Are you looking to elevate your living room with beautifully redesigned built-ins? This blog post is here to guide you! With three simple yet effective tips, you’ll learn how to create a designer-worthy feel in your built-in space. From styling ideas to the ideal shelf dimensions, we’ve got you covered.
Let’s dive in and transform your built-ins into a stunning focal point of your home!
We love built-in libraries because of how they combine the functional storage of a cabinet with the decorative display. They’re a place to showcase your style, tell your story, and give life to the objects you’ve collected over the years: books, art, and meaningful decor that hold memories.
In this project, we had the pleasure of renovating and refreshing existing built-ins, which brought a new life into a dated design. Our favorite part? Creating a beautiful bay window moment for our clients, a blend of modern aesthetics and timeless functionality. It was the perfect mix of art and science.
Here are 3 tips to achieve a look like this.
Tip #1: Balance & Mix Different Elements
Achieving a designer look starts with finding the perfect balance between shapes, textures, and colors. For this project, we incorporated arch curves at the top of the built-ins, they complemented the clean lines of the rectangular bay windows.
We chose oak-finished shelves contrasting with the crisp white cabinets and brass details to bring in warmth.
When designing your built-ins, always think about ways to mix and match different elements, whether it’s curved versus angular shapes, warm versus cool tones, or matte versus glossy finishes. The key is ensuring everything ties back to a cohesive style while adding interest and personality to the space.
Tip #2: Leave Enough Spacing for Your Shelves
Getting the spacing right is key to making your built-ins both functional and stylish. Proper spacing allows for a variety of decor items, like vases, frames, statues, and small art pieces, to fit comfortably and create a pleasing mix of heights and shapes.
We usually leave 12-15 inches between shelves, which works well for most displays. For the bottom shelves or counters, a bit more space (around 18-20 inches) is ideal for larger or taller items.
In this project, with lower ceilings, we used 36 inches for the base cabinets, 12 inches for the middle shelves, and 20 inches for the top shelf to highlight the curve we added.
The key is to ensure there’s enough room for your pieces to shine with a balanced, uncluttered look.
Tip #3: Shelf Styling Hack – The Zig-Zag Method
To create visual interest and help the eye dance, we love incorporating asymmetry in our styling.
The zig-zag method is a simple way to achieve this. It works on two levels:
Groupings: If one shelf has two groupings, the next shelf could have three. Mixing the number of items and grouping similar pieces keeps the design dynamic.
Color Movement: Spread colors like black or bold accents throughout the shelves to create a flow. Avoid placing items of the same color directly above or below each other to prevent the display from feeling too uniform.
Here is the blog post where I outlined the details of the ZIG-ZAG method. For more inspiration, check out our Viva La Vida Project, where we gave this beautiful house a fresh, modern touch.
With love,
BurJu
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