Bookshelf Decorating: How to Handle Ugly Books

Bookshelf decorating and styling can be a bit of an art form, and there are a ton of videos and blog posts sharing tips and tricks for achieving a designer look. But, what about the books themselves? What if you have ugly books that are dragging down the overall look of your bookshelves? What can you do to make your books look a little more attractive on your shelves?

1. Remove the Covers

One simple trick to improve the look of your books is to remove the covers from hardback books. Those covers are colorful and meant to grab your attention from the shelves of a bookstore, or your computer screen. But, when it comes to bookshelf decorating, those covers usually aren’t doing us any favors. Underneath you’ll most likely find a mix of simple, yet colorful hardback books that will give your shelves a little more of an elegant and streamlined look.

2. Group Them!

Another idea is to group books by color. This can be a great way to tie together the colors of your books with your decorative accessories, and make your bookshelf decorating and overall look a little more intentional.

3. Cover your Books!

Did you know you can make beautiful book covers, or buy covered books from Etsy? This is a great option for introducing a lot of color or pattern, or giving you a clean, minimalist look, like in this next pic.

4. Turn Them Around

Finally, if you have a couple of books that just don’t work with your color palette, you can always turn them around. You won’t be able to see the titles, of course, but a few books facing backwards isn’t a problem. You can even do this with all of your books (a la Fixer Upper style), but it might drive you nuts if you actually need to find a book in your collection.