As you know, we’re not ones to follow rules, but when styling shelves, there are two things you should consider: keep it simple but above all personal. Just like any area you design at home, your shelves should exemplify your tastes, travels, and infatuations. Start with a statement piece that draws in the eye, but don’t let it dominate—layer in accessories, supporting colors, and prints, ensuring you have a neutral base to ground them. You can see this in action via Athena’s arched recessed shelves which are covered in Wevet by Farrow & Ball to hold all of the patinaed patterned book shelf décor in place.
From here, it’s all about intuition. Play around with your found objects, see what gravitates to you, trust your gut, and let your curiosity be your guide. Create multiple vignettes of varying heights and shapes to see what sticks; stack books in uneven parallel and perpendicular lines; orient each shelf differently from the one adjacent to it and add something offbeat to create the visual interest your eye craves.
There will absolutely be moments (or several in fact) where you feel like a failure and nothing looks right, but this is also where the real design magic happens.
So try to relax, breathe, and move through the tension as you shift things around, and eventually, you will land on the right combination. Trust me!
