If you’ve ever wondered why your room isn’t working, maybe it’s missing a focal point. A focal point can be a fireplace, a grand piano, a spectacular view, a stunning piece of art, a textured wall, or anything else that captures your attention when you enter the room. If you don’t have any of those attractions, a wonderful way to create a focal point is with bookcases or other types of shelves.

While built-in shelving is attractive, there are many other options: sectionals, shelves with brackets, corner shelves, open cabinets, sideboards, cubes, sloping shelves, shelves with adjustable rails, and more.

Where to find bookshelves and shelves

Find them at antique stores, yard sales, unpainted furniture stores, Pier 1, Crate & Barrel, Home Goods, and others. Get DIY (do it yourself) shelving at stores like IKEA, Target, Wal-Mart, and the like. Or go online and type “shelves.” You’ll be surprised what you’ll find in all shapes, sizes, and price ranges.

Create eye-catching bookshelves or shelves

Shelves don’t have to be boring. Whether your style is traditional, coastal, antique, early American, Asian, modern, or whatever, here are a few ways to turn ordinary bookshelves into an eye-catching display:

– Show your collections and passions.

– Forget symmetry and be bold

– Vary the height of the accessories

– Place an interesting object on a horizontal stack of books

– Group similar items together (books, art, seashells, etc.)

-add art

– Use baskets or glass containers

– Contrast dark shelves with light objects (and vice versa)

– Organize books and objects by color.

– Place picture frames, artwork, mirrors, and trays behind other items.

– Put a mirror behind the objects you want to highlight.

Tip: Choose 2-3 accent colors that you will use repeatedly on your shelves. Take these colors from the room the shelves are in, so that the style of your shelf fits.

Decorate your shelves ingeniously

Gone are the days when encyclopedias filled the shelves. Today, bookshelves are not just for books. They can be used to display art, vacation finds, family photos, music boxes, collections, and whatever else you like to look at when you’re in the room. Here are some ideas to bring out the beauty of your shelves, even before you fill them.

– Paint your bookshelves or racks the same color as the walls to create a unified look.

– Identical shelves on both sides of a door, window or fireplace.

– Use open shelving with decorative brackets.

– Paper the back of the shelves to make them stand out.

– Paint the back of the bookshelves taking a color from an element in the room (such as a sofa, chair or piece of art).

Create a clever arrangement

Treat your bookshelves or shelves like a blank canvas and let your personality shine through.

1. Start with a clean slate by removing all items from the shelves.

2. Assemble items for display and group them by color, theme, or size.

3. Take three of the largest items you collected and place them on different shelves. Then step back and see what they look like.

4. Fill with medium and small pieces and start grouping.

5. Group odd numbers of pieces. Odd-numbered groupings are more attractive, memorable, and effective than even-numbered groupings.

5. Organize your books by color, size, or subject.

6. Use lighting to add impact to a specific piece or pieces.

7. Now take a step back and see what you’ve done.

– Have you achieved the color balance?

– Have you incorporated a variety of forms?

– Do you have the correct dimension and scale?

Remember that shelves are always in progress because it’s easy to rearrange, change, add and remove anything, at any time.