apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

too much stuff is on the shelves and it feels very flat and boxy-- maybe try staggering shelving or just clear them off a bit... also the pix are neat- but add to the cluttered feeling

Love the pottery collection! I think it's very pretty the way you have it arranged. It's hard to tell from the photos but if you feel like the top shelf is too cluttered because it's near to the ceiling - perhaps try to use smaller pieces up there so they have a lower profile.

The two pictures are very symmetrical - perhaps to much so? two smaller pieces on one side might do the trick.

I think the frames would look nice painted a colour, rather than white (which would blend in with the wall too much) or black (blah). Maybe tie it all together by including colours from that cool pillow on the couch - maybe paint them the yellow or brown instead? If you're worried about clutter on the top shelf I would remove the taller bottles that almost reach the ceiling and replace them with some of the smaller ones.

Those Lack shelves look great when they are offset from one another...also, in general there is too much stuff on the shelves. I would gather together all your photos of people and group them in a big gallery wall somewhere else, then keep the shelves behind the couch to the decorative pottery & objects and a few books. Cleaner looks better. You have a lot of cute stuff, but not everything needs to go on these particular shelves. Also, I agree that the art currently placed on either side is too symmetrical and I would group them together on one side, placing something else (in a different shape) to balance the other side.

I have a vase for sale in my etsy shop that would look perfect with your collection.. hehe. But I think you should move the artwork to a completely different wall all together. I think the shelves and your collection is enough of a focal point on its own!

with the very heavy couch right below the shelves, there's a very strong sense of a vertical column. all of the focus is on that strip making anything sround it look small.

the artwork should be larger, ideally, and with bolder colors (the delicate images are particularly lost with the heavy frames). at least hang them a bit lower (so the middle shelf is the same height as the middle of the pictures, or perhaps even slightly lower than that).

also, the shelves are just slightly too full, creating a very solid box of 'stuff'. let a hint of wall show through. try this: take the books off the middle shelf (or remove the brown vase). remove the smallest picture and clear vases on the top shelf (and shift the remaining two frames and the pitcher to the right slightly). remove the vertical books from the bottom shelf as well as the dark vase (maybe the brown vase above it instead?). just slight difference will lighten it up a bit.

I love your collection of vases! what beautiful colors! the short green one is my favorite.

I am having a very similar dilemma, I have the lack shelves, b&w frames, and a few other bits and pieces...and I obsess over arranging and rearranging, now I did think you shelves looked lovely and perfect. So I don't have any suggestions, just that they look v. lovely....

I like the carefully arranged items on the shelves - but it certainly does create a column effect w/ the sofa below...

I believe that I would have arranged the shelves in a horizontal line @ 18-24" below the ceiling - each spaced 12-18" apart - and placed the two prints below the center section side-by-side above the sofa. I'd then get a pair of end tables and flank the sofa w/ them and matching lamps w/ tall black drum shades.

BTW - I like the frames just as they are.

I would remove the top shelf and add more shelves to either side of the bottom two. That will create two long lines of shelving that you can spread your collection out on, and it won't look so much like a cluttered, heavy column anymore. I would paint the frames of the bird prints white to lighten them up and rest them on the top shelves, essentially in the same location they are now.

I think the bottom shelf is too low and the top shelf is too high, and there's too much stuff. It is higher than it is wide and crowded with a jumble of 3 different category of thing. I would take one shelf away (mount it somewhere else) and put the other two in the middle spaces that are there now. I think maybe the pictures are too high also? This is clearly intended to be more of a vignette than useful, but I think it would be more successful if everything didn't look like it was crowded on ledges. And when I say 'everything,' I mean it looks like you feel you need to display everything all at once, in the same place. I might even replace them with longer shelves for balance, then arrange: spread and group, spread and cluster. Play with it a while and stand back; repeat as needed.

Things can look quirky and randomly clustered as you have done (as opposed to strictly and evenly ordered), but that doesn't mean "wall-to-wall", or edge-to-edge as in this case.

have you tried staggering the shelving? maybe it would help with that light feeling youre aiming at. if you did choose to stagger the shelves, id move the two framed pieces to another wall. and, personally, id put a bit of space between each collection and maybe take out the books all together, leaving only the vases and framed photos. maybe.

Everyone has made great suggestions about decluttering the shelves a bit to highlight your beautiful collection of vases the most. I would just add an idea that maybe the colored photographs are competing with the colored vases, so maybe you could unify the look by using all black and white photos in your black and white frames- the B&W would be a nice contrast to the colorful art.

I love the idea of arranging the vases by colour.

But maybe considering a declutter like what everyone else has mentioned, and leaving a couple of the larger frames (2) on the very top, and not near the bottom since the couch is darker might work.

The colourful vases might be nice on the very last shelf.

Do you have other wall space where you could put the shelves? I think that the way they are directly centered over the couch is adding to the crowded feeling. I'd recommend either moving them to a different place or only using two in the current space in order to maximize the feeling of having more space.

While I like the shelves, I think the lowest shelf is too close to the sofa, just waiting for an accident to happen. The shelves are cluttered but do provide a great means to display your vases and pictures. I would try removing the books first to see if some of that clutter disappears. If it doesn't, take some of the pictures away. The colored vases to look well against the white wall.

Just to put in my two cents....

I would place two of the lack shelves next to each other, at least a foot apart and then place the other shelf parallel above one of them and the two prints parallel above the other.

