Stylish storage with visual flair
No matter the room, no matter the home, every space can benefit from a bit of fitted shelving. It’s not just a functional piece of storage. Shelving is an easy, go-to way of adding striking visuals to your space, showcasing all of your best pieces or telling a story with your ornaments.
There are so many wonderful ways to blend shelving into your interiors to create an eye-catching centrepiece. So if you need inspiration, we’ve got 11 sophisticated shelving styles to get your ideas flowing.
Shelving ideas for bedrooms
1. Create a feature wall
To really make a splash with your room design, you can’t go wrong with a feature wall. And the best part is that your shelving doesn’t need to be especially deep to create a dramatic effect.
This type of shelving is great for displaying small ornaments or for stacking pictures and photographs to make a superb accent piece.
Leaving gaps creates a staggered effect which helps to draw the eye, so give yourself plenty of space to play around with to see what works.
2. Walk-in wardrobe
One way to completely transform the usability of a bedroom space is by creating a walk-in wardrobe area. With open shelving, you can create plenty of storage for clothes and accessories, while simultaneously making them an attractive part of your space.
With a walk-in wardrobe, you can also vary up your shelving to create a distinct look. Keep it symmetrical or go for something more unusual, but whatever you do, make sure it’s convenient to use as you go about your daily routine.
And if you want any more inspiration for your design, make sure you take a look at our stunning walk-in wardrobe ideas to help build your dream room.
3. Floating shelves
A classic addition to just about any room in the home, floating shelves bring streamlined aesthetics wherever they’re installed.
Their understated look is perfect for making your ornaments the focal point of the space and they’re a fantastic way to get more out of awkward stretches of wall.
Style them up with your favourite books, or give them a little extra flair by adding plants and ceramics. This shelving idea is incredibly versatile and easy to style into any interior layout.
4. Cut-out shelving
Niches, recesses, in-wall shelving or whatever you prefer to call it - these stunning designs can look absolutely fantastic in bedrooms and make great use of your walls.
Though they’re trickier to add than a standard shelf, the visual result is absolutely unmatched.
But if remodelling your room sounds like too much of a faff, you can achieve a similar effect by adding a headboard with built-in shelving.
Shelving ideas for living rooms
5. Style up alcoves
You just can’t go wrong with alcove shelving for these tricky living room spaces.
Bringing an elegant symmetry to your space along with a great way to create a striking room feature, styling up your alcoves is fantastic for making your space feel more cosy.
And for anything you want to keep hidden away, like games or toys, cupboard shelving at the base makes it extra practical. Sophisticated and functional storage, all in one.
6. Open and closed shelving
To create a bigger statement in your space, a mix of open and closed shelving can create powerful visuals.
Pairing up different finishes can create a very pleasing contrast but it looks especially chic when you drop them into the design with a more staggered effect.
And, of course, it always helps to have an option where you can store anything away you might not want on show.
7. In-built lighting
We all know good lighting sets the mood but you’d be surprised at how much a difference it can make with your shelving.
Downlighting built into your shelves is perfect for creating an atmosphere of sophistication, the warm lamps bringing your ornaments into the soft glow.
Dimmable controls take this to the next level, allowing you to find the ideal amount of light as you sit back and relax in the evenings. A great shelving idea, especially if you want to give your living room a particularly elegant look and feel.
8. Wall-to-wall bookcases
For the booklover in the house, you can never go wrong with wall-to-wall shelving.
When you have a large collection that you’ve proudly been curating for years, it makes sense to invest in good quality, built-in shelving to make your library a feature.
Choosing a bold colour for your shelving is a great choice if you want to draw attention to your bookcase, and for extra emphasis, you could also try arranging it by colour to really make them stand out.
Shelving ideas for a home office
9. Glass-fronted display cases
Want shelving but don’t necessarily want your pretty things to get dusty?
Try a glass-fronted cabinet instead.
Fantastic for showcasing achievements or for keeping your most favourite room accents pristine, they’re a brilliant way to bring the feeling of ‘home’ to a home office.
Particularly useful for office-cum-living spaces, display cases can help keep your home neatly organised, all while ensuring that nothing encroaches onto your work space.
10. Pigeonhole shelving
From folders to stationary, pigeonhole shelving is some of the most adaptable you can add to a home office space.
It’s a superb addition to desks where you might need to keep documents or notepads easily to hand. So if you need to grab something quickly, everything is exactly where you need it to be.
The great thing about pigeonhole shelves is that they make efficient use of vertical space - a fantastic option for above work areas where you need to make best use of the room available.
11. Understairs shelving
Need to maximise your storage in a hallway? Why not add shelving to your understairs area?
With tailor-made shelving, you can follow even the tricky contours of a staircase to create bespoke storage that fits like a glove.
Whether you want to store coats and shoes, add a bookcase or have your very own mini home office space, there’s lots of ways shelving can make these spaces much more convenient to use. And, what’s more, it can give hallways a much more distinct identity.
Make your storage work for you
For more fantastic shelving ideas or tricks and tips on storage, make sure to browse our Inspiration page at Sharps. As experts that know a thing or two about making homes beautifully organised, we’ve got ideas for just about every room in the house. Or, if you want advice tailored to your own home, make sure to book your Free Design Visit today.
