How to Style a Bookshelf or Console Like an Interior Designer

How to Style a Bookshelf or Console Like an Interior Designer

Open shelves are wonderful — and terrifying. Leave them alone and they collect everything: old bills, spare keys, a charger, a single earring.

Interior designers style shelves with a few repeatable tricks. Here's how to make yours look like a page from a decor magazine.

Step 1: Empty it completely

Take everything off. Wipe it down. Only put back what you love or use. This is the hardest step and the most important.

Step 2: Books first

Books are the backbone. Arrange some standing upright and some stacked horizontally. A horizontal stack makes a perfect little platform for a small object.

Step 3: The triangle trick

Place your three most eye-catching objects so they form an imaginary triangle across the shelves — one top-left, one middle-right, one bottom-left. This makes the eye travel across the whole unit.

Great "hero" pieces:

Step 4: Vary the heights

On each shelf, combine tall, medium and low items. A Tall Tapered Square Ceramic Vase, Matte beside a short stack of books and a small figurine creates rhythm.

Step 5: Repeat colours

Pick one or two accent colours and repeat them across shelves. For example, gold on every shelf: Gold Metal Birds Table Sculpture, 4 Birds on one, Golden Swan Tealight Holders, Set of 2 on another.

Step 6: Add something personal

A framed photo, a souvenir, a handmade piece. The Minimalist Beige Family Figurines, Set of 3 or Abstract White Family Figurines, Set of 3 are lovely symbols of home.

Step 7: Leave breathing room

Leave about a third of each shelf empty. Empty space is what makes the rest look styled instead of stored.

For a console table

The same rules apply, but work left to right:

  1. Something tall on one side (a lamp or vase).
  2. A tray or bowl in the middle for keys.
  3. Something sculptural on the other side.

A Luxury Storage Box with Gold Bird Lid is perfect here: it hides clutter and looks like decor.

Take your time. Style, step back, adjust. The perfect shelf is never done; it evolves with you.