How to Style a Living Room Bookcase from Scratch

A bookcase can be one of the most important pieces in your living room. I’m here to show you how to style a living room bookcase from scratch. It doesn’t have to be hard. I just finished styling our brand new bookcases and I’m excited to share my tips and suggestions.

A bookcase in any room provides form, function, and a focal point.

Whether you have built-in bookcases or a freestanding bookcase like we do, the design process is the same.

I spent several days working on giving our new bookcases the style that I wanted. I looked for design inspiration in several places. I used what I’ve learned about design in general and bookshelf styling in particular. Then I applied those guidelines to style our new bookcase.

Is styling a bookcase ever finished? I don’t think so. Like a mantel or a coffee table, a bookcase is a piece of furniture that lends itself to change for the seasons or holidays or just because you want to.

this Idea.

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Why a New Bookcase for the Living Room?

Every bookcase has a story, right?

When we first moved into our home, we placed Sweet Shark’s antique Irish pine hutch there. I used it as storage for glassware and kept the doors shut since it had been converted to a bar years ago. Although it was a beautiful piece of furniture, we never intended for it to stay. I wish I had a picture of the hutch, but I don’t.

A few years later, I decided that a real bookcase was in order. I sent the hutch to a friend’s booth at an antique mall.

Our first bookcase was a thrift store find that I paid $100. I bought it because it was very tall. It was a very inexpensively-made plain piece of furniture that I painted and added more molding to. 

The bookcase served its purpose: I could display family photos, some artwork, decorative accessories, and a fraction of the books we owned. We are avid readers and we have hundreds of books, most of which are upstairs.

As you can see the bookcase had no backing which made it look very inexpensive.  After a few years, the shelves started sagging in the middle.

Here it is decorated right before I removed everything.

We had that bookcase for about seven years when I decided we needed a new one that was better built and more formal for our traditional living room.

Ideally, I wanted another bookcase that I could recycle with paint. I looked for over a year at every antique mall, estate sale, and consignment store. There was not a single piece that I even considered. It was time to shop retail.

Shopping for a New Bookcase

Since built-in bookcases were not an option (We have a built-in bookcase as our entertainment center.), a freestanding bookcase was the goal.

As I often advise, when shopping for a major piece of furniture, it’s important to know exactly what you want and need. 

How to do that? The easiest way is to make a list of your criteria.

• Solid wood material
• A finished width of 6 feet*
• A finished height of at least 8 feet*
• Adjustable shelves
• Shelves that are not as long (4 feet)
• White finish
• Divided bookshelf sections
• Nice crown and base molding

*TIP: always measure your minimum and maximum measurement criteria before you start shopping.

Now I could begin shopping online. I started with the “usual suspects”, such as Pottery Barn, Frontgate, Wayfair, and Ballard Designs. I found two great options, one from Pottery Barn and one from Ballard Design.

Since we are fortunate to have both stores here locally, I made a trip to see the bookcases in person.

Although both bookcases met my basic design criteria, the Ballard Design Casa Florentina Josephina had a more formal style and the shade of white worked better in our living room. I chose the Saturated Snow White which is a white-white with no yellow or blue undertones.

After consultation with Sweet Shark (I found the right bookcases, I’m ordering them, OK?), I sat down with Erin, an in-house designer to place the order. Lucky for me, the bookcases are on a 20% sale.

In full-disclosure, as Erin and I talked, I told her I was a home decor blogger. She immediately offered me a bit more discount, which I graciously accepted. BUT this is not a sponsored post.

Now we just had to wait until the bookcases arrived. I was so excited two weeks later when I received notice to schedule the delivery. Now I could begin to plan the design elements I wanted for the new bookcases.

I continued to research bookshelf decor ideas. 

Plan the Design

Here is my advice for styling your bookcase. They are questions to ask yourself before you gather the items to add to the bookcase. I’ve included my design decisions in bold.

1. My Number 1 piece of advice for styling a living room bookcase is to start empty. Whether you are starting fresh or restyling an existing bookcase, starting with empty bookshelves allows you to “see” a clean slate. Things I thought I might reuse, I moved from our old bookcase to our dining room table. Things I knew I wouldn’t use, I packed away.
2. Decide on a style you want. That could be a minimalist look or a traditional style. Do you want a lot of white space or do you want your bookcases full to the brim? Or something in between? I wanted a clean look, but one that was full of well-styled shelves.
3. Decide what items you want to include. Do you want primarily a bookcase filled with books? Decorative items, art, family photographs? Or do you want a mix? Our bookcase would have a mix of books, interesting decorative items, art, and family photographs.
4. Decide your color theme. It could be a neutral color palette (whites, creams, ivory, etc.) or one primary color range (blues, greens, reds). You might choose bright colors or pastels. Or it could be a mix of different colors. Just make sure that it’s your personal style. This was a hard decision because I like most color palettes. Because our living room furniture and accessories are a mix of neutral white and color, I thought the bookcase should reflect that aesthetic. The bookcase is white so I wanted color in the accessories (books, frames, art, decorative items.)
5. Do you like the shelves to be aligned or do like your shelves staggered? This is why adjustable shelves are a must-have. This was easy – I like the shelves to be aligned.
6. Do you want to include lights for the bookcases? That may be a lamp on a shelf or sconces attached to the top or sides of the bookcase. We always had an accent lamp on our previous bookcase. It was easy because there was no back on the bookcase and the cord could be treaded through the back. Since this bookcase had a back, I found a rechargeable battery option with a brass lamp with a white linen shade. A bonus is that is a three-way light.
7. Decide if you want a symmetrical or asymmetrical arrangement. Both can and should have some sense of balance and cohesiveness. Tall decor items balance short ones and leave a nice amount of white space. Varying heights add interest to your bookcase. Heavier visual items balance a group of lighter-weight items. For example, one large vase can pair with a group of small vases. Balance and symmetry are my usual preferences. I would include some asymmetrical options for contrast and interest.

