The One Thing That's Making Your Shelf Styling Look Boring

Your humble shelf is more than just storage, as it can also be a decorative accent, especially if you have built-in shelving in your home. Styling a shelf often involves mixing in decorative accents such as statues and bookends with various books, yet there's an art to how to decorate a bookshelf. You might be making a critical mistake with the way you style. If you're an avid reader, you likely have an abundance of books and probably line them up uniformly with a few pieces of art placed in front of the spines. Decorating-wise, this is a big mistake, because it makes everything blend together. Rather than making all your books face the same way and calling it a day, you should instead vary your book positioning for visual interest and a better overall look.

The key to styling your shelf, be it a built-in or just the IKEA BILLY bookcase in any room in your house, is to make sure you're arranging your books, art pieces, and other decorative items in an interesting way. It doesn't matter if you have a collection of favorite hardbacks or large coffee table books — making eye-catching "patterns" with the way you style is key. Here's how to make sure you're creating a cohesive look that accentuates your shelf rather than making it look disorganized.

Design experts stress the importance of variation of style as a key decorating rule. Start styling your shelf by taking everything off, then adding pieces back one-by-one. As you replace your books, change the way you display them, opting to store some vertically and others horizontally. Stack similarly-sized books horizontally, such as coffee table books, and then top the stack with a statue, plant, or vase. It may also be a good idea to place larger books toward the bottom of the shelf along with an object like a globe. Creating stacks of three books can also ensure your shelf is visually appealing.

For smaller paperbacks, try clustering them together, then add a pretty vase on one end. Don't be afraid of letting some smaller books lean sideways, as the asymmetrical setup offers visual interest. You can also make a small stack of hardbacks and place something like a decorative bowl on top. It's crucial to vary the placement of books to the right, left, and center if you have multiple shelves, like in a large bookcase. Use candlesticks and other tall objects as an anchor for the arrangement as well. Another trendy way to style bookshelf decor is to allow for negative space, which lets your books and decorative pieces stand out. Keep arranging your shelves until you have a look that feels just right.