How To Easily Style A Shelf

Admittedly there are countless ways to arrange items on a shelf, but here's a quick, go-to formula that you can use if you are wondering how to quickly and easily style a shelf. 

This formula creates the “shape” that I like for the overall arrangement. It keeps the shelf looking well balanced while also being asymmetrical so that the styling looks interesting. 

So here it is, a quick step-by-step tutorial to quickly decorate a shelf so it's ready for a Shelfie!

STEP 1

Mentally divide your shelf in two because you are going to create two arrangements with some space between them.

STEP 2

These need to be either coffee table (large) books, or magazines. If you are using books, then a stack of 2-3 is perfect. If you use magazines, like in this photo, stack them up to roughly the height of a couple big coffee table books.

STEP 3

This can be one tall object, like a single large vase, or a grouping of similar vertical objects.

STEP 4

Use an object that is also more of a low, horizontal shape, like the books. A small bowl is a great option. Make sure that when the object you choose is stacked on top of the books, it sits lower than the height of the vertical object on the other side of the shelf.

You can do this with the majority of your shelves and just stagger the placement of low and high – so one shelf has the height on the left, the next one has the height on the right, etc. Then to keep things from being too much the same, choose a few shelves to arrange differently like with one large object, a single stack of books, or leaving a few of the stacks of books bare. 

The last step is just to grab your camera and snap a shelfie!

If you try this out, we would love to see! Please tag @brookebundydesigns on Instagram and show us how you used this shelf styling formula!