In my book, no pun intended, bookcases are essential in every home. Bookcases add style AND practicality. Bruce and I have so many books that we have multiple bookcases in multiple rooms in our home. I not only love books, but I love making them look pretty where they “live” when not being read or referred to. I think styling your bookcases is like an artistic expression, but for a lot of people it’s a struggle to get them looking good. So here are a few tips when styling your bookcases that will make them look amazing.
Add Art Pieces
Bookcases are not just for books, especially when you’re styling them. Adding small pieces of framed art is a great way to up the design impact of any bookcase. Lean a piece of art next to some books on a few of your shelves. Alternate the side you place the pieces of art on or place them all in the middle and skip a shelf or two if it’s an extra large bookcase. You can also layer more than one art piece in the same opening or lean an art piece with an interesting object in front.
Add Greenery
Greenery adds dimension to most styling projects and bookcases are no exception. You can, if you’re gifted with house plants, like my daughters, use real plants in interesting cache pots to brighten your bookcases. If there’s not enough light or you have less-than-green thumbs, try a couple of faux house plants. You’ll get nearly the same effect.
Use Unusual Objects As Bookends
Bookends help a lot when styling your bookcases, but they don’t have to be a traditional pair. Heck, they don’t even need to be bookends. Use unusual objects, like the hand-made pottery vase above, a vintage camera or an antique coffee grinder to hold up your books. Anything with enough weight can work and these collected items add interest and whimsy.
Insider Tip: Consignment and thrift stores, like Consignments Ltd., are great places to find these interesting, non-bookend bookends. And bookcases and cache pots too!
Lay Books Down Horizontally in Small Stacks
When styling your bookcases make sure to shake things up a little. Don’t stand all of your books up, facing in, vertically. Vary your books by laying stacks of them down horizontally. This breaks up the mass and makes the bookcase more visually pleasing. And don’t forget to add an interesting object or a piece of art on top of the stack.
Stick to A Color Scheme When Styling Your Bookcases
Sometimes sticking to an overall color scheme for a bookcase gives great results. You can choose to use all books bound in the same color or all accent pieces in the same color family. This way is harder to accomplish with the books because we often don’t have a plethora of blue books, for example. If you pick two coordinating colors, like the blue and tan above, it’s a bit easier. The other way to achieve this is to group same color books on their own shelves. Red-bound books on one, tan on the next, then the green ones. You get the idea. This is a little easier way to go, given the rainbow of books most people own.
Choose A Topic and Style Around That
Lastly, if you have a lot of books on a particular topic, you may want to style a bookcase with just those books. For example, we have a lot of travel books from 2 lifetimes of poking around. I styled a bookcase in my den with just travel books and my interesting objects and art are all about travel too. I’ve got a few piece of coral from my travels on two vertical stacks of books and two sweet little oils with coastal themes tucked in for interest. It’s a fun way to style your bookcases and it skinnies what you’re working with, which makes it a bit easier.
And Now For A Little Music Before We Go…
If, even after all this talk about books, you still want more to read, check out my previous design blogs like: Can You Mix Gold and Silver in Home Decor? and Brown is Back in Interior Design.
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