The Mythical Bookshelf
How often do you see those super cute pictures on Insta, with the perfect bookshelf, organized by colors or accessorized with the effortlessly gorgeous little knickknacks and tchotchkes that totally make sense…
And you think “I WISH MY BOOKSHELF LOOKED LIKE THAT” and then you are left floating in a world of a million options and no idea of what to choose or how to place it…
Well, fear no more, as we are here to help you find the way to the most “YOU” way of styling the perfect Bookshelf!
Let’s start by stating a few facts:
-There are no real rules on how to do this, but just some suggested steps to follow.
-There is absolutely no need to spend ridiculous amounts of money on a totally GORGEOUS bookshelf, or anywhere else around the house for that matter.
-While it’s great to find inspiration in tons of pictures, the idea is not to copy, but to adapt. Bend those ideas to reflect your personality and that of your family and household.
-FUNCTION MUST REIGN: a bookshelf, even if it’s all dressed up, must still FUNCTION as a Bookshelf. It is at the end of the day a storage system used to house books, of course but also other items you have around the house. Think of family heirlooms, nice picture frames, flower vases and so on, those are all great candidates to find their new home in that shelf.
So lets get started:
1-BOOKS:
Gather all books you have around your house, not all of them need to be pretty coffee table books. These I like to reserve for well, coffee tables and such…
Reserve paperbacks and the ones that are not in such a great state for boxes or closed storage.
There are several ways of organizing your books, and no real wrong way of doing it.
One of my favorite ways is to group them by color: whites and light grays together, blacks and browns, reds and oranges, navy and blues. This particular way makes it really easy to choose the accessories that will be paired with the books in different areas of the shelves.
Other ways are of course, by size or by subject. Again, books have a particular beauty to themselves so it’s really hard to mess this up.
2- DÉCOR:
As with the books, no rules here either. As I mentioned above, first a thorough search around the house is in order. Collect items of value, be it sentimental or aesthetic. Cute and pretty things that hold some kind of meaning are just what is needed.
To supplement, I always LOVE a good excuse to have a shopping field trip. Some of my favorite places for this particular mission include Homegoods, Target, Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie. A few other online sources like Overstock, Wayfair, H&M home, etc. provide great and interesting choices. But in all honesty, I do love to go and touch and pick some fun and different accessories with my hands…
-Plants and Flowers: We can write and entire post about how live plants and flowers bring so much to the decor and ambiance of a home or office, so let’s not get to much into it. However, the same can be said about them adding loads character to a bookshelf or two, so never neglect a lovely potted plant or a fresh bouquet when styling the space.
3-SET UP:
KEEP IT INTERESING!
The main point of styling a bookshelf is to mix things up in a way that lets the books, accessories and shelf itself shine individually while creating a fun and interesting overall look.
To that note, a few suggestions:
-Place books in small groups, and each in a different configuration; some stacked vertically, some horizontally, and some as a mix.
-Balance them off with one or two of the accessories at each nook or area. You might place for example, a small blue and white vase on top of a vertical small stack of blue books, or a metallic accent or two next to the horizontal white and black stack.
-Keep mixing colors and textures, books and accessories, varying heights and materials.
-Don’t forget about the importance of open space as well. The idea is definitely NOT to overcrowd every inch of space!!!
-Have fun and make the space meaningful and not to serious or permanent. It can change and transform as you grow in the space, or as seasons come and go, or simply because you found something new, pretty and interesting and wanted to change it up a bit.
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