But many of us need our bookshelves to serve as just that, a place to keep our books. Don’t feel bad if you don’t have all the leather and gold bound books or a separate room in your house just to keep your well-worn and dog-eared paperbacks. There are ways to make bookshelves of majority books look a little more curated and I can show you how. I have three great tips to make your bookcase look a little more stylish.
1. VARY HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL STACKING
I like to start by dividing all my books by size. That way I can easily grab books to work on. I start by making some horizontal stacks that can be my anchors, see A, B and C. If you like the size of a book in your stack, but the title is silly or the color doesn’t work, just flip it over. No one will notice! Horizontal stacks tend to be larger books so I like to place them near the bottom of the bookshelf and vary their placement in a zigzag pattern. If you have any larger items, it’s nice to place them on these lower shelves as well. A globe, squatty vase, decorative box or fancy bowl works great.
This is a great way to make your bookcase look more harmonious. If you don’t want to paint, you can always use contact paper or temporary wallpaper in one color. I painted the back of my Ikea bookcase in regular latex wall paint, and since the back was attached separately, I could lay it flat to paint and it worked great. If you’re feeling more adventurous, you can use a texture like grasscloth or even a pattern! Since grass cloth is stiff, it’s super easy to apply and you can definitely attach it with some double sided tape.