Bookshelf Styling When You Have a Lot of Books

I cannot deny that I love seeing bookshelves styled with oodles of decor and unique accessories. But sometimes a bookshelf needs to – well – store books. And in today’s post, I’m keeping it real by sharing with you my recently styled bookcases along with my thoughts on bookshelf styling when you have a lot of books.

First, I want to start off by saying that you don’t need stylish, leather-bound books to make a bookshelf or bookcase feel styled or in keeping with the overall aesthetic of your space.

Second, there’s no need to buy any ‘stylish’ books or accessories. In fact, in this case, it’s preferable that you don’t.

Third, don’t start styling anything until all of your books are placed in your bookcase or on your bookshelf. Then you can visualize the area you have to work with and start playing around with some realistic styling options.

So, with those thoughts out of the way, let me share the following ideas with you.

BOOKSHELF STYLING WHEN YOU HAVE A LOT OF BOOKS

1. Horizontal Stacking

When your bookshelf or bookcase is absolutely full or nearly full, you can add a bit of interest with a few, well-placed horizontal stacks. Simply grab a few books from the end of a shelf or somewhere in the middle and stack them horizontally.

My two bookcases (both IKEA Billy Bookcases) were nearly full, so this was tricky, but still simple and easy to achieve.

SOURCES: Chair, Bookcases, Rug (*affiliate link).

2. Spread Out or Zig-Zag Your Stacks

Depending on the number of stacks you’d like to have, you’ll want to spread them out and, ideally, create an imperfect zig-zag pattern.

My personal approach is to avoid clustering stacks too closely together in order to create interest.

Tip: If you have more than one bookcase placed together, as I do here, then treat both bookcases as a SINGLE bookcase. Then you can create one zig-zag pattern that pulls the entire look together.

3. Room for Book-Ends?

If you have a bit of space, then why not add a bookend or two?

I had a sliver of space here and added a small bookend to tidy things up. I made sure to place it in a spot that was in keeping with the overall zig-zag pattern.

4. Size Matters

While I did not measure my books – who has the time or inclination? – I did place most of the heavier and larger books along the bottom shelf and the smallest along the top. I wasn’t beholden to this entirely (as you can see), but I kept to this pattern, mostly 😉

By adding the heaviest/largest books to the bottom shelves, it helps anchor things so that the bookcases doesn’t appear ‘top-heavy.’

(BTW: You may have noticed that one of the top shelves is devoted to old CDs – does anyone remember CDs? Lol!)

5. A Few Accessories

Last, but certainly not least, I shopped my home and grabbed a few accessories to display on top of the horizontal stacks of books to finish things off.

It’s the perfect time to use some of those decor pieces that you’ve stored away, like this small vintage creamer. It added that small bit of vintage style in this curated and miscellaneous collection of books.

I hope you enjoyed this ‘real style’ post.

Anyone else use their bookshelves for mainly books?! What are your tried and true solutions for creating a bit of style? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy styling!