Friday, August 14, 2015

Styling Difficult to Style Shelves

My title here kind of makes me thinking of a book title--Something like Raising the Difficult Child, haha!  Just talking shelves though here, which is a little easier than child rearing.

So we have these built in shelves at the bottom of our library stairs. (Darn, I can't find a before picture!)
shelf, style, TJ MAXX, elephant, old books,pops of color, bookshelf, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/08/styling-difficult-to-style-shelves.html

They are not very deep, definitely not tall, and are DARK!  They took a few days of thinking and rearranging to get a look I like.  
shelf, style, TJ MAXX, elephant, old books,pops of color, bookshelf, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/08/styling-difficult-to-style-shelves.html
Here are my tips:

For dark shelves, used light colored objects.  I had some old cameras I wanted to display, but they were black and disappeared.  
shelf, style, TJ MAXX, elephant, old books,pops of color, bookshelf, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/08/styling-difficult-to-style-shelves.html
Use some organic objects, like the antlers, wood bowl, the jar of shells, and the wood spools.
shelf, style, TJ MAXX, elephant, old books,pops of color, bookshelf, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/08/styling-difficult-to-style-shelves.html
Use objects that have meaning.  The Little Men book belonged to my dad, the shells are from trips to the Oregon coast.
shelf, style, TJ MAXX, elephant, old books,pops of color, bookshelf, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/08/styling-difficult-to-style-shelves.html
Add colors--the ukulele is my son's, he taught himself to play.  A friend accidentally sat on this one so now it is a decor item for mom.  I wanted to add some yellow so I used a few yellow books and a jar with yellow twine.  
shelf, style, TJ MAXX, elephant, old books,pops of color, bookshelf, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/08/styling-difficult-to-style-shelves.html
Add something new and fresh.  Elephants are all the rage and I love them so I bought a white one at TJ MAXX.  The little globe and star thingy are from there too.  It is fun to have a few trendy things, but not too many.Keep it simple, do not fill every space.
shelf, style, TJ MAXX, elephant, old books,pops of color, bookshelf, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/08/styling-difficult-to-style-shelves.html
And finally, only use objects you love, things that make you smile when you see them.
shelf, style, TJ MAXX, elephant, old books,pops of color, bookshelf, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/08/styling-difficult-to-style-shelves.html

2 comments:

  1. Nicely decorated... I have a basket full of shells that I have not displayed, because I just don't like the basket... However, I have several glass jars I love!! Doing the switch today, to add to my beach/shell theme in my living areas... A timely blogpost for me! Hugs!

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