October Meeting: Arranging bookshelves, mantles and coffee tables
Bronwyn Ford of Bronwyn Designs gave an interesting and insightful presentation at our October meeting in how to arrange bookshelves, mantles and coffee tables. A few highlights:
Bookshelves
- Don't forget books: The No. 1 thing you need to have is books. Just vases and candles and pictures doesn't look real. Books add color, texture and height.. If you want to fill it up with books, great. Otherwise, you can fill in the extra spaces with interesting things.
- Other stuff to have: Bookends, paperweights, vessels (bowls, vases, boxes), framed photographs, 3D items and artwork.
- Add depth: It's great to have some things toward the front of the shelves and some things toward the back. Artwork leaned against the back is fantastic for this. Also, pairs of things work well.
- Have varying heights.
- Consider painting or using wallpaper on the back of your bookshelves. It really makes them pop.
- Consider hanging artwork or mirrors on the front of your bookshelf
- Pull things together that are similar. Maybe it's a bunch of white things or things that are silver, or choose two objects of the same bright turquoise.
- A tray or basket: This is the No. 1 thing you ened to corral things like remote controls and magazines. Especially important if you have a soft coffee table.
- Choose objects that look good from all angles. No framed photographs or things that have backs. Good choices: Coffee table books (use them to make a pedestal for your bowl), vessels with something in them, pillar candles, ceramics, a magnifying glass (looks great on top of a pile of books)
- Create groups of three.
- Pick a theme. Is this a country house or more modern?
- Basic steps: Center a large piece on the mantle. One one side, place items of varying height. ON the other side, add a vessel with some weight like a big vase. You can stop there or you can layer some framed pictures in a cluster on one side and balance the opposite side with a group of boxes.
- If you have a TV, either don't put anything on there or put a pair of vases on each side.
- In your fireplace, some ideas: pretty birch logs, a ton of candles of different heighs, a pretty screen, a big basket with dried hydrangeas
- A great place to find beautiful boxes is Metrolina Tradeshow Expo, Sleepy Poet on South Boulevard or Cotswold Marketplace
Still have questions? Check out Bronwyn's website or reach her at 704-968-5099 or info@bronwyndesigns.com.
