Home Decorating Guide: Shelf Decorating

While layering accessories works well in traditional or eclectic settings, a streamlined approach is fitting for contemporary and modern spaces. "Follow the style of your home when accessorizing," says designer Nancy Barsotti, ASID fellow. If your decorating style leans toward rigorous minimalism or you simply favor an uncluttered look, your decorative shelves should reflect that. Says designer Megan Samuels: "There's something so serene about three blocks of wood attached to a spartan white wall with a simple, carefully placed object on each."

Likewise, wall-mounted boxes or cubes — instead of shelves — create dramatic displays where individual items become the stars of the show. They don't have to be fancy to make a statement. Colored-glass bottles from a flea market; apples from your latest grocery trip; even a piece of rusted industrial machinery rescued from a basement workshop or the garage (Samuels, for instance, has a thing for vintage pullies) — all can be dramatic and lovely objets d'art.