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Farmhouse on Boone

Finding beauty in our everyday life in the farmhouse

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Home | Design | How to Style Built Ins- Summer Built Ins Styling

How to Style Built Ins- Summer Built Ins Styling

May 31, 2018 by Lisa 13 Comments

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Bookcases and shelves are tricky to decorate and balance. Learn how to style built ins with simple elements, like fresh florals, frames and antiques, in this video.

How to style built ins with baskets, frames, books, antiques and fresh flowers

How to Style Built Ins- Summer Built Ins Styling Video

After our big magazine photo shoot I was left with several five gallon buckets of leftover flowers, and a house that was basically in shambles.

If you watched the behind the scenes video, you know that I basically restyled every space in our home to get that picture perfect shot for the magazine photos.

We took down the TV and replaced it with a gorgeous wooden mirror. (Apparently the TV isn’t super photogenic! Haha.) I really wanted to leave it down, but my son, who just learned about video games, wasn’t feeling my idea.

So, it isn’t pretty, but it has to stay. Sometimes practicality wins.

How to style built ins decorate with me video

When we were done with the photos, I was inspired to make use of the leftover flowers, and do a couple of refresh videos.

First, I tackled the bedroom. You can watch that process in this video.

Next, I went to styling the built in bookshelves in the living room.

(You can read all about how we built these on a blank wall in our living room in this post.)

Something I didn’t anticipate about our built in bookshelves was how difficult they would be to style.

Its tough to get that balance of filled in, yet not too cluttered. It is also challenging to make sure the shelves to the left of the TV are balanced with the shelves on the right.

how to style built ins simple bookshelf styling

How to style built ins

  1. Select something large to anchor the bottom of the shelves. I used baskets all along the bottom row. They are also great for storage!
  2. Keep shelves balanced with pieces of a similar shape and size on opposite sides.
  3. To prevent them from looking too cluttered, focus on natural textures and neutrals. I had colored pictures in my frames and they were throwing the whole color scheme way off. I swapped them out for black and white photos to make them flow better.
  4. Use antiques sparingly. Shelves can start to look tacky very quickly if you throw in too many random pieces from garage sales and antique shops. Instead, focus on timeless pieces, like ironstone, crocks and wooden boxes.
  5. Bring in something fresh. Our built ins never look quite complete without fresh flowers or potted plants.
  6. Use different heights and shapes on each shelf. For example, I paired a large ironstone pitcher next to a small one. They are balanced with a few books and a wooden bowl.
  7. Layers make shelves look more interesting and cozy. I put a potted plant and ironstone pitcher in front of a wooden box. I also created layers with my ironstone soup tureen and blue plate.
  8. Add in a little color. My favorite way to do this is with fresh flowers and plants. I also like to add in pieces from my blue ironstone collection.

simple bookshelf styling farmhouse style home decor

The key to styling built ins is patience, trial and error.

Place something up there, step back, examine, move it, step back…repeat repeat repeat.

I change my built ins up for the seasons. In the fall, the fresh flowers are replaced with pumpkins. I love to add greenery and stockings for the winter months.

how to style built ins simple summer built in styling

I hope these tips help you with decorating bookshelves and built ins in your home.

How to style built ins simple summer styling farmhouse style

how to style built ins without clutter

Thank you so much for stopping by the farmhouse!

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How to style built in shelves how to style built ins simple and neutral

Filed Under: Design, Our Farmhouse Tagged With: decorating, Living Room, room tours

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Comments

  1. Tina says

    June 4, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    Lisa,
    Thanks so much for all your informative posts! I especially like the recipes for natural home products and fermented foods. I find it ironic that your focus is heavily weighted toward keeping poisons out of the home, and you have your photos displayed with foxglove flowers right in your living room. They are beautiful, but extremely poisonous. That is why their name contains the word “digitalis,” which is a powerful heart medicine made from this plant. All parts of the plant are poisonous. If a child ingests this, it could mean death! I saw your post about the magazine shoot bringing the tons of merchandise and flowers in, so I hope you don’t veer away from your original goal and style. I have seen several bloggers sell out, and it is disappointing, as we like you the way you are, LOL! 🙂

    Reply
    • Lisa says

      June 5, 2018 at 10:11 pm

      I honestly didn’t even know they were poisonous. I had a few people point that out on Youtube. Whoops! They’re out now.

      Reply
  2. Ann says

    June 5, 2018 at 7:17 pm

    Hi. I love the way you styled your shelves. I was wondering why you turned the books backwards?Thanks.

    Reply
    • Lisa says

      June 5, 2018 at 10:06 pm

      I just do that so the colors of the spines don’t throw off the whole look of the shelf. 🙂

      Reply
  3. JuliAnne says

    June 7, 2018 at 9:48 am

    This is beautiful!! Thank you for sharing. 🙂

    Reply
    • Lisa says

      June 9, 2018 at 1:57 pm

      Thank you so much, JuliAnne!

      Reply

Hello! I’m Lisa

I’m so glad you’re here! Join me and my family as we find beauty in our everyday life in the farmhouse: food from scratch, natural living and a handmade home.

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