
Elizabeth

anyaadores said...

Beautiful styling - love shelves :) Hope you have a sunny day,
Axx

Megan said...

There's some great ideas here - I love bookshelves and have featured lots on my own blog. They really do create the best backdrop to any room and are excellent to display beautiful items and books. My favourite rooms always have bookshelves :)

Megan @ Storybook Love Affair

Anonymous said...

Love this! I love bookshelf styling! I sometimes clear mine off and just start over to mix it up! I think I pinned all of these!

xx
Kecia

http://www.couturezooblog.com/

Lyndsey said...

So I LOVE shelves but I find it challenging for me because I have really bad allergies and if I have tons of shelves I will be dusting endlessly. I am not supposed to have many things out in open to collect dust. So this is a design challenge for me!

Maria M. said...

Wow, those are all gorgeous! I love all of the happy colors! :-) Thanks for sharing the inspiration!

Mimi said...

i love shelves, especially ones filled with books. :) and i also quite like the look of plates and cups out on the shelf. :)

<3, Mimi
http://whatmimiwrites.blogspot.com/
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Jadyn @ Dutch.British.Love said...

I love all of these!! I love how it looks so easy when you see photos of beautifully style shelves, but then you go try it yourself and it is hard! :) I love the things you pointed out in the photos, like the mix of stacked and upright books and the kids toys on the lower shelves - all great ideas that I need to remember!

Kate @ BROhaha said...

I've always enjoyed arranging my shelves - espescially with things other than books - there are some sweeet ideas here!