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"  Photo: Lisa Romerein, Design by Alex Hitz; Courtesy of Scot Meacham Wood (headshot) Q: Do you have any tips for decorating a bookshelf? How do I get a nice uniform look to my bookshelves with something other than books? \u2014Ashley W. A: I can&amp;#039;t tell you how many times I&amp;#039;ve had a completely lost weekend at my home that started with a simple Saturday morning thought: &amp;quot;Hmm, maybe the bookshelves could use a quick re-organization.&amp;quot; Clearly there are so many options when decorating and organizing a bookshelf, but let&amp;#039;s start with some basics: 1. Lighting I don&amp;#039;t mean a reading lamp, what I&amp;#039;m talking about are sconces or gallery lights to illuminate your bookcases. Obviously, they will light your collection of books, but, they are also an opportunity to give your bookshelves a design element that without adding extra items other than your favorite novels. 2. Accessories Since your request was to keep things uniform, we need to tread down the &amp;quot;accessory path&amp;quot; very carefully. By simply emptying a few of the shelves and displaying decorative boxes or stacks of large art books, you can add visual interest to your bookshelves. You could even place some picture frames here or there. Keep in mind that you&amp;#039;re just adding rectilinear items (books, frames, boxes), which give interest without getting too fussy. 3. Collections Your other option is mixing a collection in with your books. Maybe you have a dozen vintage creamware pitchers? Clear out a few shelves and add your collection to the display. And like the tip above, as long as you&amp;#039;re only working with books and pitchers (or whatever your collection may be), you&amp;#039;ll have some visual elements in your bookcase without it looking too cluttered. 4. Artwork Okay, this is going to get into some advanced design work, but, it&amp;#039;s another option for you. You can hang artwork on the edge of the shelves. You might be concerned with blocking access to some of your books, but, think about this \u2014 wouldn&amp;#039;t it be great to stash all those tattered &amp;quot;beach-read&amp;quot; paperbacks somewhere so they don&amp;#039;t add clutter? In my own home, I have a large 3&amp;#039; x 4&amp;#039; painting hanging in my library, and behind it are all of my sheet music and opera scores. They never looked like much, and it&amp;#039;s not like I need to reach for them every day, but, they are safe and sound and I know where they are if I need to reference something. This library in Alex Hitz&amp;#039;s house is a great example. Those two wall sconces give the bookcases a great architectural detail, and having a few of his volumes stored horizontally helps break up the parade of vertical books. The artwork also adds an interesting element. Plus, that turquoise back wall never did anyone any harm either. Cheers, Scot This article originally appeared on Housebeautiful.com "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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