These smart ideas won’t cost much, either.

A bookshelf is a prime opportunity for an intriguing design moment. Sure, its main use is to store your books, but some easy design tricks can actually make the piece an eye-catching part of any room. Even in small spaces you’d probably have a bookshelf or a couple of shelves—getting creative with the look of it can be a chance to add some more of your personality and personal aesthetic to your home without wasting any precious square footage since you can consider it a multitasking piece.

Have an old or plain bookcase and aren’t afraid of DIY projects? You can give it a fresh coat of paint or wallpaper the back of the shelves. Add some decor objects to your shelves like small vases or trinkets—sometimes you don’t even have to buy new stuff, but rather “shop” your space and see if there’s any decorative pieces from your living space or bedroom that you’d want to move around. If you’re brave enough to organize your books by color (it can be a controversial decor decision), then the ROYGBIV look makes for a happy design choice. There are just so many ways you can play with how you style your shelves—and since many of these decorating hacks can be low-effort, you can also reinvent your shelves if you get sick of it later.

Adding a jolt of color to your shelves can make it the statement piece of your room.

If you don’t have much square footage, let your walls do the work. These floating boxes not only add storage but bring some interest to plain walls.

Use your bookshelf to put your favorite objects on display, too—from family heirlooms to small decor pieces from your travels. I love that the glass doors on these shelves make it akin to a cabinet of curiosities.

You might not think to put some decor pieces at the top of a bookshelf, but it’s the perfect spot as you might not want to place books there since they’ll be harder to reach. Got a collection of something? Use the extra space to put them on display, like in this child’s room where a variety of globes are arranged.

And sometimes you just want to let your books be the star. In this corner, the dark shelves seem to blend into the equally dark walls.

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