How To Style Built-In Shelves: 10 Simple Steps That Work

 

Decorating built-in bookshelves is a fantastic way to make a new house feel like home or completely refresh an existing home. Some people it seems were born knowing how to style built-ins or were just magically good at decorating, I’m not one of those people and frankly, I never have been.

But what if I told you it can be learned? Would you believe me?

 

 

So if you’re one of those people that the decorating gene passed up or maybe just need some extra tips, this is for you!

In our home one entire wall in our main living area is made up of custom built-ins which gives our home unique character that other homes may not have, but those same built-ins are so large that when we moved into our home I quickly found myself stressing over which direction to go because the fact is built-ins can be a gorgeous focal point but when done wrong can quickly make your space look dated and cluttered.

When you are staring at all of the blank space it can be overwhelming but once we break down the entire process into just a few simple steps you will feel confident and a Huge Bonus: you can use these same principles on any surface in your home!

 

 

Starting with a completely blank space can be daunting but its essential to make sure the built-ins work together as a whole. So take everything off of the shelves if you’re decorating an existing home.

 Once you have all of your items cleared and gathered in one central location, take a good look at the pieces you have are there any similar pieces such as maybe brass, wood etc? Group like items together in one area, trust me this will make things so much easier while also cutting down on time.

Having a color palette is the key to making your home look pulled together and consistent. It will also cut down on random purchases that you may love in the store only to find that they don’t work with your current decor style or the color palette you were going for. In situations like that its hard to see the big picture while your standing in the aisle at Target surrounded by decorating goodness in every shade imaginable but when you know the three to four colors you will be using (along with neutrals and wood tones) then it brings the options that are available to you way down which in turn makes shopping much easier. If your not sure how to create a whole home color palette you can check out the post here.

 

Before you actually begin it’s a good idea to think about white space, our eyes need places to rest and leaving areas like this on your built-ins is so important to keep things from looking crazy cluttered. Unless you are using the shelves strictly for books there should be blank white space on each shelf for the eye to rest.

This step is one of the hardest steps for me and is something I am painfully learning as I go and that is being patient. Think about it for a minute, we have been programmed to want every single thing right now and sometimes it is easy to think you can just snap your fingers and you will be sitting in the home of your dreams but it takes work. It does not have to be hard and in fact, it can be fun but you have to be willing to go through the process patiently without giving up.

One important thing to remember about decorating is to think DETAILS! All of the small details are just as important if not more so than the larger more obvious ones.

 

Take your time, turn on some music and begin by choosing items for one shelf at a time, doing it this way will keep the distractions at bay and help you to focus on the one shelf in front of you instead of being overwhelmed by them as a whole. As long as your style, color choices and sizing options are on point it’s pretty much smooth sailing as far as any problems you could potentially run into.

Investing in books can get very expensive if you aren’t careful so be sure to bargain shop for them instead. Shopping at places like garage sales, estate sales, goodwill or your local thrift store to keep the cost down.  Be sure to remove the cover and pay close attention to the color of the spine to make sure it blends well with your color palette,

 

I can almost bet that 99% of the beautiful built-ins you see while scrolling Pinterest have some form of artwork layered in. Art is very important when styling built-ins because when you purchase artwork you only buy pieces you are drawn to or absolutely love. Items like this are the things that display your personality and make your home feel like “you”. Art also fills space in a way that cannot be done with small pieces while also giving you a layered in look.

Be sure that you gather a good mix of items in different size, heights and textures before you begin. You want the built-ins to feel interesting and full of life instead of boring because everything is the exact same height.

 

Add in pretty objects and items that you love throughout the shelves. Make sure that you use items of varying heights, textures, metals, and sizes. Add in wood elements and mix metals to give it that curated look effortlessly. Shop your house to see which items you already own that could work well on the shelves before shopping for extra items.

For example, Since we are slowly redoing our entire home I have decided to really take my time on our built-ins and collect items over time. So over the past several months when I have spotted an item that would work well on the built-ins I would make the purchase and set it to side.

Once I had gathered enough items to complete one shelf I would add the items in, layering each piece as I went. Doing this kept me from rushing through the process and I have been able to find some great bargains on items I absolutely love.

Mixing and matching pieces is the name of the game when it comes to decorating built-ins so try to think outside the box, use pieces that you wouldn’t normally think to use.

 Creating a layered lived in look is the key to a well-styled shelf and the more of those quirky pieces you use the more layered the look will appear.

Practice makes perfect, decorating built-ins doesn’t have to be hard and each and every one of us are 100% capable of learning the skills needed to decorate.