Peyton Wolff
Do you want to display your art, greenery, decor and books on your shelves, but have no idea how to style them? Here you’ll find 5 no-fail formulas for nailing your bookshelf styling game! My kids have a huge bookshelf filled with books, but my husband and I only had a tiny shelving unit in our previous home. I started by collection all of the decor I could find in varying shapes and sizes. Everything like plants, art, decorative objects – anything that I found that I thought would look good on a shelf. I realized I’m very short on decor items, so I bought some at World Market.
For example, I have short and long shelves, so can’t use super tall decor items. Shop thrift stores for small items for your shelf styling and get some vintage books while you’re there.
You can see above how I used this “rule of 3” or odd numbers to decorate the open shelves in my home office. As I searched Pinterest and Instagram for how to arrange these items on my shelves, I found several patterns or formulas I could use that looked good!
Formula #1: Two or three books stacked horizontally with a small decorative object on top. I think the tray would also look really good filled with decorative spheres or greenery balls.
I’ve broken down this super basic formula into two parts, because it breaks the “rule of 3” about decorating with odd numbers. Essentially you’re just using two pieces of decor or art, but when you pair it with another 1 large item on the shelf, it makes it a “rule of 3”. BUT, I will still use this layered art/decor formula by itself sometimes when a corner of a bookshelf is missing something and 3 items just don’t look right.
I’m sure I could search to find even more formulas for you to use in your shelf decorating, but I think these basic patterns and “rules” will take you a long way in your endeavors.
