THE MINI BOOKSHELF BOOKMARK KIT ✦ STYLING GUIDE
Let’s style your tiniest library
One kit, many different bookmark possibilities.
Makes one bookmark60+ decorations45–60 minutes
COMING FROM THE QR CODE IN YOUR KIT?
One kit, so many possible shelves
Will you match one of our examples or design something new? The books, vines, vases, plant, and cat in your kit give you plenty of ways to style shelves that are uniquely you. Scroll for layout ideas.
Don’t have a kit yet?
Three shelves, three personalities
LIBRARY NO. 1
The Avid Reader
Every shelf packed end to end (yes, the kit has enough books for this). What keeps it from looking messy is that each shelf sticks to one color family. Mints and blues up top, golds in the middle, pinks and reds below. The bottom shelf goes to the cat, the plant, and one glittery vase.
BORROW THIS IDEA
Lay a short stack flat between the standing books. It breaks up the row.
LIBRARY NO. 2
The Plant Lover
The vines do the talking here. They drape across each shelf, so it’s half library, half greenhouse. Books sit in small groups under the green, the potted plant gets most of a shelf to itself, and one gold vase is the only sparkle. If your real bookcase is half plants, this one’s yours.
BORROW THIS IDEA
Put the gold vase somewhere with nothing shiny around it. Surrounded by green, it reads as the highlight and catches the eye.
LIBRARY NO. 3
The Collector
Shelves with some air in them. The vases repeat every other shelf, each sitting on a short stack of flat books, staggered so they aren’t in a straight line vertically. Nothing crowds anything. This one is the hardest to make, because it’s so tempting to fill an empty shelf.
BORROW THIS IDEA
Stand a vase on a flat books. Instant pedestal, and it uses up books without adding clutter.
The five rules we used in our examples
These are printed in your instruction guide too, and they’re the same rules that style a real bookcase, a mantel, or a gallery wall.
- Mix your angles. Stand some tall, lean a few, lay a short stack flat.
- Odd numbers win. Groups of three or five look collected. Pairs look posed.
- Repeat a color. Pick one and let it show up about three times, on different shelves.
- Leave some air. A little empty space makes everything else look on purpose.
- The photo trick. When you think you’re done, take a phone photo and squint at it. A small picture shows what’s off faster than real life does. Then move just one piece.
Better with company
This kit has more pieces than you can use, which means plenty to fuss over. Grab two kits, invite a friend, and compare libraries at the end. We call it library night.
And if you feel like sharing your work, we’d love a photo tagged @darilyndesigns
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