Five Ideas For Styling Your Shelves

There’s a knack to making an eye-catching display of your favourite objects. Here at A&O, we put a great deal of thought and effort into styling our gorgeous collections, so we thought we’d pass on what we’ve learnt. Read our Five Top Tips on how to style your shelves or unit tops with your favourite finds – and get ready to nail your #shelfie.

1/ Group by colour – or don’t.

The rainbow way of styling made famous by shows like The Home Edit – where you arrange all your items according to the colours of the rainbow – can produce a stunning effect. However, choosing just one or two colours as a theme for your shelf display, and strategically placing them among more neutral objects, can also look beautiful.

2 / Get zonal.

Divide the space on your shelf into sections and create zonal displays that flow into each other. Adding framed art and photographs as well as books can help visually create these. If you have more than one shelf, make sure the zone borders are at different points along each one.

3 / Embrace variety. 

Different materials and textures, as well as types of objects, create a more striking display. And don’t be afraid to play with lots of different sizes and where they might appear on the shelf. Something very small at the back, or something tall sitting on a book, will add a level of intrigue to your shelf style.

4 / Remember the rule of three.

Grouping objects in a three is a technique designers have long used.  You might be arranging plants in your garden, or pictures on your wall, or objects on your shelf – remember three is a tried and tested way of ensuring your eyes are kept happy.

5 / Change it up.

Once you’ve created an arrangement you’re happy with, step away from it and enjoy it – but then come back and shuffle around with it a little. The best object displays are constantly evolving.  Why not make yours evolve, too – whether you are adding new purchases (have you seen our current edit), moving a vase from one end of the shelf to the other, or just adding something simple like a lemon.

However you decide to style your shelf, we hope these tips have proved useful. Send us your pictures of the finished display on Insta. You can find us @artistsandobjects. Here are some of the objects from our curated collection of UK makers that will add a little oomph to every shelfie…