Bookshelves can take up a good chunk in your home, they become a focal point. They demand attention. Just like your books, your bookshelves also require your attention. For book lovers, it is one of the most important places in the house. It’s not easy to get them right. It can take a lot of effort to make your bookshelf classy. To make a bookshelf looking nice, you can use a number of techniques like:
- Arrange the bookcase in such a manner so that the largest, heaviest books are at the bottom and the smaller books at the top.
- Stack books in such a manner leaving space around them to create a neat display.
- Display books by the colors of the spines.
- Colour the back of the bookcase with a darker color, so that your bookcase styling can be highlighted.
Items Needed To Style A Bookshelf
Styling bookshelf can be tough. But all you need to do so is to gather a few things:
- books (as many or few as you want)
- a few framed photographs or artwork
- some mementos, collections or meaningful/beautiful objects
- a plant or something natural
- vase, jar or a few metallic objects.
Tips To Style Your Bookshelf:
1. Start with larger items first
When you start styling your bookshelf with small decorative items, it is easy to do so. But also try to fill your bookshelf with larger items like woven baskets or artwork. This will help you to give a basic layout.
2. Don’t stuff it full
If you have lots of books or special trinkets to display, try to place the important ones only. You’ll have to mix books with other decorative items and also leave some free space. When you fill your shelves with lots of little things, it’s too much for your eyes and brain to take in.
3. Mix up book placement
By mixing up the positioning of books and piles, it will make things interesting. Place most of them by stacking horizontally and vertically, and aligning some stacks to the left, to the right or in the centre of a shelf.
4. Bring in artwork
Placing artwork towards the back and smaller decorative items in front of the bookshelf, will give it a unique and creative look.
5. Introduce decorative objects
Depending on your style, you could use almost anything as decorative accents like an old typewriter, large brass stalk and several other items as accent pieces, which can give a great look when you step back and look at your bookshelf.
6. Put an item on your stack
One of the best ways to give your bookshelf stylist a look is by layering and placing small decorative items on top of the stack.
7. Ground your bookcase
Put larger items and heaviest things like boxes or baskets or a stack of large coffee-table books at the bottom.
8. Decorate in odd numbers
Arranging items in odd counts gave a more balanced look. Like creating arrangements of 1, 3, 5 or 7 items.
9. Add greenery
You can place your plants in stylish and affordable pots. It’s an easy way to add more materials and dimension to your bookshelf styling. You can use a large brass pot, a grey terrazzo pot and several other vessels to display the plants on this shelf.
You can also use artificial plants for the same visual impact.
10. Consider adding a vase or metallic accents
You can put a large vase, jar or a few metallic objects to decorate your bookshelf
11. Give the bookshelf the place it deserves
Give your bookshelf the most prominent place in the living room. Most people would place a bookshelf in one corner of the living room or in the study room.
12. Keep breathing space
Just like artworks in an art gallery need some breathing space, your books need too. You should display books and other items in your shelf such that each one gets importance and can be appreciated.
13. Find a neutral color scheme
It would make sense to keep your bookshelf in neutral colors, like white, black, brown or any subdued, neutral color. This will also make sure that your books stand out and don’t get mixed up in the crowd of colors.
14. Use meaningful items
Have at least one or two objects that are meaningful to you mixed. That can be a small piece of art or a couple of photos of family or friends. It can be a special memento from a trip or period of your life that you loved.
CONCLUSION
There’s nothing a book lover appreciates more than a comfortable, stylish spot to enjoy their collection. When it comes to designing a bookshelf, it might be floating shelves or a spacious library with floor-to-ceiling built-ins. Styling options for bookshelves are limitless. You can decorate your bookshelves with artwork or greenery, Colour them with a trendy paint color or wallpaper, stack your books vertically or horizontally, this is going to be endless with different ideas and different styles.