Through YOUR Front Door: reveal

Happy Monday, everyone!  Do you all remember Dana's bookshelf from last Monday?  If not, here's a little sneak peek:

Dana from five30three wanted to know how to create stylized shelves that were pretty to look at.  She's off to a good start, she just needs a little tweaking, so I'm here today to tell her how!   

1. Pick a color scheme

When you're decorating a bookshelf, you want everything to feel cohesive.  One of the ways I like to do that is through maintaining a consistent color palette.  At first glance, when you look at the bookshelves, what colors stand out to you?  What I notice most is black, white, red, and turquoise.  With that, I would recommend you go through and take everything off the shelf that isn't one of those four colors.  

The exception to this would be with any clear or silver accessories.  Clear works great because it adds no color, just texture, and since silver is a cool hue (and I don't mean cool as in awesome...although it is), and it lies within the black/white spectrum, you can feel free to keep those accessories in there.  Now if you had gold on the other hand, which is a warm color, you'd want to get rid of it because it doesn't really blend in with the color palette we have going here.  

2. Group in 3's    

When designing, odd numbers are often most pleasing on the eye, so try to put everything into groups of threes.  That doesn't mean that you need to have three books grouped, instead, try having three groups of "stuff" per shelf.  Imagine you have a grid over your shelf, and place things within that grid.  When making your grid, it's important to have a little variation in the grid itself, otherwise it will start to look too monotonous.  By adjusting the widths of the groups, you create visual interest while still keeping with a consistent pattern.  So, for a visual example, you would want your grid to resemble the grid on the right, not the left. 

3. Create depth

In order to create depth and dimension in your shelves, a successful strategy is to layer objects from front to back.  For example, place a large frame or picture by the back, and layer a smaller accessory in front of it.  Below is a great example with the frame behind the miscellaneous accessories.   

Image credit: {1}

4. Stack your books in different ways

You may not know it, but there are actually 7 different ways to stack books.  The Art of Doing Stuff has a great article on it...check it out.  Based on her seven techniques, here are my four favorite that I would recommend for Dana.

5. Group Colors

How you group colors is completely up to you and your liking...but I personally like to make sure each color appears on each shelf at least once.  Other people might do it other ways, just make sure you do whatever looks best to you.  The reason I like to have each color on every shelf is because it ties the whole bookcase together...but with that being said, I have seen many other beautiful examples done differently.  

So, now that you have those five tricks in your pocket, you're ready to go to town on your bookshelf organizing.  By this point, I'm sure you're all dying to know how I would organize Dana's shelf?  Well, since you've so patiently put up with my rambling thus far...I would suggest she organize her bookshelf like something along these lines:  

Want a chance to submit your space?  Read here to learn how!  See you all next week when we reveal the next design dilemma!

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