Four Easy Tips for Decorating Built In Shelves

In my first post on decorating shelves, I talked about how to select the items to put on your built in shelves. It’s been about a year, and I’ve restyled our living room shelves a few times since that first post. So, I thought I’d share a few more tips on how to decorate shelves that I’ve learned recently.

Tip #1: Embrace Negative Space

Our built in shelves are on either side of the fireplace, and our TV is mounted above the fireplace. So, needless to say, I spend a lot of time staring at these shelves. Because of this, I often end up feeling like there is just “too much going on” on the shelves. I began removing items and embracing the negative space. That is, I would place a single frame, basket, or vase on a shelf, instead of filling the shelf with knick knacks, and it immediately felt easier on the eye.

Tip #2: Pick a Style

In my last post, I suggested using objects within the same color palette. In addition to picking a color palette, try selecting objects that are similar in design style. For example, even though they are the same color, a sparkly blue vase may not look cohesive when paired with a distressed blue frame. I made this mistake, and once I decided on a style, everything clicked.

(For tips on how to find your design style, click here!)

In my home, I gravitate towards traditional and cottage design, with a touch of farmhouse. So, I like objects that are natural, organic, vintage/antique, and distressed. This white and brown vintage vase I bought recently helped bring those styles together on the shelves.

Tip #3: Add Greenery

I’m proud to say that my black thumb has been starting to turn green in the past six months or so. I added a number of new *real* plants to our home after the holidays and they are all still alive. I even added a plant to our built in shelves. The key is picking a plant that thrives in low light, such as a calathea (which you see on our built in shelves).

Tip #4: Don’t Compete with Other Decor

One of the main reasons I restyled our built in shelves recently, is that I added a new focal point to the room: the large DIY abstract landscape painting. Instead of the eye being drawn to the shelves (which clearly want to be the focal point), I wanted the eye to be drawn to the blue and green painting. But, I felt like the shelves and the painting were competing with each other. So, in order to make the shelves fade into the background a bit, I neutralized the color palette.

Now, the shelves are primarily decorated with whites, creams, and natural wood tones. The natural wood frames tie in with the painting frame and the bench.

There were some non-neutral colored books that I wanted to keep on display, so I put those in the lower right corner, away from the painting.

I hope these four easy tips, along with my previous blog post, help you as you decorate your built in shelves!

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