I love a good styled shelf – it is a great way to show off special pieces and display memories held in photos or objects passed down the generations.

When styling shelves in your home it is all about creating a careful curation of objects to achieve a lovely visual balance. There is no ‘one only way’ to style a shelf.

You can style a shelf with the same elements 20 times over and achieve a great result each time as long as there is careful consideration in the outcome.

Sometimes it can feel daunting as there is no hard fast rules or a one easy step by step process to follow, but there are some guidelines to help. You get a feeling for it and over time with practice you can build up some confidence and be truly creative and unique with the way you style your perfect shelf.

I believe when styling a shelf you naturally want to achieve a great aesthetic but you don’t want to completely lose the personality of the home or its occupants.

Everyone has little collections of objects which tell their own personal stories whether they be photos or something found on a particular holiday they remember fondly. These sorts of items can be included and should be out on display – my tip would be to use in moderation and then rotate when you feel you want to update the look of your shelves.

With little trinket like pieces you want to still achieve a sophisticated look but you can also have some fun with it. How items are styled can strongly relate to the personality of an interior.

What you need is a mix of items which give you varied shape, form ,and texture.

Check out some of the lovely ceramic vases and candles in our shop which look fantastic layered on shelves.

When I go to style a shelf I firstly clear all the items off the shelves first. You want your shelves to be a blank canvas.

What you might find helps also is to organize your pieces into groups by size. Small to large and laid out on the floor or on a table top.

Another tip for organizing items when there is a strong colour story to play with is to block the coloured items into groups.

 Think about the style you would like to achieve – are you going for a minimalist look or a more maximalist look ! Do you love colour or do you want to keep things really neutral in tone.

 You want to build up your shelves with items such as books, photo frames, art, vases, sculptures or decorative trinkets, trays, candles and votives, and plants. Having a bit of a mix adds not only interest but also gives you the varied shapes and forms to create the perfect layers.

 Start with your base by adding items such as stacked books and bookends (lying down and stacked up or standing upright and stacked across), add things such as trays and framed art which can lean against the back of your shelf. These sorts of pieces act as good base items.

 Now look at some larger decorative pieces such as vases and vessels or even sculptures. They can either sit next to, on top of, or just in front of your other base items. In some cases they sit really well just on their own away from the more layered items. Keep in mind that you also want to include some breathing space amongst the collections of objects. ( or negative blank space)

As you build up these layers from large to small elements take a step back to view how they are all looking and how the balance overall feels on your shelves.

Make changes and adjustments until it feels right.

 If you get stuck for ideas there is of course plenty of inspiration on Pinterest.

In the meantime check out these lovely shelf units - click the image to discover their source !