How To Style Your Bookshelves Like an Interior Designer - Christmas Styling
Faith Led Interior Design Show | Episode 32
Your bookcases add personality and beauty to your room and home, but to be beautiful and pleasing, it takes some planning and consideration. It should feel balanced, interesting, elegant, and creative in its final form.
In this episode, I share 5 of my top tips for bookshelf styling during the holidays. If you want to learn how to style bookshelves like an Interior Designer and add some holiday flair to the mix, this episode is for you.
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Be Blessed Verse
Our verse for the week is Isaiah 9:6.
“For to us a child is born, to us, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
This verse was penned by the Prophet Isaiah between 701-681 BC. Isaiah 9:6, which was written about 700 years before the time of Jesus, points us to Christ as our Lord and Savior.
On Christmas, the day we celebrate the birth of Christ. We sing about this prophecy and celebrate the child that was born.
How To Style Your Bookshelves Like an Interior Designer - Christmas Styling
As I said earlier, your bookcases add personality and beauty to your room and home, but to be beautiful and pleasing, they take some thought and planning. The final look should feel balanced, interesting, elegant, and creative.
The very first step is to determine the purpose of your bookcase. What room will it live in? Is it in an office, a living room, or a dining room? Each area should have items on the bookcase that reflect the function of the room, along with decorative items.
Styling your bookshelves well takes skill, but with some knowledge, tips, and practice, you can design your own bookshelves beautifully.
Holiday Tip: For holiday decorating, use some of what is already on your bookshelves. Find your favorite holiday items and add them.
Photo by Sarah Holcomb on Unsplash
5 Tips to Style Your Bookshelves With Holiday Flare
1. Less is More
Be very careful not to clutter the space, and in fact, you may even need to declutter first. Choose what you feel would be the most interesting, functional, and beautiful items that you want to use.
Remember that you want the outcome to be beautiful and pleasing, so each piece should be pretty in itself. I only use hardback books because they are the nicest. Choose your favorite items that you love. And remember that less is more.
Think out of the box regarding what can go on your bookshelf. Some ideas of items that could work:
Vases
Baskets
Pretty plates or bowls
Framed Art
Family Photos
Books
Decorative Boxes
Trays
Mirrors
Candles
Greenery – plants and flowers
Holiday Tips: I am leaning towards Christmas time here. Choose which items you use to decorate in your personal holiday style. Here are some of my favorites:
Greenery pine branches
Ribbons
Cranberries (or other types of berries)
Holiday items you love (a variety of materials like crystal felt or wood)
Small-wrapped present boxes
Small pictures of family
Metallics like silver, gold, or a combination of both add elegance to any theme
Keep your favorite neutral items up and just add the holiday decorations to them.
I usually ask my client to gather all of these things in one area, like the dining room table or island, and I select from that what can go on the shelves. I also have them completely take everything out of the bookshelves that we will be designing, so we can start with a clean slate.
2. Create Item Groupings in Odd Numbers
Odd-numbered groupings of 3-5 items look the most pleasing to the eye. Perhaps you will use 3-5 books together or 3 different frames that look good together or 3 pretty perfume bottles…you get the idea.
Make sure that these items harmonize with each other and look very nice together. Notice that I did not say match each other. It actually will look much better to harmonize or look nice together, not match.
3. Mix it Up!
To add interest and contrast, use different sizes, visual weights, heights, textures, and even colors. Variety is key for a wonderful, finished look.
A mixture of vertical and horizontal items adds interest too. For example, a tall vase on one side and lay some books on their side on the other side of the shelf. Sometimes it is very effective to add an accessory to the books that are laying on their side.
You can use metal finishes and mirrors to lighten things up. It is very important to notice what the mirror reflects. Make sure that is nice too! It is okay to mix metals and wood, but only a couple of metals or a couple of wood finishes work best; don't get too carried away.
4. It’s All About Layering
Okay, now is the time to start placing your groupings on the shelves. Place the larger items first and toward the back. Working from back to front, place your medium size items and then the smallest in the front.
If your grouping is all the same size you can add a pretty box under the back one to make it taller. Next, you can turn a couple of books, or a single book, on its side to add a little height to the middle accessory, and lastly, the front one would just sit on the shelf. Voila, you have created varying heights.
Another thing that I want you to consider is visual balance. Let's say you did the group we just described on the left side of the top shelf. You may want to balance that using another grouping of different accessories on the third shelf on the right. This will create a visual balance. You may put a plant on the right side of the top shelf and a different floral on the left side of the third shelf. These should have similar visual weights. You would not want to have just one plant on the whole bookcase. It really should be balanced with other plants on different shelves.
Now, on the second shelf between the first and third shelves above, you could have five family pictures in frames of different sizes and perhaps designs. Remember, they will look prettiest and be more interesting if they don't match and are different sizes.
5. Stand Back & Edit
Have fun playing around with the shelves. Stand back to make sure the balance is feeling good, the color palette looks pretty, and the visual weights are nice. Even experts try items, and if it doesn't feel just right, we try something else until it looks and feels great.
Keep changing things up until you are happy with your results. It takes practice, but you really can do it!
When I style shelves, I always try to use items that the client already has, if possible. Don't go buy a ton of things unless you really want to. Most of the time, you have already bought things you love, and we just gather them all and add a few nice books and plants to soften them.
Once we have done the best with what you have, then we can see what we may need to buy to complete the look. Try it and have fun with what you already have.
Photo by Kaleb Tapp on Unsplash
All of the suggestions above work the same with holiday decorations. The items used are holiday oriented or not? That really is the only difference. So, I hope these professional suggestions help you to have beautiful bookcases this holiday season and throughout the year or years.
Or, if you are just too busy or don't want to do it yourself, we can be there for you to style your room to the nines. Book a discovery call, and let's talk. Everybody starts with a discovery call, would love to talk to you about your decorating needs.
Eager to get an expert's hands on your space? That's what we love! Contact us, and we're all yours. ;)
Next week, I will talk about the 5 Design Features That Will Enhance Your Kitchen and Improve Your Life.
So may the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace be with you and your family this holiday season. These are just a few of the hundreds of names for Jesus. We all want peace, but do we know the Prince of Peace? That is Jesus. I pray that you do! When I gave my life to the Lord, this wonderful peace just flooded me. We all react differently, but that is what happened to me. I wholeheartedly agree with this verse that was penned approximately 700 years before Christ’s birth. Wow, that amazed me when I first read it! I pray peace and love over your and your family this holiday season! Amen!
Now, Stop Dreaming, Start Designing your luxury home within your budget!
Blessings and See you next episode…
