How To Arrange a Bookshelf

We have five built-in shelves in our home office space off the dining room. When we moved in, I stuck “bookshelf stuff” on these shelves and haven’t done much with them since. After completing the command center project, the lack of style on these shelves started bothering me more and more. I’ve always been jealous of the perfectly styled shelves I see on other blogs and Pinterest, but figured I’d need an interior design degree to compare. My frustration overcame my doubt, however, and I sought out some online advice and tutorials and decided to give my shelves a shot.

Here are some tips to styling a bookshelf that I discovered along the way:

• Add grass cloth, paper, or fabric to the back of the shelves to bring in color or pattern.
• Use pretty frames to display family photos or artwork.
• Showcase meaningful items.
• Arrange books and special items first. Then fill the holes with inexpensive accessories like sculptures or vases.
• Decide on a color scheme and pull in items with those colors.
• Use an odd number of items in a row, like three vases.
• Use tall items that can fill the vertical space.
• Bring in something organic like a small plant, grasses, driftwood, coral, etc.
• Use the rule of diagonals when placing similar items.

Keeping all that in mind, here is what not to do:

Picture frames and other trinkets were randomly “arranged”, which isn’t all bad unless of course you’re longing for a more stylized approach like I was. Books were stuffed on the shelf in no order. That basket is overflowing with junk that didn't have another home. I was not feelin' it. So, to start this project, I cleared the shelves and put everything on the kitchen table.

Next I went shopping – in my own house. I walked through each room and grabbed anything that looked bookshelf worthy. I added those items to my stash on the table. I was amazed at how many “worthy” items I found in my own home! Some things were in storage boxes and others were being displayed elsewhere.

I wanted to add something to the back of the shelves to add more color and break up the brown a bit, but I haven’t stumbled upon the perfect solution yet so I left it blank for now. 

First, I added the books. I put a horizontal stack on the top shelf, the middle shelf and the bottom shelf. I placed them diagonal from one another like my online tutorials suggested.

Next, I added some taller items for height. This was difficult because I don’t have a lot of tall items lying around. I put the two vases and candle on the top shelf, two more vases and a wooden angel that was gifted to me by a dear friend on the middle shelf, and a grouping of three more candles on the bottom. These groups are, again, placed diagonally. 

Next, I added a few picture frames, you guessed it, diagonally. And finally I added in some of the more meaningful trinkets that were left on the table: a large key and a ship in the bottle that belonged to my grandfather, a serving platter from Africa that was given to me as a gift, and a handmade leaf bowl.

The color scheme kind of ended up being navy, beige, and gold which is interesting because I had no intention of that happening. I’d like to find some cheap accessories to bring in some of the other colors in the command center space like yellow, sky blue, and spring green. I’m thinking of crafting the two clear vases like this to bring in color as well. And maybe I’ll find a cute little succulent plant or two (I think I could keep those alive). 

Overall, I’m pretty proud of myself for how these shelves turned out since I am lacking that design degree and all. They are almost a little two symmetrical for me but I think adding some smaller, colorful accessories will do the trick. 

Are you intimidated to start a project because you feel like you don’t have the skills? Any advice for my shelves?

This project was shared in a link party over at: