Shelves. The often overlooked aspect of your home design can actually play a big role in how your decor works. A poorly designed shelf not only can throw off the groove of a room, but doesn’t display your favorite family pictures in the way they could. So dust off your tabletops, follow our tips, and create a shelf that you’re proud to show off.

The Frame Game

Whether you’re creating a gallery wall or a perfect shelf display, a variety of texture and style is nice. However, try to stick with one aesthetic or look, in order to make it easy to match and add pieces later. It takes a lot of work to match a gold gilded picture frame with a more wooden, rustic style one that you’ve already struggled with placing next to a matte black frame. Normalize your style to included maybe one or two closely related ideas in order to make arranging and rearranging a breeze.

Layers Are Your New BFF

Play with layers. Nothing gives your home a more perfectly curated look than the dimensionality that multiple layers can give you. Placing bigger pieces behind smaller ones on your shelf adds depth and makes your display more interesting. Add layers of texture to your shelf as well by placing differing types of items next to or behind each other, like a small potted plant in front of a glossy photo frame.

Take It to the Next Level

Along with layers, try different levels for your pieces. Hang or arrange your shelves at differing eye levels to keep your gaze from stopping in one place. It allows for a greater sense of movement for the eye to follow and allows you to mess around with different vignettes. Maybe the higher level has bigger photos, and lower levels feature easily to dust knick knacks.

Big, Bold, and Beautiful

A solid trick to follow when creating any sort of display is to anchor all your pieces around one big piece. It helps you avoid clutter and allows the eye to naturally work its way around your set-up by starting big and then moving to explore the rest of the display. It also helps you when exercising your creative side, as you’re able to have one starting point to work from.