Enjoying the transitional phase: Styling dated shelves

I absolutely adore Studio McGee and Amber Interiors. I love the aesthetic, and the entire vibe. But lets be real here, average households do NOT have that bright and airy feel. The average American or Pakistani, does not have the ability to buy bright and airy rattan or bleached wood shelves, or have built in shelves we dream of at night.

There are so many people living with hand me down furniture, of really good quality might I add. Its dated, but its solid. I found no beautiful and cheap practical ways to style homes that have dated furniture. All DIY or makeovers involved went like “Lets paint that over(imagine my fathers horror), or get rid of that wall there! Bring in some new white linen sofas(sure will you pay?) and this beautiful live edge coffee table(Wonderful, just as soon as I sell my kidney), or lets go thrifting and find these gorgeous bleached wood side tables(because we are the luckiest thrifters in the world)”

All thrift shops are not treasure troves and even Target hauls cost a pretty penny. People already have dated furniture that they are stuck with, we need to be able to style them in an updated way. Do you have old dark furniture that is dated and brings you down? (Comment below) Want to get rid of it? Walk around the house with closed eyes so you don’t have to look at it? STOP! Open your eyes! Firstly its dangerous, secondly there is hope!

My first suggestion would be to paint over it, or sand it and lighten it. Painting isn’t really that big of a deal, you can always sand over it and bring back the wood tones, if you want to go back. Instead of feeling all this hate and guilt towards a piece of furniture that say, belonged to someone you loved, because its just plain ugly, there is no harm in updating it to YOUR style and loving it YOUR way. Often we put up with things we dislike for so long, because we are worried what the people who gave them to us will think if we change them. But many times an excited talk about how you made that piece of furniture a part of your home and your personality by updating it however you did will help.

Then again sometimes NONE of that is possible. And you have to make do with the original, and there’s nothing wrong with the original and the classics of course. But this post is for those who prefer lighter, fresher interior. A mix of old and new is always refreshing to see and adds personality to a room that you would otherwise find lacking in a contemporary Ikea style house. You want your house to look like a home, not like a sterile showroom with zero personality.

For example in the kitchen reveal for Honey and Salt, before we convinced my father to paint over the cabinets, there was a transitional period, where we were working with the existing color of the cabinets with soft furnishings.

A kilim or a fun rug here and there, styled shelves, fresh flowers, and unexpected art can really make a huge difference when it comes to updating old spaces.

When you’re styling old school shelves remember, they are after all shelves. The same rules (or no rules) apply to them as to any other Crate and Barrel or West Elm shelving units. Yes they are dark, yes they look dated. But they are shelves, and that means you can make them tell YOUR story the way YOU want. Here are a few things you might have around the house that you can gather before you start.

1. Books.
   Doesn’t matter if they aren’t coffee table worthy, you can switch them the other way so you have an aged brown and white color palette on display and not random colorful covers that don’t complement each other. Or thrift some oldies!
2. Art/Frames
   Yes,Art or frames are NOT just for the wall, display them leaning and layer them with other items on this list.
3. Structural Objects that add height and visual interest.
   Look for candles, petrified wood pieces,(outside or in the garden) vases, bowls, even cool hats!
4. Greenery
   Bring the nature in, faux plants, or real ones such as money plants, string of pearl, cacti are great to add to freshen up the look.
5. Odd numbers
   Groupings in odd numbers will almost always look better than even. If you have 4 branches take out one, and see the difference.
6. Sentimental objects
   Things that are near and dear to you shouldn’t be packed away but rather displayed because they have a story to tell and are conversation starters. That rosary bead that was your mothers? Or an old diary, or a old bowl or pen that belonged to your grandfather. Or a shawl, or carpet, or a picture album! All those things, seek them out and display them!
7. A catch all
   If the shelves are at an entrance where people pass by daily and there is a tendency for clutter to accumulate there, then a tray or a bowl that acts like a catch all is necessary, this way your shelves stay pretty and styled and you can empty it once every week!
8. Baskets
   If you have any woven baskets lying around these are so great to style shelves, they can hide all your kids ugly plastic toys, or remotes and add visual interest through texture!

So look around and shop your home, your kitchen your wardrobe your attic or your neighbors house(kidding don’t please). Now that you have all your items, its time to start placing them on your shelves! Remember it shouldn’t be monotonous and it needs to tell a story. There’s no hard and fast rule, do what is pleasing to your eyes! But here’s a few tips to get you started.

Bring art and frames that will go at the very back and lean them there, you can use blu tack to help them stay where you want them to without damaging the wood.

Stack your books vertically and horizontally(mix them up), add them to multiple places on the shelves and not all at the same place.

Add interest with structural objects, a branch, a twig, a vase, a collection of rocks!

Fold and add some textiles to add some warmth.

Now finish off with some greenery. Stand back and look at your shelves, dot them with plants and voila you are done!

Here is a video of me styling some of my mils shelves. They are solid cherry wood(I think), and she absolutely loves them and everything about them, so they are staying here as is. But instead of old potpourri in a glass vase, here’s how I styled them to make them feel more updated.

During:

After:

So what do you think?

Painting the wall black will also make the wood tone and shelves not look that dated. It sounds odd but its true, you can paint the walls where the furniture is placed a darker color and see the space take on a moody transformation!
So even though I would’ve loved to buy beautiful pottery pieces and gorgeous coffee table books and real art, I didn’t. I made do with things I had around the house and you can too! Don’t wait around for when you get that decor piece or that shelf, or that west elm sale or that paycheck. Lol. Work with what you have and enjoy this transitional period before you get exactly what you want, and you will iA(If God wills) Its your home, enjoy it at every phase of discovering it!

I hope this helped you! Its raining here in Houston so that’s my cue to get another cup of tea because why not?

Till next time!

x