Tips For Styling Floating Living Room Shelves To Create A Beautiful Design

Decorating is the reward we give ourselves after completing a living room remodel project, letting us use our creativity to transform new fixtures into something wholly unique. After installing floating shelves to update your home's look, all that's left is to find fun and meaningful items to show off your personality. Decor demands purposeful placement to avoid looking shop-like and directionless, a point that can seem daunting for many.

To get started, you need to find items that can mesh seamlessly. Pull items from around your home initially, using souvenirs from travels, keepsakes, and treasured handmade pieces that tell your family's story while making the shelves look fashionable. Fill out the space by thrifting items. Look for books, signs, bowls, vases, clocks, bookends, baskets, picture frames, candlesticks, and other shelf-friendly items.

Furniture stores also contain treasure troves of odd curios, often marked down to sell from the showroom. The added benefit of looking at furniture stores is that many accessories appear in vignettes for different designs (e.g., modern, traditional, farmhouse), making it easy to find pieces that complement your style. Once you have too many accessories to fill your shelves, you can lay them out and begin mixing and matching to find the perfect arrangement.

Consider the size, shape, color, and texture of your elements to plan a cohesive design for your living room. Combine items of varying heights to maintain interest, integrating diverse materials onto shelves without making them compete for space. Overlap is often attractive, but you shouldn't hide anything. Large frames and signs make practical, clean-lined centerpieces without overwhelming the shelf. Add life and soften the look by showing off your favorite houseplants, perhaps using a trailing plant, allowing its stems to cascade naturally off the edge of the shelf.

When working with multiple floating shelves, style them with balanced decor. Start with bulkier items on shelf ends and fill in smaller items. You can also add weight to smaller items by using risers or stacks of books to prop them up. Maintain access to functional display items, like pillows and throws. Pay attention to the shape and texture, blending features like reflective glass, rustic materials, soft fabrics, and stone.

When in doubt, use tried-and-true tips to push your floating shelf styling along. Group similar objects (like a candlestick collection) in odd numbers and create symmetry between multiple shelves for an appealing aesthetic. Aim to build cohesive runs while integrating negative space to prevent a cluttered look. As YouTuber The Beauty Revival points out, you can switch things up between shelves, spanning pieces from end to end on one shelf and making two distinct groups on the one below. Step back occasionally to view the living room in full and make minor adjustments as needed. Have fun with it, and you'll soon have a look you'll love!