Shelf styling…I know that is one area of the home that can sometimes be overwhelming and cause people a little styling paralysis. What do you put on each shelf? How do you arrange items? How do you keep everything from looking like too much? Throw in styling them for the holidays and I’m sure most people are ready to give up.

Well, not today - I am here to offer help with some simple tips that I used to style my entertainment center this holiday season. The six tips I share below can be used with many different pieces of furniture: a bookshelf, any sort of entertainment center that has lots of cubbies/shelves, and floating shelves; the options are endless.

1.) Pick a color palette.

As always, my biggest tip is to pick a color palette and try to have most of your items match your palette. My house for the holidays has lots of whites and greens. I have a black entertainment center and I wanted to lighten it up a bit, so I thought white was a perfect color to help. You can choose any colors that you prefer, but using a color palette with two, three or four colors will really help your decor feel more cohesive.

2.) When in doubt, add some greenery.

Adding in a garland, or greenery stems is the perfect way to instantly take your decor from everyday to holiday. If you have a large entertainment center like mine, adding a garland on top is a nice touch. For styling floating shelves, you could weave in some greenery on each shelf to really warm things up. And if your garland can light up, that will really give your home a nice, cozy feel.

3.) Use symmetry when you can.

Since my entertainment center is so large, I didn’t want everything to look like one big jumbled mess of items on display. With my top shelves, I used matching frames and candle holders and assembled them to mirror each other. Since the items were white, they matched by color palette, but they also help keep everything neat and tidy since they are identical.

4.) Don’t be afraid to keep some of your family pictures out.
Too often, when we put out our holiday decor, we put away our family pictures. You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. I love my family and have some really cherished photos that I want to keep on display. I just make sure the photos are in frames that match my decor.

5.) The Luxe bookends are a perfect addition to holiday decor.

The gold iron burst and marble bookends are gorgeous! As soon as I saw them in the Luxe 2 box, I knew I had to have them for my holiday shelf styling. Of course, the white marble fits my color palette, but the pop of gold/bronze helps add a little extra something to the holiday feel.

You can style these by showcasing some of your favorite books (Pro Tip: remove the book jackets for a more neutral look). Another styling option is to put the holiday books that your children have on display. Can’t you just picture your family sitting together on the couch and grabbing one of the much-loved holiday books to read together? Having everything close by and styled with beautiful bookends feels like a no-brainer.

6.) If you don’t have a fireplace or mantle, use your entertainment center/shelves to hang stockings.

We have never had a fireplace or a mantle and I’ve always had to get creative with where I hang our stockings. I finally figured out that hanging them from the shelves of our entertainment center was the perfect place. Yes, the stockings do cover up a couple of shelves, but that helps the entertainment center not feel so stuffed.

There you go, hopefully, these tips will help you get your shelves and entertainment centers ready for the holidays. I’m going to leave you with one bonus tip: decorate with what makes you happy! It is YOUR home, so fill it with items that you love and I’m sure you will enjoy looking at them and styling them for each season.

XOXO, Lindsay (Pursuit of Pink Blog)