Christmas Styled Shelves

I wanted to give a close up look at my Christmas styled shelves. They deserve their own moment in the spotlight. Styling shelves is never as easy as it looks and I’m always looking for inspiration. Here’s how I styled my shelves this holiday season.

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I’ve always wanted built-in shelves and although I don’t have them yet, my Loring bookcases definitely give me the feeling like I do.

bookcases • tv stand

When I style my shelves I don’t work with a particular formula, but there are some things that I like to keep in mind.

FAMILY STYLE – I like to think of my shelves as cousins not sisters. Meaning they don’t have to match each other but they should have a similar scale with the items I’m using.

You’ll notice that they both have a woven basket on the bottom shelf. When I first styled my shelves I included a floral arrangement on both top shelves. I find that helps to cover some of the empty space at the top.

RULE OF THREE – Although not a hard and fast rule, I do tend to decorate in threes or in a triangle. Three items per shelf (depending on size) is an easy way to keep the shelf from looking too cluttered.

The triangle rule can be used to keep the taller item in the center. Oftentimes I style my shelves in an inverted triangle.

USE WHAT YOU HAVE – When I style my shelves for the holidays I still keep some of my standard pieces in the mix. Using stacked boxes or coffee table books helps to keep the shelves grounded. You can decide to add only a few seasonal pieces or a lot but I think having everyday decor incorporated is key.

Let’s take a look at how I styled my bookshelf on the left. I started with a few greenery picks in a vase. This vase allows just enough height to style florals but I often leave it empty. Along with the vase I have a nutcracker, a glass tree and a long sign.

I didn’t use the rule of three here, but the glass tree or the nutcracker could be removed and the shelf will still look styled.

On the next shelf I added my letters to Santa mailbox along with some green glass trees. I added a small gift box to the center to fill in the space.

Bringing in the kids pictures with Santa is always a favorite for me each year. We weren’t big into bringing the kids to meet Santa every year. But they both have pictures with Santa from their kindergarten year. Brianna did hers through school and we took Jordan to the mall Santa when he reached that age.

I’m not in love with this shelf so things are always subject to change. The white tree is from Target last year and the reindeer are from At Home last year.

rustic gold bells • cozy white cottage book • homebody book

My Christmas shelves wouldn’t be complete without my Holy Family figure. I got it from Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago and was shocked to see a brown option. I get asked about it all the time!

One tip I can give for finding melanin holiday decor from Hobby Lobby is to look as soon as they Christmas decor hits the shelves in May, if not sooner! Because it goes off the shelves quickly!

Eventually I want to find a really nice nativity set. They can get pretty pricey so it’s on the list for next year maybe.

How cute is this Mr and Mrs Claus dancing statue? I was in Home Goods and saw them and was like yes please! I have a deep love for Black Santa and when they’re done tastefully I have to have them!

I took this picture before I switched out the top of the bookcase. If I had the right size vase and florals I would have much rather use them instead of this flocked tree.

One thing about styling shelves is that things are always subject to change! And they’ll probably change again until I feel like it’s perfect! But I can’t wait for things to be “perfect” in order to share them or else I’d have nothing to share 🙂