How to style a perfectly curated shelf with plants.

So you found a shelving unit you love. Now, how to style it? Plants can be a great way to add texture, color, and character to your shelf. And when you add a plant, you’re literally bringing life into the space. How cool is that?

 

We like to start with a completely blank slate. So, if you already have a shelf in your home and You want to re-style it, we recommend taking everything off. Now is a good time to give it a good wipe too if you notice any dust.

 

What you’ll need:

1. A shelf or shelving unit
2. Books, pottery, art, and objects of varying sizes you’d like to display
3. 1-4 plants of varying sizes

 

Our tips:

1. Make sure you have a few larger items that are twice as tall as your smaller objects. This will help create contrast and help fill empty space. Plants are great for this!
2. There are no rights or wrongs when it comes to styling. You don’t have to be an interior design pro to create a beautifully styled shelf. The most important thing is to have fun and let your creative juices flow.

 

Step 1:

Clear your shelf and set out your objects and plants out nearby.

 

Step: 2

Start with your largest items. We call them anchor items because you will build around them for your shelf design. We like to use artwork, books, ceramics, and large plants as our anchor items. Start with 1 or 2 anchor items per shelf and offset them from one another on each shelf level. Offsetting them will help the eye move in a pleasing zig-zag pattern. We’re going to start with our cookbook collection because this a kitchen shelf. We love adding a big trailing plant like a pothos to create drama and draw the eye vertically. Pothos are also a great choice because they are suitable for most light conditions.

Step 3:

Next, start adding your smaller objects to fill in gaps and create groupings with your larger objects. This is a nice time to play with stacking objects. You could try adding a plant or piece of pottery on top of a book or two to contrast texture and color. We like to add a plant to each shelf level in this step.

Step 4:

Take a step back, review and edit. If an area feels cluttered, remove a few objects, and see if it looks better with more breathing room. If it feels better, keep it that way. You know what they say… sometimes less is more. And in this case having less objects helps to focus the eye on what’s important and reduce clutter.