If you love reading and have a bookcase at home, why not show it some love this Christmas? Decorating your bookcase is perfect to add that festive vibe to your reading experience. Heading to a bookcase to grab your favorite book and seeing those festive touches, no matter how you choose to decorate your bookcase for Christmas, adds cosy magic feels to your reading.
This festive season is all about finding that perfect winter or festive novel to escape into and snuggling up in your favorite chair with a blanket and warm drink. Whether you love Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Sparks’ The Wish, or you love a bit of Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones series, bring Christmas to your books.
Make your bookcase part of the Christmas magic this year. We look at how to decorate a bookcase for Christmas in the following steps:
- How to Decorate a Bookcase for Christmas
- How to Decorate a Bookcase with Festive Garlands and String Lights
- Add Christmas Ornaments and Figurines
- Display Your Christmas Books
- Decorate Your Bookcase with Candles or Scents
- Decorate with Stockings or a Wreath
How to Decorate a Bookcase for Christmas
The first step is to decide on the type of festive décor that best fits your bookcase. You can make this decision easily by choosing to decorate in one of the following three ways:
1: Decorate With a Theme That Fits
Bring your bookcase to life this Christmas by decorating with a theme. You don’t need to overthink it, just choose a style that matches the design of your bookcase and the Christmas theme for the rest of your room.
How you choose to decorate your bookcase can make the difference to the feel of your room. Having a design that seamlessly fits into your Christmas style feels much better than having a bookcase that sticks out and feels misplaced.
Achieve the look by continuing the theme of your Christmas decorations.
Rustic Christmas Décor
If you have decorated your room with rustic Christmas décor, including a Christmas tree with rustic decorations or you have a festive rustic tablescape match this style with your bookcase decorations. Include fir garlands, with natural elements like pinecones, warm white lights, and cranberries.
Modern Minimalist Christmas Décor
If you have decorated your home with modern minimalist Christmas décor, follow this theme through in the style of your bookcase decorating. Add minimalist metallic decorations, like a mini tree or some oversized baubles to continue your themed look.
2: Pick Complementing Colors
When you decorate your bookcase for Christmas look at the colors you have used in your Christmas decorations elsewhere in your room. If you have gone for a blue and silver for a frosty winter look continue this in the color of the decorations you add to your bookcase.
Picking decorations that match the color of the rest of your Christmas décor brings everything together in the best way and creates a look that flows. Match the color scheme of your bookcase to the Christmas color scheme of your room or your bookcase stand out for the wrong reasons.
3: Style of Your Bookcase
If you don’t go big for Christmas and like to just decorate a few important pieces of furniture with festive touches, you can choose your decorations based on the style of your bookcase.
Large Wooden Bookcase
If you have a large wooden freestanding bookcase, think about adding a garland with pinecones and twinkling warm lights. This gives your bookcase that cozy feel when you head over to pick your book before escaping into another world.
Industrial style bookcase
If you have an industrial style bookcase with skinny metal poles and metal accents you don’t want to choose decorations that are overpowering. A Scandinavian Christmas style of décor often works well with this style of furniture.
Add some natural elements, like a mini skinny Christmas tree decorated with a few lights only. Add a few pinecones or a dried cranberry garland to your shelves for a minimalist and natural festive look. A string of warm white lights along the shelves can create a cozy feeling without going over the top with the festive feels.
How to Decorate a Bookcase with Festive Garlands and String Lights
Whether you choose to add garlands, string lights or a combination of both to your bookcase, they are an easy way to decorate and get that Christmassy look.
Whether you decorate with garlands or string lights be sure to check how much you need and overestimate. Pulling decorations tight in a straight line will give your décor a look that isn’t cozy or festive, you need some give when stringing garlands and string lights for the best visual results.
Decorating with Garlands
Choose the garland style to fit your theme, color, or bookcase style. Drape garlands towards the front of the shelves of your bookcase so they can be seen. Just make sure you can easily get your books out without knocking your garland down.
Here are some of the different styles of garland you can get:
- Pine and berry garlands: Have a bushy natural look, that fits with traditional, rustic, Scandinavian Christmas décor styles. Looks good on a chunky bookcase.
- Felt garlands: From felt figures, to festive colored felt pom poms, and felt candy canes. These lightweight garlands can be bought or made to add a whimsical festive style to your bookcase. Perfect for adding that storytelling vibe with a festive twist.
- Dried fruit garlands: Fragrant and a great DIY option for a budget friendly bookcase decoration this style of garland complements most themes and style of bookcase.
- Tinsel: If you have gone for a specific color palette, tinsel is a great way to decorate your bookcase no matter its style. Muted colors, jewel colors, or even black or grey tinsel can bring a sparkly sense of festive magic to your books easily.
You can attach your garland to your bookcase using adhesive hooks that won’t mark the wood. Just make sure you pick ones that will hold the weight of your garland. You can drape a garland across the top of a bookcase without fixings if you don’t have any adventurous pets or children who may pull it down. Fixing is often the most practical way to style a garland as you have control of the aesthetic.
Decorating with String Lights
Battery-operated fairy lights are perfect when you decorate a bookcase because you don’t have to worry about hiding cords or finding an outlet. Warm white lights make the best option if you are looking to give your bookcase a candle lit glow look, which is perfect for a cozy yet elegant Christmas aesthetic.
Multi-colored lights at a bright and colorful twist and are ideal if you have gone for a maximalist Christmas vibe in the rest of your room. They also work well on bookcases in Children’s playrooms.
Pre lit Christmas Garlands
Whether you buy a pre lit garland or choose to wind some string lights through a Christmas garland, this look is perfect for any style of bookcase. Having lights around your bookcase is also really handy if you are searching for book titles in the dark.
