Of all the decor things that scared me when I had my first home most of them did styling bookshelves was the paralyzer. Seven years ago when we found out I was pregnant with our son, we decided that his baby shower would be our deadline to get our home renovated. Micah worked so hard to makeover every room, and then I started trying to furnish and decorate. I’ll never forget the anxiety I had about decorating this built in for the first time.
It’s one thing to try and accessorize a tabletop but to try and tackle a bookshelf which is basically a bunch of tabletops that all have to talk to each other was beyond my brain. I called in my mother-in-law, who has great design sense, and she showed me some initial tips and tricks. Whether you have style or not, decorating can be a learned thing with the right guidelines in place, and I needed to learn some of the rules in order to enjoy it. Through trial and error, I eventually really loved styling those shelves, and now I see bookshelves as a wonderful opportunity instead of a problem.
Although I’ve become known for my interiors, the truth is, I don’t really know the why behind much of what I do. When it comes to styling a shelf, I put things together that I think look good, but there’s no real science behind it. From the get-go I’ve intended this blog to be inspirational, not necessarily educational because my brain just doesn’t usually work that way. I can show you what I do but I can’t always explain why.
But you know who can? My friend Heather. Heather is a real life friend who happens to be really good at design and explaining it in a very approachable way. She was a teacher in another life and that gift shows. She just launched her first online decorating course, starting with bookshelf styling! Whether you’re someone who loves design but just needs some guidance and rules like me or someone who hasn’t the slightest idea about design but has some shelves that you want to be proud of, these classes are for you.
There are four video lessons to watch, homework to do I hate to call it that because it’s actually a lot of fun and tons of resources to help you find the best decor and art to finish off your shelves. I was able to watch all the videos in an evening you can spread it out however long you want and I have to say that I learned a ton! As I said, I know what I do, but I don’t always know the reasoning behind it. I found myself saying “oh, that’s why I do that!” or “huh, I hadn’t thought of doing it that way!” Heather makes decor more like an equation than an emotional response, which means anyone can learn to decorate!
You can check out the class and more details here. It’s so much value for the price and could make a really fun gift too!
Dani @ Danielle and Co. says
I feel like I am always moving stuff around on our bookshelves trying to make it look right (we have three built-ins, which is nice, but intimidating). Our issue is that the shelves also seem to be the landing spot for random stuff, constantly! Board games, car keys, something I mean to drop off to someone, etc… I wish they weren’t so conveniently located!
themakerista@gmail.com says
I think if it’s a landing spot you just have to embraces it with trays for keys and such and baskets for games. It can still look nice and be functional. I totally understand!
Serene Spaces Living says
Nice inspirational post, we have some basic stuff on of shelves: kids’ books, books, some figurines, but mainly it is a stash spot. I’m glad to know that we are not the only ones who use it as a landing spot.