How to Style Wall Shelves Like a Pro – Tips & Tricks for a Polished Home Decor

Over the years I’ve styled a ton of shelves and bookcases. Most of them have been in my own home, but I have also used my tips and tricks for creating beautifully styled shelves in other homes as well. So, if you’re struggling with how to decorate an empty shelf in your home, this post “How to Style Wall Shelves Like a Pro” is perfect for you. I share my method for creating beautifully styled shelves and bookcases every time. No interior design experience is required!

We’re going to explore different types of wall shelves and tips for styling them. Shelves are perfect for almost any room in your home from the bedroom, living room, and kitchen walls to even the laundry room.

Tips & Tricks on How To Style Your Shelves

1. If you are styling 2 shelves, arrange the top shelf all the way across the shelf. The 2nd shelf should be styled in groupings.
2. Neutral-colored items usually look best on the shelves but if you are adding color to the mix, ensure that it doesn’t interfere with the overall cohesiveness.
3. Arrange items on your shelves with varying heights and shapes. The shelves, in the end, should be well balanced.
4. Layer items
5. When grouping items on the shelves, it’s always a good idea to group items in an odd number. That means if you have 2 groups on a shelf, you would have either 6 items in total on your shelf. If it’s a larger shelf, you would have 10.
6. There should be negative space on a shelf in between groupings and around the artwork.
7. Varied textures, varied heights and some added greenery
8. Instead of cluttering your shelves with small items, incorporate large-scale items. The taller plants or art would go on the top shelf.

Antique Farmhouse has a lot of shelves, both free-floating and shelving units. They are masters at arranging and styling their goods, so if for no other reason than to get some good ideas for styling your home, you should give them a visit. Here are some ideas for shelving below. The links provided are clickable for more information.

Types of Items to Place on Your Shelves

• Books, stacked horizontally or vertically. It is also ok to stack items on top of the books.
• Plants with varied sizes and textures
• Art and photos
• Candles & Candleholders – these work really well in groupings
• Woven baskets, Wooden beads, Driftwood objects, etc add texture
• Organic items found in your natural environment such as seashells or pine cones could be placed in a decorative bowl.
• Vases, Clay pottery, Ginger Jars, & Decorative Bowls all work. Remember to vary color and shape and it’s ok to not fill them. Some vases are really pretty all on their own.
• Metalic items – copper, silver, gold, or bronze decor
• Figurines – I live on the coast and love the coastal birds so a pelican figurine is front and center on my shelves.
• Seasonal items such as Pumpkins, Angels, Easter Bunnies, and even Santa himself are all great. They also give the shelves a fresh look as the seasons change.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading our post, How to Style Wall Shelves Like a Pro. Styling shelves is not rocket science … we just need to follow the guidelines. These styling tips, for the most part, work for styling your coffee table and console table as well. In closing, I would invite you to leave us a comment. We’d love to hear your feedback. I’m also putting some pins at the end so you can share them with your Pinterest friends.

You might enjoy a related post:
Tips for Styling Your Coffee Table Like a Pro – How to Guide to Styling Table Vignettes

Have a great rest of your week.

Until next time ….. Joy