Styling a Bookshelf According to Color
I recently redid the bookshelves in our home office. The itch to change them up a little and purge some of our books was firing away in my brain.
However, the strategy for my bookshelf redo is slightly controversial. People…, ahem, family members of mine…, can have strong opinions on how bookshelves should be organized. So, if you're one of those folks who thinks books should only be put on shelves in a “Dewey Decimal” sorta way, you should probably just skip this post. lol
I love books and I love color. But sometimes a bookshelf can become visually very busy. All the type/font and colors on the various book spines can create a lot of pattern and color for the eyes to take in. I wanted to rein in all that busyness a bit by grouping the books according to their spine colors. AND create a bookshelf with a visually appealing look that was also styled and personal. Here’s how I did it—
1. Start with a blank slate
Empty shelves allow you to plan out where you’re going without the visual clutter to contend with. Once I took everything off it allowed me to think more strategically about what I wanted the final product to look like.
2.Organize the books in stacks of similar spine colors
In the case of my shelves, my books fell into 4 easy categories—
Black/Gold
Blues/Greens
Yellow/Orange/Reds
Whites
These four color groupings determined my color palette for the whole bookshelf. Sticking with that color palette helped to keep the shelf from being too visually overwhelming. I separated the books into those four color stacks, and then arranged each stack in color gradation.
Once I had my stacks arranged I chose 4 shelves equally dispersed throughout the whole wall unit. The goal was to balance out the books and create equal visual weight around the space.
By using a mixture of books stacked vertically and horizontally there’s movement and interest on each shelf. Plus those horizontally stacked books offer a natural book end.
Styling Tip—Bring the books to the front of the shelves. Resist the urge to shove them to the back. Pulling them to the front edge will give the shelf a polished look. It allows the book spines to catch the light and shine.
3. Add in larger items like vessels and boxes
Next, I added my larger items—two suede cognac leather boxes, a large white ceramic urn, and a piece of Cumberland River driftwood.
Once I had those things in place I knew I wanted to pull a little more blue to the color palette to play off the blue books on the top shelf. So on one of the lower shelves I added a couple of blue pottery vases and a blue hued cloche of matches in varying heights, and a stack of coffee table books with blue spines.
Styling Tip—items of varying heights adds movement and interest to a vignette. If all the items are on the same visual plane there’s less interest to pull the eye in for discovery.
On the opposite lower shelf I added a terracotta planter with a thriving ivy. The terracotta hue in the planter pulls at the cognac color in the suede boxes as well as giving a nod to the hues in the orangey-reds in the book spines on the red shelf.
4. Layer in art
I love adding art to bookshelves!
Because art has a way of moving us in a personal way, adding it to your bookshelves can make the space reflect more of you and your family versus just being a styled space.
For my shelves I chose pieces that I personally love AND nicely fit into the color palette of the particular shelf where I hung each one. I’ve loved the Knott Cloud print for a while! Doesn’t it look great on the shelf below the black and gold books? The sailboat piece is one I’ve had for a while just waiting on the perfect spot. The blues in the painting coordinate perfectly with the blue vases and cloche.
5. Lastly, add in smaller pieces, as well as personal mementos
To finish off the shelves I added in a few smaller touches. A seashell we picked up on one of our family trips to the beach. A bird figurine one of our daughters gave us when she lived in Uganda, Africa. Those personal mementos are reflections of memories and family. Good stuff!
