This post started from a casual Instagram comment: someone asked if I’d ever filmed myself styling a bookshelf so they could watch the process. A lot of people replied “yes, please,” so I decided to record and share it. Here it is.
My friend Teresa recently added built-ins to her living room and invited me to style them. She knows me well—this sort of thing is basically my love language (along with cheese and shrimp). We brought a camera and tripod to document the process. Below is what the wall looked like before, when they still had the Ikea bookcases from their previous home.
And here’s what Teresa and her dad built—these built-ins are terrific. The bench seat under the window lifts to reveal storage, and there are two large base cabinets on either side for concealed storage.
I should note that there’s nothing wrong with Ikea bookcases—they can look great. We’ve had inexpensive freestanding Ikea shelves in our office for years and love them. For Teresa and Andrew, the Ikea pieces suited their previous house better, and they’d wanted built-ins for a long time. With the help of Teresa’s very handy dad, they finally made it happen. Then I got to style the finished shelves.
Sidenote: if you’re looking for shelving ideas, there are plenty of easy DIY projects you can explore.
Styling a bookcase has a learning curve, but a few simple, mostly free steps will speed things along and help you avoid common mistakes. Below I summarize what I do; the video shows the full process in action.
One frequent question is the right ratio of books to decorative items. There’s no single answer—use the number of books you want to display and balance that against other storage and shelving in your home. In Teresa’s case, they keep many books elsewhere and use the bench for extra storage, so I styled these shelves with the books they preferred to display. The simplest rule is: do what feels right for you and your space.
On to the video, which communicates things that photos and words can’t fully capture:
Note: if you’re viewing this in a feed reader you may need to click through to see the player. You can also watch the video directly on YouTube.
We timed the whole shoot: filming took about 22 minutes, and I’d spent roughly 10 minutes beforehand arranging items into stacks and groupings. So the complete process took around 32 minutes. If you’re new to this it may take longer, and that’s fine—expect a lot of trial and error. I moved nearly everything multiple times before I landed on a layout I loved. The important part is to keep experimenting until you step back and like the result.
Watch the video for on-screen tips, and read on for three additional ideas I thought of after filming.
Initial Prep Makes Things Much Easier
Before you start placing items on shelves, gather everything you plan to display and lay it out on the floor. Seeing everything together helps you form larger groupings—horizontal and vertical stacks of books, stacks of boxes, and paired decorative objects. Grouping items on the floor lets you create ready-made clusters to place on the shelves, which speeds up the styling process and reduces guesswork.
Large vases, baskets, and smaller objects that will be tucked in later might not be fully grouped yet, but pairing up books and boxes and creating several combined units beforehand makes styling flow smoothly. That’s exactly what I did next door in Teresa’s house: I entered the room with stacks and groupings already prepared.
Fewer, Larger Groupings Beat Lots of Small Items
A mistake I made for years: using too many small, separate objects. Bigger items and larger groupings tend to read as more intentional and grounded. Tiny vases or lone picture frames can look lost and make the shelves feel busy. Great built-ins usually have either sizable individual pieces or smaller items combined so they read as one unit—stacked boxes, items placed on top of horizontal book piles, or a trio of vases grouped together.
If your shelves feel cluttered or lack presence, try removing or grouping smaller objects so they form a unified, larger visual unit. Consider adding one or two large-scale pieces—an oversized vase, a big basket, or substantial stacks of books—to anchor the look. This approach works equally well for mantels, tabletops, and open shelving.
This Can Be Nearly Free
Look around your home for usable pieces: attics, garages, closets, and kitchen cabinets often hide large pots, boxes, frames, or bowls that work well on shelves. When I stage homes I frequently repurpose items from other rooms—shoeboxes become neat stacks, decorative bowls from the kitchen earn a new place on a shelf. Spending thirty minutes rearranging what you already own can give your space a fresh, satisfying lift without spending money.
I’m clearly enthusiastic about bookcases. I hope the video and these tips help you enjoy styling your shelves. If you want more photos and advice about built-ins or shelving, there are other posts and resources with ideas and examples to explore. And if you like weekly design tips, consider signing up for the newsletter to get more ideas delivered to your inbox.
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