How to Decorate Open Shelving in a Kitchen

I love our new build home, but the kitchen had a big blank wall that just didn’t flow with the rest of the space. As soon as we moved in, we added some shiplap and floating wood shelves which made a huge impact on the overall look of the kitchen. If you want to check out how we added the shiplap, you can HERE. Shelves can be such a fun way to display your décor, but can easily look cluttered if you add too much. Let me show you how to decorate open shelving in a kitchen without making it look cluttered!

Let me first say, I don’t really follow all of those decorating rules floating around. To be honest, it’s too much for my brain to remember. Plus, who cares?! It’s your house and your décor. If you think it looks good, then that’s all that truly matters. I’m only going to give you one rule, the rest are just going to be tips you can keep in mind while you decorate. Decorating shouldn’t be hard, it should be fun! This is a way for you to express who you are and what you love.

The first and only rule you should remember: Just do what makes you happy!

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get started.

Tip #1

Before you even start decorating think about what kind of color scheme you want to go with. For my shelves I wanted to go with a very neutral palate with some touches of teal and greenery. You could do any color scheme you want, from neutral all the way to super bright and colorful. Whatever you choose, just make sure you carry that theme throughout all of your shelves.

Tip #2

Don’t forget about functionality. You know the saying ‘form over function’? Forget that. I’m here to tell you that you can have both! There’s always a way to create functional beauty. Since these are open shelves in a kitchen, I wanted to make sure the shelves were not just beautifully decorated, but also very useable. To do this: I mixed décor in with other usable pieces, but not just any old pieces. I made sure to use things that looked pretty and flowed with my color pallet.

Tip #3

Try to keep things balanced. There are a few different ways to do this: through color, décor types, and sizes. Remember how tip #1 talked about color scheme? Make sure whatever color scheme you pick, you spread throughout all of your shelves. You can do the same with décor types. For example: say you have a few different wood pieces or some framed pictures, make sure you spread those out throughout your shelves instead of putting them all in one space. This is key to keeping things balanced, along with paying attention to sizes. You don’t want everything to be the same height. Using different sizes helps keep the eye flowing. For example: I love love layering cutting boards. I think it really adds dimension to your décor. Just keep in mind the different height of each piece as you are layering. 

Tip #4

One of my biggest tips on how to decorate open shelving in a kitchen is to take the time to play around. Grab everything that you might want to put on your shelves and then just place and move them around until you are happy with the way they look. This is how I always decorate. I move things around more times then I can count before I feel good about where they are. At the same time, don’t be afraid not to use something. Just because you have things, doesn’t mean you need to use them. Remember, you don’t want your space to be too crowded.

Tip #5

My last tip is to not be afraid of throwing in your own personal touches. This is one of my favorite parts of decorating. I love putting in items that really mean something to me. Even if those items don’t seem like decorations at first. When I initially started thinking about what I wanted to put on my shelves, I knew there was one thing I just had to have and that was my Grandma’s recipe card I got from my Mom for my wedding shower. Now you wouldn’t look at that right away and think of it as a décor piece, but stick it in a pretty frame that matches your color scheme and you’ve got yourself a very personalized piece of décor! I always say, think outside of the box and you’ll be surprised at what you can come up with.

Remember these are just some tips on how to decorate open shelving in a kitchen, or any shelves for that matter! Ultimately there is no right or wrong way to decorate. At the end of the day you are the one that has to live in your space, so if it makes you happy then you are on the right track. Let me know if you have any other tips to add, I’d love to hear them!