Ever tried to arrange your shelves like the ones you see on Pinterest, only to be disappointed with the results? Well, fear not! There are a few simple shelf styling tips that will help you to style your shelves and ledges to envy even to the most Pinterest worthy of homes!
Layer Objects
One trick to make your shelves look well put together, is to layer items in front of one another. This helps to add depth to your shelves and makes your arrangements look more interesting.
Choose Your Colour Palette
When collecting items to add to your shelves, think about your colour scheme and how the different colours might work together.
For a more pared back look, you could consider limiting your colours to the same or similar shades of one colour. Or you could pick a small number of complementary colours and keep to just those. If you choose the latter, try to spread the different colours evenly across your shelves, to help keep things looking balanced.
Incorporate Trailing Plants
One of my favourite ways to make shelves and mantles look more interesting, is to add trailing plants. There’s something about a bit of trailing greenery, that pulls everything together, making for an appealing arrangement.
If you struggle to keep hard to care for trailing plants, like string of pearls, alive, then why not give ivy a go. I’ve had much more success with plants like these and they look just as good! An added bonus being that you can pick them up very cheaply from places like Ikea and your local garden centres.
Add Texture
Another way to up your shelf styling game, is to create interest through layering different textures. It’s nice to have a mixture of different surfaces, from glass, to woods, metals and fluffy plants.
Display Items of Varying Heights
I’ve been trying to think of a jazzy way to say why arranging items of different heights looks better, than displaying of uniform heights, but words fail me.
Just take my word it, they do. Arrange items of different heights and textures, together in a little vignette, and they will always look better than similar items of the same height, all arranged in a line.
Place Smaller Items on Stacked Books
If you’re struggling to incorporate smaller items onto your shelves, then a great way to elevate your styling, is to place smaller items on top of small stacks of books.
This brings the items together, creating a little vignette, that stops your smaller items from looking out of place amongst bigger pieces of sculpture, art or books.
Decorate in Odd Numbers
A well known interior trick, it to arrange items in odd numbers. For example, an arrangement of three or five candles, will almost always look better than arrangement of two.
Add Art
Artwork doesn’t always have to be hung on walls, it can look equally as good arranged on shelves.
Blend your artwork seamlessly with other items, by layering smaller items, with different textures, in front of your art.
Want to read more about interiors? Why not have a read up on 10 interior trends for 2020.
