Creating a focal point with bookshelves and shelves

If you’ve ever wondered why your room isn’t working, you might be missing a focal point. A focal point can be a fireplace, a grand piano, a spectacular view, an impressive piece of art, a textured wall, or anything else that grabs your attention when you enter the room. If you don’t have any of those attractions, a wonderful way to create a focal point is with bookshelves or other types of shelving.

While built-in bookcases are attractive, there are plenty of other options: modular, shelves with brackets, corner shelves, open cabinets, hutches, buckets, slanted shelves, with adjustable rails, and more.

Where to find shelves and shelves

Find them at antique stores, yard sales, unpainted furniture stores, Pier 1, Crate & Barrel, Housewares, and others. Get DIY (do-it-yourself) shelving at stores like IKEA, Target, Wal-Mart, and the like. Or go online and type “bookshelves.” You’ll be amazed at what you’ll find in all shapes, sizes, and price ranges.

Create eye-catching shelving or shelving

Shelves don’t have to be boring. Whether your style is traditional, coastal, antique, early American, Asian, modern, or whatever, here are some ways to turn ordinary shelving into an eye-catching display:

– Show your collections and passions.

– Forget about symmetry and be daring.

– Vary the height of the accessories

– Place an interesting object on a horizontal stack of books.

– Group similar items (books, art, seashells, etc.)

– Add art

– Use glass baskets or containers

– Contrast dark shelves with light objects (and vice versa)

– Organize books and objects by color.

– Place photo frames, artwork, mirrors and trays behind other items.

– Place a mirror behind the objects you want to highlight.

Tip: Choose 2-3 accent colors that you will use repeatedly on your shelves. Bring these colors out of the room the shelves are in, so the style of your shelf fits.

Decorate your shelves with ingenuity

Gone are the days when encyclopedias littered the shelves. Today, bookshelves aren’t just for books. They can be used to display art, vacation finds, family photos, music boxes, collections, and anything else you like to look at when in the room. Here are some ideas to bring out the beauty of your shelves, even before you fill them.

– Paint your bookshelves or shelves the same color as the walls to create a unified look.

– Place identical shelves on both sides of a door, window or fireplace.

– Use open shelves with decorative supports.

– Paper the back of the shelves to make them stand out.

– Paint the back of the shelves by drawing a color from an item in the room (such as a sofa, chair, or artwork).

Create a nifty arrangement

Treat your bookshelves or shelves like a blank canvas and let your personality shine through.

1. Start with a clean slate by removing all items from the shelves.

2. Gather items for display and group them by color, theme, or size.

3. Take three of the largest items you collected and put them on different shelves. Then step back and see how they look.

4. Fill with medium and small pieces and begin grouping.

5. Group odd numbers of pieces. Odd-numbered groupings are more attractive, memorable, and effective than even-numbered groupings.

5. Organize your books by color, size, or theme.

6. Use lighting to add impact to a specific piece or pieces.

7. Now go back and see what you’ve done.

– Have you achieved the color balance?

– Have you incorporated a variety of shapes?

– Is it the right size and scale?

Remember that shelves are always in progress because it is easy to rearrange, change, add and remove anything, at any time.

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