At Smitty’s, we want to help you furnish and decorate your home with beautiful, stylish, quality furniture and decor that works — whatever your lifestyle.

Each month we will feature a decorating tip to help you achieve your interior decorating dreams.

If you have questions or tips that you would like our Smitty’s interior decorators to answer, just let us know.

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You see them all the time in boutique shops, in magazines, and in movies — fabulous bookshelves that showcase a stylish mix of books, decor, and plants.

Bookshelf decorating is definitely a big deal these days, and for good reason. A thoughtfully decorated bookshelf can move from being a backdrop to the focal point of your room.

Here are some expert tips on how to style your bookshelf:

Colour Coding

One of the more recent trends in bookshelves is colour coding.

Instead of arranging your books by author or subject matter, you arrange them by the colour of the spine. Simply group colours together throughout the shelf with a different colour group on each shelf. You can also randomize the colours and have red next to blue, or you could arrange them in a rainbow.

Alternately, if colour isn’t really your thing and you want to achieve a more neutral look, you can re-cover the spines with a nicely-patterned wallpaper — or simply turn the books backwards so you see the neutral colour of the pages instead.

Showcase Your Treasures

Leave space in your bookcase to show off your personal items, souvenirs, or other collectible pieces.

A bookshelf that is loaded down with books will become more of a backdrop. If you leave space to display selected items that mean something to you, you can turn your bookshelf into a focal piece instead.

Plants and Flowers

Adding a succulent, a small plant, or flowers will give your bookshelf beauty and will bring an element of nature into your space.

Try grouping a few small vases with floral cuttings on a section of your shelf, or go for one larger succulent. Succulents are a nice idea for a bookcase, as they don’t require much attention.

All of these styling ideas require a bookshelf, and that’s really the place to begin. If you are looking for a quality bookshelf, come and visit us at Smitty’s.

We carry beautifully crafted, Canadian-made bookshelves.