Bookshelves might be my favourite thing to style, and also the thing I see go wrong most often — usually in one of two directions. Either they’re crammed edge to edge with books and paperwork, or they’ve been styled so carefully that there’s barely a book in sight. The sweet spot is somewhere in between: a shelf that looks like it belongs to a real person who reads.

Step 1: Empty it completely

It’s tedious, but it’s the only way. Take everything off, wipe the shelves down, and sort what you have into three piles: books, objects you love, and things that should live elsewhere.

Step 2: Books first

Books are the backbone. Place them first, and vary how they sit: some upright, some stacked horizontally in small piles of three to five. Horizontal stacks make natural little plinths for objects. I like to group books by colour loosely, but not so strictly that it looks like a rainbow display.

Step 3: Add objects in triangles

Here’s the trick that changed my shelves: when you place a larger object, balance it with something of similar visual weight on a shelf above or below, on the opposite side. Your eye zig-zags across the unit in a triangle, which feels balanced without being symmetrical.

Step 4: Leave breathing room

• Aim for roughly one-third empty space across the whole unit.
• Not every shelf needs an object. Some can be just books.
• Step back to the doorway and squint — gaps and clusters show up instantly.

Style the shelf, then take one thing away.

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Step 5: Make it personal

The best shelves include something that couldn’t be bought new: a framed photo, a postcard leaning against the books, a stone from a beach walk, a child’s clay pinch pot. These are the things guests actually ask about.