Decorating Shelves and Surfaces

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Decorating Shelves and Surfaces

Why arrangements look wrong, grouping and scale, and avoiding clutter

Shelves and surfaces are where a room either looks considered or looks like things have accumulated, and the difference comes down to a few rules that are easy to apply.

Odd numbers and triangles

Groups of three or five read as deliberate; pairs read as symmetrical and formal. Arrange objects so their tops form a triangle rather than a line, which is what stops a shelf looking like a row.

Vary height, keep material

Mix heights and shapes and keep the materials or the palette limited. A shelf of objects in three tones looks curated; the same objects in eight looks like a jumble sail.

Stack books horizontally to make a platform, which adds a height without adding another object.

Scale is what people get wrong

Small objects scattered across a large surface look like clutter. One or two larger pieces do more work and are easier to dust, and a big surface can take a genuinely big object.

Leave space

Negative space is what makes the objects read. Filling every centimetre is the commonest mistake, and removing a third of what is on a shelf usually improves it immediately.

Give it a reason

Things with a connection to you — a piece brought back from somewhere, a photograph, something inherited — hold interest in a way that decorative objects bought to fill a gap do not.

Practical surfaces

A hall table needs somewhere to put keys and post, and a bedside table needs room for a glass and a book. Decoration that removes the function is why surfaces end up buried anyway.

Buying decorative objects

Buy for a specific place rather than because something is appealing in a shop, since unplaced objects become clutter. Take a photograph of the room with you.

One considered piece usually does more than three smaller ones and costs the same.

Scale and proportion in a room

Rugs are the most common sizing mistake — a rug should sit under the front legs of the seating at least, and a small rug floating in the middle makes a room look smaller.

Hang art so its centre is around eye level, and give a group of frames consistent gaps so it reads as one shape.

Lighting the display

Objects on a shelf need light on them to be seen. A lamp nearby or strip lighting under a shelf does more for a display than another object does.

Changing it

Rotate seasonally rather than adding. A box of stored pieces swapped twice a year keeps a room interesting without accumulating more.

Anchor tall shelving to the wall, particularly with children in the house.

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