I would place most of the photos on the top shelf so the seem to flow right into the prints and keep most of the accessories on the bottom shelves.

At first, I thought you had too many vases but, I think with this arrangement, you could keep everything and it won't look cluttered.

If it were me and I wanted to rehang as little as possible, I'd edit about 1/3 of the items on the shelves. Put just a few shorter items on the top shelf. Stack the two pictures on the right side and put a floor lamp with a lampshade in one of the vase colors on the left.

I agree with the "too crowded" verdict.

Rather than removing objects, though, I'd either get more or longer shelves and spread them out, maybe in two layers like this:


____________________________


___________________________________

(hope that formatting carries through to the actual posted comment). Then consider either setting the larger pictures on the shelves or hanging one in the void on the right and one in the void on the left.

Fills up your wall and gives everything room to breathe so it can feel airy and light instead of cluttered.

shoot. well, that formatting didn't work.

anyway, i'd stagger the two shelves so one is off to the right and one is off to the left. :(

I love all the colourful vases! Don't think you need to stagger the shelves, but they are definitely creating a column effect with your sofa. I think if the two photos on either side weren't so symmetrical it would help. How about putting them one on top of the other on the same side, and then creating a group of photos on the other with some of the photos you have on the shelves?

I think it would also help if you had a weighty side table on one side of the couch, with a nice leafy plant in a jewel-tone pot or a colourful lamp that would pick up on the colours of your vase collection. I'd love to see what you come up with. Please send "after" photos!

PS: I'll also add another vote for taking one shelf away.

Space out your stuff, yes.
I also think it is way too symmetrical. Symmetry is boring, static. I like the idea of making a longer shelf, allowing more room to breathe between element. They also make a very long shelf (LACK). Nice vases.

buy one more shelf and change from three short shelves to two longer ones, by pairing the four elements

float the two longer shelves on the wall with more air between them, either stacked or staggered

I love the colourful vases, esp the blue ones!

im erin, this is my room. im so happy my question got posted!
thanks for all the great advice...

i'll definitely be switching things around and decluttering. i totally agree with the column affect above the sofa... i'll defintely be putting this advice to use. i like the idea of staggering the shelves and i'll probably end up moving the bird prints.

fyi... the sofa pictured is actually our loveseat (its a few feet from the back wall- so nothing can fall on anyones heads), to the right of the loveseat (barely shown in the picture) is white side table with a tall crystal lamp with a drum shade, then theres a full sofa (the same model) squaring that off with a side table next to that.

more advice is welcome!

cassielyn- i saw that aqua vase in your etsy shop and now i want it! lol... thanks for the heads up.

i'll definitely send in after pics... if i can get this right- which shouldn't be tough with all this advice...

definitely stagger the shelves to bring more dimension and width to your wall. take over half off the shelves, reuse the most colorful objects and one of the framed pictures leaned on one of the shelves, possibly the middle one.

The shelves look fine. What you need is longer, wider artwork on either side -- either one piece or several grouped together.

Here's what I'd do.

Remove the books and adjust the rest of the vases and pictures (leave the frames black) to artfully fill the space, thinking of groupings of varied heights, colors, sizes...

Hang the two pictures vertically, one over the other, so that the bottom of the lower frame is equal with the bottom of the shelf it's next to.

Put a potted plant or colorful lamp on the other side of the loveseat so that the top of the foliage or lamp shade is somewhere between the top two shelves.

(Similar to other suggestions, but maybe more explicit.)

I think the shelves look great but the smaller artwork doesn't fit. I would make a larger statement with larger artwork. Really let it take over the wall.

I actually love the arrangement of the shelves, but... dare I say... not a big fan of the couch. It's very dark and big looking. Maybe it's just the pic. I think the arrangement on the shelves would look great if you had a more streamlined look all together. I tend towards putting lots of things in one space and then having lots of open spaces nearby. Maybe get rid of the framed pics on either side, and move the couch away so you don't have to make more holes. I know in my rental the holes would be really obvious and gross.

Leave the middle shelf where it is, and line up the other two at the same level, then put all the art above them (you can hang some of the photos on the wall, in addition to the bird prints, to lighten up the clutter-load on the shelves). If the wall is big enough, get another shelf so you can span the whole wall.

Can someone help me identify the fabric on the pillow on the right? Thanks in advance!

I think that the shelves look nice as they are. The current arrangement looks very top-heavy. I would put the heavier items on the bottom, and keep the top shelf light and airy. The frames would look great in the middle, slightly overlapping each other.

Just my 2 cents.

cdhk125 its thomas paul parasols fabric...

i was on a search for it actually got the pillows from the seller paulinagtz on etsy for much cheaper than thomas paul pillows would be (i paid $17 per pillow i think) she was calling them "mo flowers pillows". i dont see the fabric in the store but she said if i wanted more she could order more fabric, so you could ask her.

http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=12461550

the etsy shop decorativeinstincts also has that fabric (they are showing an apron made in it, and when i got a quote for a pillow made with it i believe she was charging around $35)

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=58607

i think that particular fabric is only sold to trade right now through duralee... you could always find a company that orders "to trade only" products for customers (like la design concepts), and the markup is usually pretty small- if you aren't a designer.

http://www.duralee.com/fabrics/colorway.php?Colorway_id=328

hope that helps!

thanks again everyone for the help!