A few weeks ago, we asked blogger, Caroline Brewer, to share her secret to styling floating shelves. Her blog caught our eye for her simple yet thoughtful style, so who better to demystify the art of perfectly-styled shelves. Check out her tips and we bet you won’t be able to wait to get back home and give our bookcases a much needed facelift.
Step 1: “First, it is important to start with a blank canvas. Remove the excess and start with a clean slate,” says Brewer.
Step 2: “Choose your anchor pieces. I started with 4 uniquely different pieces of art, each piece feeling substantial. To avoid it feeling too staged place each piece of art on a different section of the shelves, creating direction and movement. After placing the anchor pieces I layer in the rest of the art. None of the art is actually hung, which makes it easy to switch things out and keep the space feeling fresh and new over time,” says the stylist.
Step 3: “Add in fun accessories. I always choose interesting conversation pieces. I love to pull things from my travels that have interesting stories. One of my favorite things on the floating shelves is the dark room timer. My husband is a photographer so when I found this vintage treasure it was especially fun!”
Step 4: “Add something living. This step can really take your space to the next level and is my favorite part! Adding something green can help lead your eye from the top of the space to bottom. I normally add both a potted plant as well as fresh cuts,” says Brewer.
Step 5: Add the finishing touches. Take a moment to step back and asses your shelves. Ask yourselves questions about balance and proportion. The shelves had quite a few statement pieces, but needed some accent accessories so I added the small quirky animals, tee-pee incense burner and vintage red dice. Also, there needed to be something to ground the shelves. A basket full of blankets did the trick!
