Wednesday, June 15, 2016

How to Style Your Shelves

                      Laurel & Wolf



I've recently come across Laurel and Wolf , an online interior design service, and I was challenged to show off a "Shelfie" and how I designed it. I thought that it sounded like a great post to reveal one of my personal shelves we keep in our living room. It's a place we showcase all of the graduates on both sides of our families....so basically all of our nieces and nephews. This is getting so full, however, that when the next one graduates I may be finding somewhere else to display them! 

I was given this awesome graphic to follow if you are new to styling shelves:

So now I will break down how mine were done....


STEP 1: TAKE INVENTORY



These are all of our beautiful nieces' and nephews' senior pictures. I usually use frames that I have on hand, and I love mixing up the finishes. Wood, black, and silver are my favorite mix. Which leads to step 2....


STEP 2: CREATE A COLOR PALETTE

Along with the frame finishes, I used the colors that are naturally found in our home....blue, green, and cream. It keeps the shelves from becoming too busy looking even though they are completely filled. These colors were brought mostly with books. 


STEP 3: BEGIN WITH BOOKS



Books add that level of interest and height to our shelves that are sometimes overlooked. Whenever I am doing styling at home or at someone else's house, I always include books. And in this case, I use them stacked by color. 


The basket of books houses most of our proof albums we get from photographers, it's fun to keep them handy to look back through. Baskets are a great filler on shelves, and a handy catchall when cleanup is needed quickly....ha! 


STEP 4: ADD IN ART

The "ART" in this case is our actual photos of the kids. So this is the part of it that gets tricky for me. I like to mix up the colors of frames, the height of the pics, and because I'm a glutton for punishment and am a little OCD....I didn't want any siblings or same family members being right beside each other. 








I added a picture of our wedding day to the top for height, and because of our large family and all the pictures we have of them, this is the only place we have to put a photo of US. (also, the church we were married in has so much meaning to me, and is showcased beautifully in this picture. The books next to it are bibles that belonged to my parents and a hymnal from this church)


Almost done! But you can see that there is something missing. It needs some fillers and some softness. 


STEP 5: TURN UP THE PERSONALITY

Feathers and lace....two of my favorite design accessories. 









STEP 6: TAKE A STEP BACK

Look at your shelves, do they tell the story that you want them to? Is there something missing? I see that there is something missing on the top shelf. I added in some nests after these pictures were taken for this post. But I am always moving, rearranging, and tweaking everything in this house. 




I have the cutest little rattan boho shelving unit that I picked up at a garage sale earlier this month, you can see it on our Instagram. I cannot wait to style those. 



And by the way, Laurel and Wolf's Pinterest is a new obsession of mine. And this new to me website and blog is a great spot for ideas and inspiration! Please click on over and see for yourself....

I'm off to more baseball games today, I think this busy part of summer is almost over. I have some fun posts planned for the next couple months and, hopefully, if I'm organized enough I can keep this going throughout the school year. 

Thanks for coming onto this little blog of ours, and reading the random thoughts of this busy mama who loves her farm and is obsessed with design!





No comments:

This is "What I NEVER knew that I ALWAYS wanted"

A born and raised city girl, finding the country life to be the real me! Every day is an adventure, and each season brings new excitement and experiences. I am learning and loving the path of finding my true passion....making this little farm our HOME!