Hey friends! Let’s talk about bookshelf decor! This is a roundup of fun ideas for bookshelf styling, including some things that are on my own bookcases.
My husband and I just gave away a few hundred books. We did it to reduce our bill to the moving company when we moved from LA to the Chicago suburbs. It had been a while since we’d culled our book collection, but we’d done it a couple of times before with other moves. The up side to doing this, of course, is that we make room for new books.
Naturally, we’ve got some extra bookshelf space right now, when before, our bookshelves were jam-packed with books! Here are some ideas for bookshelf decor. Some of them are quite cheap—and I’m sure you could decorate your bookshelves for free, just with things you already have!
Pretty Rocks and Shells
I love crystals! I gave one of my best friends the other half of the geode in the picture below. We have a lot of shells, too, picked up from vacations and our time in Los Angeles. Anything from the natural world looks terrific with books.
Holiday Decor
Here are my favorite Halloween decorations (really easy to do—you find those little busts at thrift stores and make the masks out of black felt), and a Swedish straw Yule goat.
This is a great way to decorate bookshelves, and I just might try it. Twinkly lights make everything more magical! Photo from the Instagram @caketinz_does_manga/.
Twinkly Lights
Plants
These photos are from the Instagrams @myhomecanvas1502 and @cookiecat.herine.
Family Photos
Of course. Or friend photos!
Figurines
Funko Pop Vinyl figurines are really popular as bookshelf decor. But you can also go more old-school, like me! This brass kitty and the bluebirds were my grandma’s.
Trophies and Awards
Don’t keep your softball trophy or course certificate under the bed. Put it on your bookcase to remind yourself of your accomplishment! This is Mr. Donovan’s “Unsung Heroes” award, which his coworkers made up because he deserved an award.
Framed Prints
Etsy sells so many cute prints about reading! Like this print...
Or this one!
And this is a greeting card from a line of greeting cards I wrote. Lots of regular-sized greeting cards fit nicely into a 5″ x 7″ frame for fun, cheap home decor.
What other ways do you decorate your bookshelves? OR, do you use other things besides bookcases to display your books? Let me know in the comments! Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy reading!
I keep small treasured photos and pieces of art on my bookcase. They are mementos that bring me joy.
It’s so great to have those things out where you see them all the time!
A very timely post, Bryn. I am slowly unpacking everything that we stored in the basement prior to embarking on our remodel. We gave away/donated/sold over 1,000 books before we packed up, and we still have a ton of books…. literally a ton. ??????? Staging my bookshelves once I find all the books is going to be a lot of fun.
I’m obsessed with Sid Dickens memory tiles. I buy them to commemorate special triumphs or just to inspire. And the perfect place to display them is next to my books (another source of inspiration). As an aside, I also donated hundreds of books when I recently relocated (you pay by weight for long distance moves). Horrible but necessary. (I think I need another plaque to recover emotionally!)
Eona, I’m not familiar with these memory tiles…how intriguing, I’ll have to look that up! And it really is hard to say goodbye to books, isn’t it? Hopefully they go to people who love them. 🙂
Jo, you and I have been going through some very similar things, then! I’m still rearranging my bookshelves…it IS really fun!
Great ideas here. I’m a Disney goof and I have a lot of Disney memorabilia (a tiny Epcot Spaceship Earth dome, a Figment doll, some Mickey Ears) up there along with some Christmas ornaments my wife and I got on vacation up north.
Above one book case I’ve got a long framed NYC MTA “Arts for Transit” poster that shows a kid in a balloon basket tethered to a RedBird subway car as it flies over the city and over the clouds at night. The bookshelf next to that has a framed picture from the book “Where the Wild Things Are.”
Disney things just add so much fun! I’ve never even been to Disney World, but I want to sometime. I love the art!
What a fun post. Thank you, Bryn! I hope you are doing well and enjoying your first summer in Illinois. I love to decorate my bookcase with my mom’s Hummel’s – she brought back a few from when she was in the Army in Germany. They are a lovely reminder of her when I see them. I hope you have a great rest of your week.
I have a mishmash of cute things related to love, romance, and writing on my shelves. and books.
(catching up from vacation)
denise