How to Style your Shelves

You’ve bought the delicious smelling candles, the coffee table books, the DIY floral bouquets you knew would just pull it all together...  You’ve seen those Pinterest boards, you’ve envisioned what you *want* your shelves to look like...

But wait, how do they end up looking like that… How do they do it? 

We’re going to take you through our process here at Station 7 using our products and how we style our products on our shelves once they hit the floor, but as if they were YOUR shelves.

Personality
First of all, what's most important are the products you choose to style your home with: it needs to feel like you. So whether that’s adding greenery with extra plants, additional books, art prints, vases, tapestry or crystals, take your time finding products and works that speak to you ✨ 

For me, I can’t lie, I’m a true beige millennial  💁🏻‍♀️ and I will forever live with it until the end. You'll find my current computer set-up as: gold picture frames, candle, second monitor, and concrete catch-all trays. I love it, it's calming, and anything more feels overwhelming (to me). My shelves are also minimal, with 2 books flat, stacked, with a decor piece on top (concrete bowl, candle, vase, etc.). 

At Station 7, all our pieces feel like they fit. They are meant to be here in the shop: we just have to figure out how they fit together.

So first real step: find what fits you. Here’s what we’re working with with the shop today:

STEP 1: MAIN PIECES

It still needs the signature *styling.* There is definitely  an art to styling, it’s true, but it also depends on how you like to see it.  

Let’s start by placing your favorite, larger decor pieces on your shelves - these are the main pieces, the “eye-catchers,” if you will, and we’ll fill in from here using height and layering pieces.

Ex: books, photo frames, large vases, baskets, organizational boxes, etc.

STEP 2: CREATING VISUAL HEIGHT DIFFERENCE

OK, so this is really where styling starts. Depending on what was laid as a foundation, we’ll need to either break up the vertical height, or add to the horizontal height on that same shelf / next to the item. In our example:

• Adding Height: the items I used needing some height would be the books. Here I placed a candle on top of our stacked books (but it doesn't overpower the height of the photo - it still needs a balanced look).
• Break-up Height: the item I used needing a break would be the photo frame (the vases I added created some height, and you can see I added a lower tray for balance).
  

STEP 3: ADD DECOR FOR VISUAL BALANCE

This is where you can really shine as you lean into your personal style and color. We add dimension and interest by adding visual decorative items as we layer on top of our stacked books, or as we hug a picture frame.

Experiment with greenery, geometric shapes, vases, a favorite photo, or any small object that is of similar complimentary color to the scheme. . 

In our example: 

Adding layers (forward, back, vertical) here is extremely important in order to create balance. 

Final tips and thoughts on styling!

• A welcoming and cohesive aesthetic. mix + match a lot of decorative elements with round edges to soften the shelves’ edges.
• Follow the rule of 3: whenever unsure, follow the odd rule - style using odd #s (place in 3s, 5s and add in the height variation).

And finally, it's OK to leave space between items! Remember, less is more - start with your favorites, and always give yourself breathing room to step back and take in your work. ✨