My Five Favorite Tips for Styling Bookshelves

I'm so excited to be guest hosting today for My Five Favorites.  It's a fun series hosted each month by Jennifer from Dimples & Tangles, Lisa from Shine Your Light, and Pam from Simple Details.  This month's theme is about our five favorite tips for styling bookshelves.  Sometimes the thought of styling a bookshelf can be overwhelming, but once you get started it can be fun!  Hopefully you'll find these tips helpful!

1. Incorporate Books in a Different Way

Even if you don't have a vast collection of books, you can still easily incorporate them into your styling.  You can find cheap books at thrift stores, garage sales, and even the dollar store.  

If you have several that you want to display, arrange them by color for a more cohesive look.  A lot of times I remove the sleeve to keep things streamlined.

Or if you want a more monochromatic look, cover the books with white paper or even paint them a fun color with chalk paint.

You can even try turning your books around to display the pages of the book versus the spine.

I also like turning some of the books horizontally and leaving some vertical.  

2. Add something green

I'm all about using plants in decor.  There's something about them that just adds life to a room.  And if you aren't a green thumb, there are lots of great fake options.  If you are going to go with fake, I like to use succulents like this or this.

3. Decorate the back of the bookshelf

There are so many great removable wallpapers out right now.  They are a great way to add interest and dimension to the back of the bookshelf.  I really like this one and the ones from this company. 

You can find this hutch makeover here.  

4. Add some labels

I labeled pretty much everything in our pantry, partly for necessity, but also to help make it prettier to look at!

I'm not sure why, but labels just make things look better.  It adds a nice touch and also makes things more functional.  I usually make my own with this machine, but you can also print some out with your printer using a cute font, or buy an inexpensive label maker like this one that makes fun 3d labels.  These are great for labeling boxes that don't have a spot for a label.

I printed these labels out for our office.  It was really easy to do and looks so much better than just writing it out, unless you have beautiful handwriting, which I do not!  

5.  Mix in things that are meaningful 

Bookshelves are great for storage and organization, but it's nice to break up some of the more functional items with things that are pretty and meaningful.  

Our office shelves are mainly for function.  They store lots of my DIY stuff and some other things like my printer and important documents.  Including some meaningful items helps add interest and allows us to display things that are important to us without giving up the functionality.    We bought that green wooden box on our honeymoon and I love having it in here.  It helps break up all the boxes.  And speaking of boxes, if you are using boxes for storage on a bookshelf, mix them up by choosing a few different colors and sizes to keep things looking interesting.   

(You can find more info on our office here.)

Pictures or art are also great meaningful items to include.  If they don't have a stand on the back, just lean them against the back of the shelf and place a smaller heavier object in front to keep it from sliding.  I like layering a few frames in front of each other too.

See more of this room here.

This bookshelf was actually a free Craigslist find and it fits perfectly in our master bedroom!

Do you have any tips for styling bookshelves?  I'd love to hear them!  Be sure to visit Simple Details, Dimples & Tangles, and Shine Your Light for some more great tips!