How to Stage Shelves
- 1). Label your boxes and carefully organize all of the decor items you currently have in your space. Clear the floor and remove pictures from the walls. You might even want to remove larger pieces of furniture if rearranging the entire room. Staging shelves is a task that could take up most of the day, so schedule time to perform the task well, so you can take your time and enjoy setting up your new space.
- 2). Sweep the room once most of the elements have been removed. Clean the walls and baseboards to create a clean space. Dust and clean off all of your pictures. Run an air filter if you are prone to environmental allergies as cleaning and moving furniture can stir up dust that has been lingering for a long time.
- 3). Take a hard look around the room, and use a sketch pad to place the shelves in the space on the page. Draw the other furniture as well, and position it in relationship to the shelves. Try to get a feel for the best possible position to stage your shelves. Keep them away from doors that open and close. This can cramp the space and prevent the door from being able to be used fully. Do not block any windows with your shelves. See if you can place more than one unit side by side to create one big wall of shelves, break them up and place them on two opposite walls or flank a fireplace with shelves for a dramatic, built-in look.
- 4). Choose a focus wall. This is the main wall that your eye will be drawn to first upon entering the room. Ask yourself if you want the shelves to be on the focus wall or in the background as a support to the focus wall. If you decide to use the shelves as the focal point, add some interesting details, like mirrors, vases, leather cases and collectibles you want to display.
- 5). Place your shelves into the spaces you sketched, whether they are on the ground or hung on the wall. Put all the other main pieces of furniture back into the room. Be sure they are all flowing, within a good distance of each other. Nothing should feel forced or cramped. You can stow extra "stuff" in an attic because you will have taken up extra space with the shelves, thus eliminating the need for any large display tables. See if they can go in another room.
- 6). Have fun arranging your stuff on your newly staged shelves. You can use the bottom shelf spaces to store items you use everyday. Use large baskets on the bottom shelves to stash magazines and throws. Add pictures and other items removed from the wall space, putting them on shelves at eye level. Stow some low-maintenance plants on the higher shelves to give it a finished home-like appeal. Use hardback but not paperback books, and try to display items on the shelves in odd numbers as odd is more appealing to the eye than even numbered arrangements.
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