How to style a shelf

Happy Wednesday! -- Why am I so excited? Because it's the middle of the week, which means in only a few more short days we will be back on a weekend relaxing.

Today I wanted to share with you some really important tips about how to style a shelf. I know when I was searching online so much information came up that it actually was a bit confusing. So I wanted to help everyone out but adding a few tips on how to make that shelf stand out!

Step One: Buy Big. I love cute nick nacks as much as the next person but too much of a tiny thing can make clutter the main goal of your self.

Step Two: Try to have things that "Echo" each other -- in simple terms things of similar style go better together, I love white dishes so I place them on my shelves at different areas so it goes through the whole design.

Step Three: This third step on to how to style a shelf I think gives us a chance to be really creative -- Hide the clutter! I have magazines -- a lot of magazines (almost sad really) so I found some lovely magazine holders at IKEA to give a cleaner look. You can use decorative boxes, or suitcases maybe even a nice basket to hide some of the less attractive things that we use on a daily basis.



Step Four: Think outside of the box! I picked up a lovely pumpkin ornament at the Pottery Barn, regular 45$ and on sale for 5.95! It's not really in season but it adds a unique drama to the shelf and it keeps the shelf interesting. If you see something you love you can always make room for it on the shelf!

I also grabbed just a regular salad bowl and filled it with white fruit to give it a sculptural quality, this is where you can see the "Echoing" take place between that as well as the white magazine holders and the clam. The great thing is that you can use this later at dinner parties or for supper so it has multiple purposes, which is great when you're in an apartment and space is everything!

As well as these wonderful cups that still follow a unique milkshake shop look. -- I love to dress my selves with things you can use later, for when guests are over. It makes smart use of the space that you have while still serving a purpose to style your shelf.



These few simple steps hopefully help you in styling your shelf! Lets take a look at the before and after to the wall and the steps to design and how it turned out shall we?

BEFORE:





PROGRESS:

We are still waiting for the fabric to complete the large picture frame :(

PROGRESS -- adding larger items, and echoing items (Step 1-2)

It's still a bit hard to believe they are the same shelves! Well I hope these few tips and tricks I've picked up have helped you style your shelves as well! I know we are as happy as a clam (that's right.. I made a clam joke!!) with our shell-ves I'm sure you will be too!

Guy on the move gets updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. -- Why? It's because we are in absolute love with these days! We are perhaps having a dance party every time we load a post.... true story.