Tips for decorating your bookshelf

When it comes to keeping your bookshelves current, Tamara Robbins shares her tips on maintaining your space, and dressing it up with seasonal décor.

When it comes to keeping your bookshelves current, Tamara Robbins shares her tips on maintaining your space, and dressing it up with seasonal décor.

Editing tips:

1. Pull everything out and dust.

2. Be honest with yourself and tier books:

      Tier 1 – nicest looking / coffee table books

      Tier 2 – decent looking books / ones you need access to

      most often

      Tier 3 – those you can’t part with but can go somewhere

      else

      Tier 4 – those going to Goodwill / Salvation Army / friends

3. Group books together by spine colour, height OR subject matter.

4. Map out your new arrangement for the bookcases.

5. Edit your accessories – heavier decorative objects can act as bookends.

6. Fill your bookshelf! Add your favorite accessories only.

7. Step back and evaluate your work and the overall balance.

Adding seasonal décor:

1. Consider adding a wreath to bookshelves.

2. Swap out other generic objects for more seasonal objects.

3. Inject colours of the season.

4. Eschew hokey motifs in favour of rich texture and classic icons.

5. When placing books vertically, you can take them all the way across or leave a bit of space at either end for an object.

6. When stacking books horizontally, I like to typically use an odd number, leaving room on top for something decorative.

7. If you want to keep books handy that aren’t so pretty, layer them behind a piece of art or picture frame.

Courtesy Tamara Robbins, @homesense

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