How I Styled my Bookshelf on a Budget

If you know me, you know I love a good project. Whether it was leading assignments at university and the many events at work, or even planning my wedding just last year, there’s something about coming up with fun, creative ideas, doing the research, organizing to-do lists and finally seeing the end result come into fruition. Running a project, no matter how small truly brings me a sense of fulfilment and joy.

Over the last few months of me being in between jobs while building a home, my husband knows that I always have a project up my sleeve. Oftentimes, a home decor project. At the start of the year, it was organising my wardrobe and adding personal touches to the guest room. Now, its finding the perfect art prints for our master bedroom.

I’ve been rebuilding my relationship with books, thus building a bookshelf that is inviting seemed like the obvious next step to continue cultivating my reading habits. I take pride in being someone who is motivated by my environment. Having nice things does so much more aside from being pleasing on the eyes, it helps me get into the right space and the right mood. We do have an existing bookshelf in our guest room filled to the brim with files and research papers from my husband’s work, a combination of travel guide books, and spiritual reference books. However, I wanted to create a bookshelf in our living room with my curation of novels and favourite non-fictions & self enrichment picks where friends and family not only can see the books I enjoy reading, but can also grab one and read.

In this blogpost, I’m sharing with you how I decorated my bookshelf on a budget. This guide is a blend between my own experience designing my home as well as plenty of research from my favourite interior designers.

The Budget

Home projects on a budget are some of my favourite types of project. I enjoy the process of sourcing from various different vendors and crafting something I can call my own. I have friends who prefer interior designers leading the design process, but I find comfort in building a space and knowing the story behind every little item. In an ideal world, E & I’s home would be filled with vintage pieces which we’ve sourced from various cities. However, I’m not exactly in the part of the world where its as easy to come by vintage finds, so I’m mixing and matching cheaper but still high quality finds from smaller vendors. Most of my decor pieces (linked below) range from under RM5 to under RM40 (Under 10 dollars).

Everything starts with a blank canvas and mine was the IKEA Billy Bookcase in white which is retailing at only RM279 – such a steal. I knew I wanted to go with white as we already have quite a number of custom-made wooden furniture in shades of dark walnut (many from before my husband met me, and was clueless about design HAHA). Over the years, I’ve slowly brightened up the space by adding feminine touches like plush cushions, soft rattan pieces, our Tiffany blue sofa, flowers and overall just plenty of bright sunny colours.

Editor’s Note:

I’ve noticed that IKEA has gotten such a bad name on social media simply because their items aren’t known to last for longer than a few years. But here’s the thing – not everyone takes care of their furniture or their home and we need to address it. I’ve had IKEA furniture that lasted for over five years. If you’re careful about the placements of your IKEA cupboard – not placing it somewhere moist or under direct sunlight, and if you generally clean your home a lot, and do not overload your cupboards, you should be fine. Remember, if you take care of things, they in turn take care of you.

Also, I approach buying from IKEA on a wear & tear basis. It’s not furniture I plan on holding on to forever. I have custom-made furniture for that reason. Once you make peace with this concept and mindset, it all actually turns out OK.

The Decor

  1. Finding inspiration that matches your style

I find myself waking up to my best friend, Pinterest (sorry, husband) and my moodboard almost every morning. Just seeing the various inspirations whether its fashion, food, motivational quotes or home pins gives me that motivation, setting my mind in the right direction. Combined with my love for works from Architectural Digest, Studio McGee and so many other instagram creators, I found my personal style lands somewhere between Classic Eclectic, English and European – and it helps that E is the same. Although we are currently living in our rental home which limits major build-in and wallpaper projects, I still wanted to incorporate these elements into my home, one of which is this simple bookshelf. I am so excited to see my vision and idea grow for when it’s time for us to build our own home from scratch.

Finding inspiration is such a big part of starting a project in your home. Otherwise, you find yourself buying things from everywhere you go without having a clear vision in mind and pieces that don’t really match – with each other and more importantly, with your personal style.

2. What decor pieces go into a bookshelf

I remember watching Studio McGee projects and being so in awe of how every living room ws incomplete without build-in shelves that instead of books were filled with memorabilia and little trinkets from travels. To start, here are signature items (linked) I’ve used to decorate my bookshelf or quite simply, just anything – even chest of drawers, kitchen shelves with, that you can use, too:

I purchased the quirky yellow vase from Singapore in the charming neighbourhood of Tiong Bahru which has my heart. Fun fact, this was the frame from for table numbers at our wedding reception and I’ve now reused them as photo frames around our house.

3. Functionality is key

For me, functionality always wins against aesthetics. The purpose of a bookshelf, just like its name is to hold books. I knew high quality, interesting books was where where I wanted to direct my spending, purpose and space to. With that in mind, I focused of filling up eighty-percent of the shelves with books which leaves out twenty-percent for decor pieces. It also helps that most of the books I read are lighter, fun reads that come in colourful paperbacks so technically, I already have eighty-percent of my deco sorted out.

4. The rule of three

The easiest way to decorate is to follow the interior design rule of three – things arranged in odd numbers are more appealing, memorable and effective than even- numbered groupings. I use this technique when dressing up my nightstand and entryway console which just breaks-down symmetry in a cohesive way. Incorporating this, each shelf had three different elements arranged in a non-symmetrical way. At the very last shelf, I placed two baskets to centre the design and introduce warmth.

Organizing your Books

There are so many ways to organise and display your books based on whatever brings you the most joy. However, if you need someplace to start, here are the most common styles:

  1. Organizing by colour

Grouping books by colour can create a sense of order and is particularly helpful if you are a little OCD. Colour-coded shelves can help quiet the visual clutter.

2. Organize alphabetically or by genre

Designers agree that if the books won’t be moved from your shelves very often, colour-coding is the most aesthetically pleasing route.

But it’s not always the most functional. I may not have OCD by colour, but I certainly have OCD by category. It helps that I don’t have a large collection of books (at least, for now) but what works now is having the top-most shelf dedicated for non-fictions, followed by fantasy books, lighter rom-coms and finally darker reads aka the John Grisham collection. I’ve even grouped some of my books by author like my Colleen Hoover and Taylor Jenkins Reid collection.

3. Separating hardcovers & paperbacks

From alphabetical organization to grouping by authors, everyone has their own organizational strategy. But if you are seeking for visual balance, consider separating your hardcover and paperbacks. 

Another functional way is to place your hardcovers on the bottom shelf and paperbacks on the top shelves, allowing for an even distribution of weight.

4. Layers, layers, layers

My styling word of the year – Layering! Aside from home decor experiments, my wardrobe seems to also be my guinea pig this year. I’ve started to layer outfits with blazers, belts and scarfs and I found that each layer delivers more depth and interest to the outfit.

Similarly, stacking books on top of each other topped with a plant, candlestick or candles instantly improves the overall look, adding dimension and height.

Writing this was so much fun as I truly have an interest in home and an eye for design, no matter how small the project. If you are second guessing yourself in transforming your home because you don’t have the proper qualifications in design, that’s what Google and books are for – do your research and find your personal style. A home is yours and yours only and no one knows it better than you, so get started.

Until next time,

Love, alyia

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