
The perfect reminder of renewal and rebirth, spring is a great time to make small adjustments to your home that will make it feel refreshed for the coming year. If your open shelves are feeling cluttered or lacking in style, now is the perfect time to take a few hours to mix things around to achieve a completely new feel. To give your shelves a fresh new look, our interior designers have come up with the easy-to-follow tips below.

Decide on a Theme
Before styling your shelves, decide on a cohesive visual narrative that you can follow. This might be a color palette or a style like bohemian or coastal. You can either try to coordinate the theme with the rest of your room, or let your shelves stand out as a pop of color or wall of interesting objects. An all-white theme, like the one pictured is especially striking.
Organize Your Existing Items
Once you’ve decided on your theme, we recommend taking down all the items that you already have on your shelves so that you can start your styling from scratch. As you consider each piece that was once on your shelves, remove any that do not fit your new theme. Add in new pieces or objects pulled from other rooms that coordinate better with your theme.


Vary Height and Depth
Shelves that only hold one kind of item, like books will hardly warrant a second glance, while ones filled with unique objects in a variety of sizes can make a strong statement. Add in vases, candles, bookends, and sculptural pieces that are different sizes to create an eye-catching display. If you’re looking to include books on your shelves, try stacking some vertically and some horizontally to create additional interest.
Add Coffee Table Books
If you’re feeling like your shelves lack depth, or you want them to be more functional, try adding some colorful, personal coffee table books. Not only do they provide entertainment for guests, but coffee table books can be used as risers to give trays and trickets a stylish boost. You can even take the jackets off to better coordinate colors with your room design.


Don’t Forget Your Plants!
Small houseplants add a much-needed touch of freshness and texture to your shelves. While not all plants will be happy sitting on a shelf, there are plenty that will be fine without a lot of light. Any kind of ivy will look beautiful as it cascades down your shelving unit.
Create the Perfect Shelf with GDC Home Accessories
You can tell a lot about a person by what they display on their shelves at home, so take advantage of this opportunity to showcase some of your favorite pieces in a personalized way. At our Charleston home furniture stores, we have a curated collection of everything from bookends to coastal-inspired trinkets that will make your shelves come alive. Whether you are looking to add a pop of color to your kitchen shelves or create a cozy bedroom nook, our home accessories will inspire you to create a shelf masterpiece.
Shop the Look

Sky Blue Boxes, Set of 2
The Sky Blue Box Set illustrates the talents of the artisans who create the surfaces of these white decorative boxes.

Cassius Marble Sculpture
Hand-carved from a single piece of stone, the abstract Cassius Marble Sculpture weaves about creating a flowing singular form.