Styling Shelves in a Farmhouse Kitchen

These four helpful guidelines for styling shelves (or any flat surface such as a tabletop or mantel) will keep everything balanced and attractive!

After I put up my farmhouse shelves in the kitchen (for only $40, can you believe it?), I was eager to style them. For months I gathered pieces for them from my decor closet and from favorite shops like Decor Steals, Target, and IKEA. Affiliate links are included for your convenience. See my full disclosure policy here.

LOVE these tips for styling shelves. These $40 DIY shelves were transformed with some old and new farmhouse decor. | TheTurquoiseHome.com

I'd wanted these shelves in this spot for ages, but first I had to paint my cabinets, and then repaint the walls. After months of working on other updates, I finally got to style the shelves with my favorite old and new finds!

I was thrilled to pull the arrangement together, and I plan to refresh it a little every season. Christmas will be so much fun!

Tips for Styling Shelves

While you admire the shelves, let's talk about how to style a blank canvas like this. These are a few guidelines I keep in mind whenever I style shelves or any flat surface, such as a mantel or console table.

Keep the “rule of three” in mind when grouping items. I aimed for three smaller arrangements on each shelf, with one large item or three medium-to-small items in each set. Some spots have more than three things, but it all flows together nicely.

Vary the heights of your pieces. If something isn't tall enough on its own, set something beneath it. For instance, the greenery on the top shelf to the right sits on three small salad plates for extra lift.

Repeat textures such as wood tones, metals, greenery, and lettering. As I repeated them, I spread them across the shelves. Several times I moved one piece, which meant moving something else, because all the metals had bunched into one corner, or all the wood tones had clumped together.

LOVE these tips for styling shelves. These $40 DIY shelves were transformed with some old and new farmhouse decor. | TheTurquoiseHome.com

Honestly, styling any flat surface can feel like solving a puzzle, but it's a FUN one to solve!

Repeat colors. I carried soft yellow throughout the display with the cookbook, utensil crock, flowers, small book, coffee sign on the lower right, and the tea towel.

I love being able to show off some of my prettier cookbooks. I've always adored this one, Cooking in the South with Johnnie Gabriel. I've made one recipe from it, cheese straws, a Southern staple! Everything else looks so tempting, though, and I need to cook more from it.

I may add “pretty cookbooks” to my shopping watch list.

Since the shelves have a distinct farmhouse character, I decided to lean into it. I'm already dreaming up ways to bring in a coastal feel for summer. I'm loving navy paired with turquoise right now, so my ideas are already flowing!

Right now the shelves mostly hold decor, but I plan to put them to practical use later. Miss A, my five-year-old, adores coloring and writing. Her art supplies usually live on the kitchen table, but I'm planning a pretty box for the shelves to hold markers, crayons, scissors, and paints.

Speaking of function, the cookbook rests on my DIY chalkboard iPad stand {tutorial here}. Eventually I'll move the stand to the bottom shelf and use it as a charging station for our iPad and phones.

Notice the outlet right below the bottom shelf? It serves a phone jack hidden behind the “Farm Fresh” printable, and I'll put it to work for my charging station. Grab the free “Farm Fresh” printable from Finding Home Farms HERE.

I'm truly delighted this wall is finished! It gives my kitchen so much character and personality, and it brings me one step closer to finishing this room. Hooray!

The kitchen has come a long way already. Don't miss the before and progress photos in my Simply White Painted Kitchen post.