Shelf styling tips from an actual expert (as opposed to someone who just spent too much time browsing Pinterest. 😉 )

“Wait, what if I move this right here?” I tap my chin, unsatisfied with the newly decorated shelf that stares back at me. The house is empty, but I’m counting on the universe to answer my shelving questions. No matter what I do, it doesn’t look right.

Whenever I try my hand at shelf styling, it looks like I’m trying too hard. I become obsessive about spacing and symmetry and making everything just so, completely forgetting that I like things that are imperfect. They’re so much more interesting and a million times more real.

In the end, I usually throw my hands in the air and spend the next six hours browsing Pinterest for help (which sometimes results in shelf decorating ideas posts).

All of this is ridiculous considering the fact that my sister is an interior designer. She’s really, really good at this stuff. Yet here I am, talking to my shelf.

I decided to pick my sister’s brain a little to get some of her top shelf decorating tips and tricks so that next time maybe I won’t struggle so much. Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for a free printable shelf styling checklist.

The plight of the second child, man. My little one has spent most her life living around her big sister’s whims. From being dragged to each and every occasion her sister has participated in since her birth (and being expected to nap nicely and cooperate while doing so) to the layout and decor of their shared bedroom, Ellie has always been expected to sort of go with the flow. And, don’t get me wrong—she’s good at it. But once in awhile, you have to throw a girl a bone.

As she gets closer to the end of her kindergarten year, Ellie has started standing her ground a little more. She’ll still tear up and play the baby card any chance she gets, but she’s starting to show signs of liking things a certain way (like the three separate piles of Fancy Nancy books lying in the middle of the floor in their room)—and she’ll fight to keep them that way.

To give her a little space of her own in the midst of their big-sister-dominated shared stuff, I teamed up with The Baby Cubby to create a small, simple kids reading nook where she can practice her brand-new reading skills.

If you’re looking to do a quick revamp of a room or space, restyling your shelves is a small change that can make a big impact. I collected some shelf decorating ideas from around the internet to give you a little bit of inspiration for styling your own shelves.

We recently acquired an old family hutch from my brother-in-law. After playing a bit of Tetris to figure out where the heck we could fit it, I became obsessive about styling it (because obsessive is kind of my middle name). I’ve been seeing gorgeous shelfies (I love that word, #sorrynotsorry) all over Pinterest and Instagram, but when I go to fill a shelf it usually looks like a hot, unkempt mess no matter how hard I try to be cool and artsy.

So I decided to do what I usually do and get completely lost down the Pinterest rabbit hole. And to make myself feel better about all of the time I lost there, I put together a blog post of some of my favorite shelf decorating ideas so that I could call it “work” and share it with anyone else who hates what their shelves look like.

Looking for actionable tips on shelf styling from an interior designer? Check out How to Style Shelves Like an Interior Designer.

The whole new year, clean slate, organizational rampage thing that happens to me in January inevitably leads to a burning desire to redecorate. Does anyone else go through this? Not only do I want to purge and go all KonMari method on my belongings, but I want to sort of revitalize everything too and breathe a little fresh air into whatever is feeling stagnant.

Right now, I’ve waged a war on our living room. The space has been more or less wasted for a while now and it makes me cringe a little. A little shuffling around here and there has pepped it up a bit, but now I’m looking to attack the walls.

My thumb may be black as a moonless night, but that doesn’t make me any less obsessive about plants. And, right now, I’m hardcore obsessing.

Maybe it’s emerging from the dreariness of a northeastern winter that does it. Or maybe it’s just the buds bursting on all of the trees outside my kitchen window. Whatever it is, it happens at this time every year. I desperately want to become a plant person.

Usually I focus on flowers for outside, but this year I decided that I want to turn my house into a jungalow. Inspired by Justina Blakeney and her magical bohemian spaces that are filled with color and layers and wild greenery, I want to go all out…

… so of course I had to window shop the internet for beautiful green interiors to draw inspiration from.