This past weekend, we hosted the #GFTrendsetter event at Gallery Furniture on Post Oak in the Galleria. The featured subject for our event was bookshelf styling. Bookshelves are a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate your sense of style, personalize a space and act as a functional space for storage. Natalie and I found our favorite items in the Gallery Furniture store and styled them with some of our favorite pieces brought from home. Here’s some of our top bookshelf styling tips:
- Declutter. At the end of the day your bookshelves should be functional! Look at what you want to store on your bookshelf and decide if its presentable on its own or if it should be housed somewhere else—like in a decorative basket or box. Remove clutter like loose papers or broken items where possible.
- Stick to one metal. Choose either gold, silver, bronze, or brass to maintain a consistent theme and keep everything cohesive. Selecting one type of metal also helps narrow down the zillions of decisions out there when finding accessories like picture frames, lamp hardware, vases, etc.
- Arrange things in odd numbers. When pairing items on a shelf, style accessories in groups of odd numbers—three, five, seven, etc. to create an effortless look that’s not forcing symmetry.
- Break up sets. Just because you buy a set of something, doesn’t mean you must keep all the pieces together. Break up the set and place the objects in spots along the bookshelf to complement each other and create balance. For example, mix and match book ends or candle sets.
- Stack books creatively. Arrange your books in a variety of ways to keep your bookshelves from getting too monotonous. Stack them horizontally, vertically, mix and match directions. Arrange accessories like photo frames or travel trinkets in front of the books or on top of shorter piles to provide depth.
- Incorporate greenery. Plants bring such good feng shui and energy to a space! Even if your bookshelf doesn’t get a lot of light or you’re a habitually bad plant-waterer, you can find some low maintenance succulents or cacti to bring a little life to the party. I’m a big fan pothos plants which can grow in pretty much any conditions—even a windowless office! Avoid fake plants. They get dusty and can look cheap.
- Light up your space! Add a bright lamp (or two!) to the mix up the shelf space. If there’s no room, grab a strand of wire lights (we had some great battery powered ones!) to bring in another dimension.
- Show your personality. I’m a big fan of color, so I love to incorporate some of the themes of my home into my bookshelves—like the It’s Not Hou accent blue! Also, including lots of photographs to make me feel at home.
- Find balance. Treat each shelf as its own canvas and style it so there is balance between everything in that box. Then take a step back and look at all the boxes as a whole. If you have a bunch of tall, heavy items on the left, you’ll want to balance it out with a few tall, heavy items on the right. Alternate pictures, books, lamps, plants between the boxes so that there’s not too much of one item in any quadrant.
We loved meeting everyone who attended the #GFTrendsetter event! Attendees sipped on wine, snacked on bruschetta and cupcakes, and mingled and furniture shopped throughout the afternoon. We had great attendance and the first 25 people who showed up even won a $250 gift certificate to Gallery Furniture!
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Growing up in Houston, the infamously, loud, direct Mattress Mack radio commercials were part of my childhood. Now as an adult, I finally understand the importance of No Back, Back, Back, Back Orders. While furnishing my home, if I find a piece that I love, I want it now—not 10 weeks from now. And Gallery Furniture continues to deliver on that promise. You can buy anything from their store and have it delivered today. Plus, all items are made in America and come at many price points. Gallery Furniture isn’t your parents’ stuffy furniture store (although they do have some stuff, comfy couches!). They have lots of hip trendy items—absolutely in love with some off the wall art—and offer the option to customize many of their furniture pieces.
Favorite items from our bookshelf styling include the Gallery Furniture brushed metal book cases and turquoise accent lamps.
Its amazing when you said to arrange your books in a variety of ways to keep your bookshelves from getting too monotonous. One of my friend is buying a new house so wants to get some new furniture. Thanks for the bookshelf styling tips and I will surely forward your article to my friend.