#SHELFIE
LOVE YOUR SHELVES
“I have these big, beautiful bookshelves; now what the heck do I do with them?!”
Whether you like your shelves filled to the brim or more minimally styled, we believe the perfect #shelfie (yes, we just said #shelfie) is one that feels cool and collected without looking too planned or contrived.
But of course, it takes a bit of planning and contriving to achieve that cool, collected look. And with a bookshelf this tall and this wide, (96”H x 60”W to be exact), those big, open spaces can sometimes feel very daunting to fill. Depending on our clients’ personal aesthetic and on the items we have to work with, here are some general guidelines we each follow in styling tall and wide bookshelves:
ALEXIS: My top 5 tips for styling a wide and tall bookshelf
TELL A STORY
I like my bookshelves to be full of items that tell a story about the homeowners. Whether it’s baskets, artwork, family mementos, whatever is unique to you, look how you can group collections together and create a stunning display of your collection. Here, I used Woven Palm Baskets from our friends at Meridian. They span the entire middle shelf which is a really good thing because the shelf is massive. This collection is beautiful but also a great conversation starter. These baskets are handmade by women in Zimbabwe allowing them to support their families and share their art with the world. People will ask you where you got them and you can tell a great story.
BOOKS, GLORIOUS BOOKS
If there is one thing I can’t resist, it is books of all shapes and sizes. They look beautiful, contain oodles of info and are a great way to show off your interests. This shelf took a fair amount of books (49 to be exact) and I used a mix of thrift shop finds, art books and anything neutral I could scrounge from the homeowner’s other shelves to keep the palette neutral. Remember that you can always remove dust jackets, flip books around so the spines face inward revealing the pages or simply cover books with a pretty paper to change the color of the spine. Trust me, for a wide shelf like this, you’ll need more books than you think.
TEXTURE & PATTERN
This bookshelf is very neutral and muted because of the color palette of the room. I put my love of color on hold and decided that pattern and texture would be the star of the show. The bottom shelf sets the tone with stripes and textures that are found on all the other shelves. The woven baskets create a horizontal stripe on the middle shelf with individual patterns on each piece to add a visual pop. The top shelf uses an almost full row of books to add a pattern of vertical stripes. Once again it’s this repletion of lines that is already inherent in the horizontal lines of a bookshelf that really ties everything together.
PERFECT/NOT PERFECT
While some might find this shelf too matchy matchy or “too styled,” that’s fine by me. Just play around and have fun. Your shelves should be what you want them to be NOT what someone else prescribes. I always try to have a little fun with shelves even if no one notices. On this one, I added a few “odd man out” pieces like the black book on the top shelf and mini books stacked haphazardly in front of the baskets on the middle shelf. There’s even a random book-free gap on the top shelf that leaves an empty space for the eye to rest.
FORM & FUNCTION
You’ll notice that we designed this bookshelf to have storage underneath to hide all the minutiae of everyday life. Function is always key and that is especially true for families. Not only did we hide lots of clutter in the cabinets below but I filled the bottom baskets with useful stuff that isn’t particular pretty (matches, coasters, bottle opener, tissues for runny nosed kids, you get the gist) so the essentials are always close at hand.