A garland with lights is a simple way to decorate your bookcase without needing to add any more if you are going for a minimalist vibe. The lights also add a nice cozy twinkle which is perfect at night and makes your more likely to head for a book rather than the TV.
Add Christmas Ornaments and Figurines
Adding a few well-placed ornaments and figurines to your bookcase can really tie your whole Christmas look together. You can use a mixture of glass balls and candy canes, along with more unique pieces, like mini Santas or snowmen to create a traditional yet elegant Christmas look.
When you decorate with ornaments, don’t overwhelm your bookcase, as you still want to be able to get to your books and dust. Think less is more. Larger ornaments are a great way to draw attention to a particular area and are perfect for filling in a gap.
You can use a mixture of different ornament sizes but always place in odd numbers as this is more visually appealing. If you have any sentimental Christmas ornaments a bookcase is the perfect place to decorate as they can be given centre stage.
You can hang string of ornaments from the shelves for a fuller more maximalist Christmas look. Or you can use a few ornaments strategically placed for a minimalist and luxury look.
Vignettes
Creating a Christmas vignette on your bookcase is an elegant way to decorate that looks and feels personal. The vignette, a grouping of small ornaments and objects to create a personal statement or scene, is easy to do.
For example, you can put a small Santa figurine next to a few books stacked horizontally and then add a tiny Christmas tree or a snow globe. It creates a perfect mini scene that may represent a memory, your idea of a perfect Christmas, or even a scene from your favorite festive book.
If you have children, perhaps ask them to help by putting their own favorite book scene together with a few ornaments or put together a scene of what Christmas means to them. It’s a fun activity that’s easy, personal, and can even become a family decorating tradition.
Display Your Christmas Books
Don’t ignore your books as you decorate your bookcase for Christmas, add them into your decor. How do you decorate a bookcase with a display of Christmas books you ask? Its easy, low cost, and might just encourage you to pick up your favorite festive classic.
There are a few ways you can decorate with your books:
- For a subtle look, if you have vintage hardback copies with colored spines and metallic or white lettering get them out and make a display with them. You can use bookends and stand your festive vintage classics apart from the rest of your books. Add some candles or an over-sized star decoration to create a subtle festive look.
- Stack your festive classics horizontally but to create a stepped look. Place a figurine to the side, decorate with tinsel, or even add some warm white string lights to light-up your books.
- Get a book holder and display the pages of your book. This is great if you have any picture books, poems, or novels with festive illustrations. It’s also a great way to add intrigue to a children’s bookcase.
Decorate your books
If you love books, consider wrapping up your books for Christmas to create a unique display. This is time consuming but wrapping your books in wrapping paper that matches your Christmas color scheme looks amazing. There is also something fun about unwrapping them after Christmas, particularly if you unwrap and read them as you go.
Decorate Your Bookcase with Candles or Scents
Candles look great on a bookcase, especially when they form part of a larger festive display involving garlands or a vignette. Add them strategically and be sure not to light them close to your books. LED candles are a great option if you want to create the look and have the warm glow without any risk to your books.
Scented decorations such as reed diffusers can be a great way to engage your senses when you decorate a Christmas bookcase. Go for festive scents like pine, or winter wonderland fragrances.
Add Festive Family Photos
Placing family photos in festive photo frames in spaces in your bookcase is a great way to personalise your festive decor. You can even hand decorate the frames.
Adding photos as part of a festive garland to decorate your shelves is another way to bring festive cheer to your bookcase in a unique way.
Decorate with Stockings or a Wreath
Decorating with stockings or a wreath is a great way to add traditional decorations to your bookcase. Decorating with stockings brings your bookcase into your Christmas aesthetic, especially if you choose to fill them.
Stockings
Hang stockings from the shelves of your bookcase. You could choose to decorate with a few large stockings or find miniature stockings to hang along the shelves in a garland style.
If you decorate with mini stockings you could turn them into a DIY advent calendar and place small sweets or notes into numbered stockings along your bookcase shelves.
Wreath
Go for a statement piece and place a wreath in the centre of your bookcase. Match the style for your wreath to the style of your Christmas decor in the rest of the room. You can go for a wreath with or without lights depending on your style.
If you are looking to save money on your Christmas decor, make the wreath yourself to add a personal touch. If you buy a plain fir wreath you could add a quote from your favorite festive book, or a character from your favorite book.
How to decorate a children’s bookcase for Christmas
Decorating a children’s bookcase for Christmas is a great idea because not only does it help to encourage them to read, it also encourages imaginative play. They can also join in with the decorating.
If you are decorating a children’s bookcase in a play room, go for bright multi-colored lights, add plush toys and festive figures that will encourage them to make festive scenes. Look for figures that are featured in children’s Christmas books like the Grinch, or the Snowman and the Snow Dog.
If the bookcase is in your children’s bedroom, don’t be put off decorating. Decorating a bookcase for Christmas as part of decorating a child’s bedroom for Christmas is a great idea. You can wrap festive books for them to unwrap as part of night-time story routines.
You can use the bookcase as a nightlight by adding warm LED string lights that are securely fastened and can be dimmed with a remote. Add festive figures, and vignettes and encourage children to change them as part of capturing the festive spirit.
Conclusion
Decorating a bookcase for Christmas might not be the first thing on your holiday checklist, but once you do it, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start sooner. It’s such a fun way to bring a little extra cheer to your home, and it’s a great project to get the whole family involved in. Whether you go for a classic, rustic, or modern theme, the key is to have fun and let your personality shine through.
