DIY Shelf Styling Hacks...

I'm so happy to finally share this post! I have been planning this post about this since, literally, last year at this time. But then the holidays came, P arrived and then I just never got around to it, so I'm glad I finally am!  I love a nice, simple clean shelf, but have never figured out how to achieve that pretty look without spending a ton of money on new stuff, which isn't really needed. So I decided to use some great hacks in our master built ins and share them in case anyone else is wanting to do some DIY shelf styling. 

1. COVER YOUR BOOKS LIKE YOU DID IN SCHOOL
I was strolling through Restoration Hardware at the Galleria doing some holiday shopping last year when it donned on me that they don't have perfect, neutral colored books making their shelves look pretty - they've just covered hard covered books (many with cool bindings) like I did way back in grade school  - when you had to cover your books with paper grocery bags - except they did theirs in a linen fabric.  So I hopped back in my car and drove straight over to Joann Fabrics and bought some belgian linen. I came home to my husband's big book supply (that is still in boxes from our remodel) and stripped off the covers and started covering some books. You can see those on the bottom shelf. (Tip: The white linen can be sheer and not cover all of the wording on the binding if it's brightly covered.)

2. STRIP THE BOOK
Then, this past weekend we were at Galleria again, and in Arhaus (such a pretty store!), I saw another great hack - just rip off the covers and bindings of the books for a super cool, aged bookshelf look.  I really liked this one, because we have so many books, and I hated the way they looked on our shelves. So, this was a great way to make them useful and achieve the look I was going for - although I'm sure my husband may think otherwise. :) Those are on the middle shelf to the right.

3. FACE THE BINDING BACKWARD
If that sounds like too much work, you can always face your books backwards too, so just the binding is showing like on the left side of the middle shelf below.

MY INSPIRATION

Left: ARHAUS
Right: Restoration Hardware