Sometimes there’s a fine line between styling a shelf and overloading it. I recall one of the pearls of wisdom Coco Channel said, “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take at least one thing off.” This advice applies perfectly to decorating wall shelves too.

It’s especially relevant for small, floating shelves. Their openness doesn’t provide much space to hide stuff. And, when you cram too much stuff on an open shelf, you know it right away because it feels heavy and unbalanced.