I’m not really a fan of selfies, even ones that involve Ellen, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Meryl Streep, and some other people I forget. Shelfies on the other hand – pictures of other people’s shelves for the uninitiated – are much more my kind of thing. They do double duty, appealing to my nosy side and providing excellent interiors inspiration.

I already have shelves in my living room (floating, various heights, in the alcoves to either side of the Victorian fireplace and mostly empty apart from a couple of piles of books and magazines) and kitchen (dark wood, floating, not particularly robust, currently home to a selection of vases and some Natasha Law pictures). And I’m considering adding some to my soon-to-be-office-currently-spare-bedroom and space-at-the-back-of-the-flat-without-a-name-or-purpose.

When a recent visitor to my flat commented that the lack of stuff on the shelves in my living room made it look like I’d just moved in, or was moving out shortly, I realised that I need to show my shelves some love. But I’m not just going to load them up with a bunch of random stuff. Oh no. Following, my favourite shelfie ideas (shelfspiration?!) right now.

Colour Block Your Books

The kinds of people whose homes get featured in glossy magazines have been doing this for a while now but it’s an idea that never gets old for me. If you’ve amassed a large collection of coffee table books with colourful spines and you’ve got some time on your hands, why not organise them by colour and turn your books into a rainbow, quite frankly. But then the over-thinking-things side of me starts to wonder how you’d locate the book you’re looking if you have no idea what colour spine it has? Hmm, pretty, but not practical. Also do these people buy books based on their spine colour alone, rejecting books they’d really like to buy that are the wrong colour? And what do they do with books they already own that don’t fit in, colour-wise? I think I need to get out more…
You can see more from these two homes here and here

Create A Kitchen Display

I love how the open shelves in this kitchen have been used to display a colourful collection of tins, pictures, books and knick knacks, as opposed to the piles of crockery and glassware you’d expect. And it’s so neatly organised it doesn’t make the colourful-but-clean space feel cluttered. While not a shelf as such, co-opting the top of the Smeg fridge to create some extra storage for a pile of cookery books and a couple of retro canisters is a clever space-expanding idea. Totally doing this.
You can see more of this cute kitchen here

Make An Inspiration Wall

I’m still deciding which direction to go in style-wise when I finally turn my spare bedroom into a home office (my folders of inspiration, both actual and on my computer, are getting out of hand). Nearly all of the images I’ve collected have featured an inspiration wall but they’ve almost always involved the inspirational images actually being attached to the wall. Which is why this home office with its shelves-as-temporary-display jumped out. Need new inspiration? Change up the display. Easy. And no Blu Tack marks left behind.
You can see more of this apartment here

Use Repurposed Crates

If my flat was a bit more rustic in style (and I had a booze collection worthy of doing this, which I don’t) I would currently be on eBay searching for fruit crates, because I have totally fallen for this rustic-bar-shelf idea. And if you’re thinking, I love this but I’ve already got a bar cart, it’s worth knowing that fruit crates look just as good in the bathroom as storage for towels. Fruit crates, the answer to all our storage problems. Who knew?!
You can see more from these two homes here and here

Contrast Your Shelves With Your Walls

Having looked at a lot of shelves as I researched this feature I can confirm that, more often than not, shelves are the same colour as the wall behind them and, usually, they’re both white. Putting unpainted wooden shelves on white walls already creates a style statement and after that you can put whatever you want on them. The plants echo the natural look of the wood but the mixture of books and stuff looks just as good.
You can see more from this apartment here (it’s the same one from the Make An Inspiration Wall point, I basically just want to move in).

Are your shelves simply holders of stuff or have you found a clever way to upgrade them into a feature in your home? Do share below!