SHELFIE LOVE
Whether it’s photos of beautiful bookshelves, perfect pantries or organised ornaments, it seems we all love a shelfie – and not only do they look great, the act of creating them can do us good too
Shelfies (not to be confused with selfies) have taken social media by storm in recent years… photos not of us posing, but of our books, knick-knacks, pictures, collections and possessions carefully curated and arranged on shelves, cabinets, stools, pianos, radiators – basically anywhere with a flat surface. At last count, #shelfie on Instagram was showing more than 1.9 million posts and #shelfiesunday was trending high in the Twittersphere too, with avid followers uploading weekly images of their self-styled home art.
What began life as a way to show off our book collections has morphed into a fun and rewarding way to display treasured accessories and demonstrate our styling skills (and great taste) at the same time. Celebrities were quick to jump on the bandwagon, with the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon posting enviable pictures of super-organised shelves, and Buffy alumna Alyson Hannigan posing with her colourful crafting room, featuring shelves stacked with fabric and haberdashery.
Structured simplicity – creating a calm, organised space in which to relax – is a key decorating trend and the shelfie is the perfect way to tap into this
PERSONAL THERAPY
As well as ending up with something beautiful, creating a shelfie comes with other benefits, too. According to awardwinning journalist and author Martha Roberts, from whose book Shelfie we’ve taken these stunning photographs, it’s a form of therapy. Having suffered from the occasional bout of depression and anxiety, Martha says that creating shelfies helped her when meditation or yoga wasn’t cutting it.
GAINING CONTROL OVER LIFE
‘I always thought I was a lost cause on the mindfulness front, until I discovered that I get my fix from doing shelfies,’ explains Martha. ‘It began as an exercise in seeing how different favourite objects worked together in visual union on a shelf. It was less about organisation and “tidying up” and more about still life, aesthetics and theatre. I enjoyed the interaction between the objects, whether it was the colour, the composition or the story they told when put together.
A CALMING EXERCISE
‘So I found myself doing shelf arrangements whenever the mood took me,’ she continues. ‘As months of shelfie-creating went by, I noticed a pattern. Where others organised their paperwork, got creative in the kitchen or did cleaning when they were stressed, I would shelfie.’ For Martha, it became an exercise in self-soothing. ‘When I do shelfies, I’m not thinking about anything else. It was as if immersing myself in the process introduced structure into my life and edged out uncertainties and worries. I started to do them when I wasn’t feeling stressed, simply to “enjoy the ride” and be flooded with feelings of contentment.
ENJOYING THE RESULTS
‘At first, I didn’t really understand the significance of this to my mental wellbeing. My primary reason for doing shelfies was to revel in the sheer visual drama and beauty of it all. However, within a few months, I found that I was feeling more grounded and my mind less inclined to go off on an anxiety trajectory. As a result, I concluded that my shelfie-making was a very mindful activity for me.’
THE DESIRE TO COLLATE
This is all nothing new. Our Victorian ancestors were fond of a ‘treasure cupboard’, a glass-fronted cabinet in which they displayed precious items. And while minimalism has been the watchword for a few years now, urging us to purge our possessions, signs indicate that this is giving way to a more relaxed outlook, one in which we create environments that truly reflect us and celebrate the things that make us happy.
CONTAINED CREATIVITY
Sales of display cabinets are on the up, showing that we’re now in the market to ‘make our mark’ with uniquely personalised living spaces. We still need to buy less and clear clutter, especially as many of us now live in smaller or rented spaces. It’s no surprise, then, that ‘structured simplicity’ (creating a calm, organised place in which to relax) and ‘layering’ (mixing and matching old with new, for example holiday souvenirs with local buys, books with crockery), to create a harmonious whole that tells our individual stories, are key decorating trends for 2020… and a shelfie is the perfect way to tap into both.
ALTERED IMAGES
The joy of being surrounded by objects that make us smile cannot be overestimated. The advantage of a shelfie is that it can easily be changed according to our mood, decorating style or even the season – what works in winter’s low light might not suit the brightness of summer. It’s the adult equivalent of playing with a doll’s house, whose furniture can be rearranged at will – just a lot more stylish!
Shelfies have no boundaries, either. With these eclectic displays, anything goes – traditional symmetry (candlesticks on either end of the mantelpiece, paintings hung centrally on a wall) can be abandoned in favour of dynamic collation, with objects of differing heights, textures, shapes or colours nestled together in a riotous whole. That said, planning is important and any shelfie grouping needs a hook – perhaps centre your display around similar items, such as vases, or keep all elements within the same shade spectrum to avoid the jumble-sale look. Happy shelfie-ing!
For more inspiration, check out Shelfie: Clutter-Clearing Ideas for Stylish Shelf Art by Martha Roberts (£12.99, Mitchell Beazley)