Top tips to style open shelves

Open shelving is a versatile, efficient and inexpensive solution for most of your home decor and storage problems. But when it comes to open shelf styling, most people are torn between what to display and how to decorate them. 

With open shelving units completely out there in plain view of anyone who visits your house, cluttered shelves can be a nightmare. So, whether you’re concerned about styling open shelves in your kitchen or decorating the ones in your living room, we have a set of practical tips and ideas to help you out. 

Simple Tips for Open Shelf Styling

If you’re looking for detailed tips on how to style open shelves, this section will give you a strong grip on it. Let’s begin

Create Balance and Visual Interest

Regardless of what home decor element you choose to tackle – creating balance is important. Decorating open shelves is no different. Without balance, open shelf styling appears crammed and cluttered – a home decor faux pas you don’t want to commit. 

Creating balance is all about projecting a larger visual impact through decorative layers. You can achieve that by alternating small decorative elements with larger ones. Accessorise shelves using pieces that draw your eye upward and downward for better visual impact. While you’re at it, be mindful of your overall open shelf design, which will impact your decor selection. 

The best way to go about it is to pick the larger decorations first and then complementing them with smaller, intricate items to fill up space. There is absolutely no restriction on what decor elements you use – framed photographs, bowls, baskets, sculptures, contemporary vases or even art. Just go bold with your choices.  

Implement the Rule of Three

This is perhaps ‘the easiest to follow’ home design element. Grouping three different decor pieces together can make your open shelf decor more visually appealing. The key here is to play with texture, design and dimension.

When implementing the rule of three, pick items that are dimensionally different, like a decorative frame, a round vase and an abstract art sculpture. Make sure they all have different textures – in this case, glass and metal, ceramic and wood. Also, they should be of varying heights to create the layers. 

Group the elements together to create a little vignette that is both visually appealing and personalised. This is perhaps the best way to display all the decorative baubles you’ve collected over the years. The best part is, this trick will not make your open shelves look cluttered.

Repetition Is Good

When you have to decorate more than one open shelf in the same space, repeating decorative elements and accents is a good idea. Repetition adds cohesiveness to the shelf decor, making the overall visual transition smooth and harmonious. 

But repetition can be tricky sometimes. You don’t want open shelf styling that appears dismal and conservative. So, instead of identical shelf decor items, focus on repetition in colour, texture, and pattern (where required).

For instance, if you’re using wicker, terracotta, wood and brass, make sure that these elements are repeated on the set of open shelves you’re currently styling. 

Refrain From Installing Open Shelves Everywhere

Who doesn’t like some extra storage? An open shelf here and there with storage baskets often seems like the perfect, affordable solution for it. But does it help your home decor? It doesn’t. It’s always better to limit the number of open shelves you have in your living spaces. 

One standing open shelf, whether it’s used as a room divider, an open shelf desk, or a wall unit, should be enough for a room. If you have open shelves in the kitchen, install them to break up between the cabinets. Open shelves work great with kitchen cabinets, only if you don’t go overboard with them. 

The number of open shelves you install depends on the size of your target room and/or wall. For those living in rental studios in Dubai, it’s best not to go beyond two medium-sized open shelves in your home. Choose open shelf designs that are compact and practical. Anything more than that will make a small apartment look cluttered. It’s best to look up for open shelf design ideas that work well in small spaces, before you finalise on a design. 

Keep the Colour Palette Simple

Using too much colour for open shelf styling can ruin the overall look of your open shelves. It’s best to stick with neutral hues – beige, black, white, grey – and accentuate them with metallic shades of gold, rose gold, silver and copper. 

If you still feel the need to add a pop of colour, restrict yourself to decorating open shelves with just one additional colour. Choose a colour that plays well with the rest of your room décor besides adding balance and depth to your open shelf styling.

Be Mindful of the Negative Space

Save yourself the risk of cluttered shelves with the concept of negative space. When decorating open shelves, it’s not necessary to have something styled on every single spot on the shelf. Give the shelf a breather. If you have one shelf heavily decorated, leave the other one partially bare. 

Again, it is all about creating a balance with placing your decor items for open shelf styling. If you’re going for a minimalist approach, think clean lines, minimal decor and neutral hues, while keeping the negative space intact. A rustic design would achieve the same with more natural elements and pastoral finishes.

Use the Shelf to Add Colour to Your Room

With neutral colour palettes doing extremely well for home decor, it is no surprise to find all-white kitchens and rooms in a modern rental villa in Dubai. In such cases, your open shelf styling could be the wow factor your living spaces need. If you’re looking for open shelf decorating ideas for kitchen – this is especially for you.

There are several ways to achieve that – we are listing down the best open shelf styling ideas out of those for you.

• Incorporate scads of bright colours to the open shelf for an upbeat, cheerful look. You can use vases, bowls, mugs, and faux flowers, and even candles for that. 
• Paint the shelf a different colour and decorate it with high contrast items – like black, red, or royal blue on white. 
• Use wallpaper to cover the back of your open shelf for pattern, colour and design. This unique use of wallpaper can truly transform your open shelf from drab to fab. 

Best Items for Decorating Open Shelves

Now that you have a basic insight into how to style open shelves, let’s move on to the ideas for open shelf styling. While there is a lot that you can do when decorating open shelves in your furnished rental apartment in Dubai, certain styling elements make for classic shelf decor. Let’s look at them. 

Some Fresh Plants

You can always opt for faux plants if you’re unable to take care of the live ones, but add greenery to your shelves. Plants are a quick and simple way to add visual appeal, liveliness, and some colour to your living spaces. Plus, they work great with boho home décor.

Things You Love

Your home decor is all about adding personal touches to your living spaces – open shelves demand the same. When picking items for open shelf decor, give preference to the things you love. It could be anything, a souvenir from a recent trip, a ceramic planter pot you moulded or a painting you made. Your shelf should narrate your stories of adventure, fun and accomplishments. 

Magazines and Books

An important staple of open shelf styling – books and magazines add structure, colour, and personality to your shelf decor. You don’t need too many of them – just three to four of your favourite reads and you can effortlessly pull together a sophisticated look for your shelf. Needless to say, these magazines and books will be the main decor element for an open shelf bookcase.

Art and Photographs

Leaning frames with precious art and photographs are a great and carefree way to create a balance in open shelf styling. You don’t have to worry about uneven heights and spaces – simply exhibit these treasures and let them do the talking. The best part is, you can change them whenever you want. 

When styled properly, open shelves have the power to make your room look chic and impressive. All it takes is a curated collection of shelf decor items and a layered decor layout that creates visual interest. We hope these open shelf styling tips and ideas prove useful. Let us know how they panned out for your living spaces on social@bayut.com.   

If you’re looking for more home styling ideas and tips, learn how to incorporate gold home décor into your living spaces and while you’re at it,  aim for home redecoration on a budget.