Once you’ve made these decisions, it’s time to get to work.

Styling Your Bookcase

​Here are the bookcases when they were delivered. They come assembled except for the side crown and base moldings which you add, depending on the number of bookcases and the arrangement you want. This is actually a clever way to make the bookcases work in any space.

You can see the flat sides of the bookcase top and bottom without moldings.

The bookcases come with detailed instructions and plenty of hardware and the tools you need. The moldings are easy to attach.

We placed the two bookcases together and used the tool provided to level them.

One bookshelf is permanently attached. You are provided with four more adjustable shelves for each bookcase. 

This is how we left the bookcases for ten days while I went to Haven and then we went on vacation.

Lowest Bookshelf

When we returned home, I was so excited to begin styling the bookcases.

First, I wiped the shelves off with a damp cloth as I added them to the bookcase.

I decided to start at the bottom of the bookcase, styling each shelf before I added the next shelf and items. I don’t know that it makes a difference whether you start at the top or the bottom.

NOTE: Remember, everything can be moved around or completely removed from the design.

I started first by adding a horizontal stack of coffee table books to both sides. Horizontal reading books in a blue theme filled in. Then I added some of my favorite chinoiserie pieces to each side.

NOTE: I don’t show how many times I moved books around, striving for the right number, size and color.

Now it was time to add my first bookshelves. Plenty of “shelf-supports” were provided.

To keep myself from banging into the wood and making a dent, I wrapped my small hammer in a folded paper towel and a rubber band. It worked great. The supports went in easily.

Second Bookshelf

Next, I continued the coffee table books and added my favorite chinoiserie vases. The picture is a favorite one of Sweet Shark and me from about 1999. Don’t we look much younger?

On the right side, I added the lovely print that my friend Michelle of Thistle Key Lane made for me. It’s in the gold-painted frame that I updated with two other frames.

Third Bookshelf

For the stationary shelf, I added the two blue topiary containers that I updated a few years ago.

On the left, I placed the brass lamp with the white linen shade. On the right, I moved Michelle’s lovely print. You’ll see later what I put in its place.

I love the look of the lamp at night. We haven’t decided yet if we want to add a second one.

Fourth Shelf

For the next shelf, I brought in more color with books in shades of red, orange, mustard yellow, and pink. I guess you could call it a play on an ombre effect.

As decorative accessories, I used a wooden letter “L”, our last initial, that I recently changed from silver to gold. The clock on the right doesn’t work. Sweet Shark brought it home from his office last year.

I liked the round, structural shape of it.

Top Shelf

At the top of the bookcase, I used a combination of red, white, and blue books. For bookends on each side, I brought in two blue chinoiserie pieces. The one on the left is from an estate sale. The one on the right was a decoupage makeover of a ceramic black vase.

Two of my favorite grandkid pictures fill in the limited space. I may replace (or paint) the frame on the left to more closely match the one on the right to add more metallic to the shelf.

The Completed Living Room Bookcase

I didn’t show all the moving about of objects, but I promise there were quite a few before I considered the bookcase finished – at least for now.

We rehung the Dali print on the right side of the bookcase, which we had to take down to adjust the placement of the bookcases.

Sweet Shark is still trying to nurse back to health the other sansaveria. Once it is returned, the balance and symmetry of the entire wall will be restored.

Bookcase Elements

Here are other elements I strived for you might notice:

• All shelves have balance and symmetry.
• The bottom two shelves have a primarily dark blue color palette which gets lighter and more colorful on the upper shelves.
• The middle shelf is taller than the upper and lower shelves which creates interest.
• Metallics are distributed throughout the shelves in the picture frames and accessories. Even the feet of the topiary containers and the print on the book bindings have a little bling.
• Did you notice the zig-zag arrangement of elements from top to bottom? Starting at the top shelf, on the outer sides, your eye follows the books from out to in, then the tall topiaries, then the chinoiserie vases, and finally at the bottom shelf, the small chinoiserie pieces. If you start on the inside top shelf, you have the picture frames, the metallic decorative objects, then the lamp and large framed art, next the gold framed picture and artwork, and finally, the blue books. The entire arrangement was intentional and did take quite a bit of tweaking. There is always a place for your eye to rest.
• The topiaries bring in a touch of greenery. I originally had several books with green bindings on a shelf, but the color just didn’t fit.
• I don’t think the shelves are too crowded or too minimal. There is still plenty of white space.

Now I know that in a few weeks, I will rearrange the bookcase with some fall decor. But right now, I’m happy with the initial result.

Styling this new bookcase for the living room from scratch was a learning experience. I hope that you learned some new design techniques and enjoyed taking this styling bookcase journey with me.

More Bookcase Ideas

Need more ideas for styling a bookcase? Visit these resources:

• 9 Inspiring Ideas for Styling Bookcases
• 15 Best IKEA Bookshelf Hacks
• 10 Essential Interior Design Elements

While you PIN this post, take a look at these Pinterest Boards: Bookcase Design Ideas and Home Decor.