Open shelving is for curated items only: It’s a fallacy the open shelving creates more storage space. It’s only more storage for beautiful items like artwork, plants, candles, vintage books. It’s not a space to store junk or paperback books. Honestly a lot of the items that live on my open shelves live there permanently and are never moved.
Bring the eyes up: Number one mistake of people when they’re selecting furniture for their space is they keep it all at eye level height. This makes a room feel small and cave-like. Find some items to bring your eyes up. Think about how to bring in furniture that allows the eye to see the whole entire space - low, medium and high eye range.
High eye range: Consider a tall bookshelf, hanging a plant from the ceiling hook,
Medium eye range: these items are already your sofa, coffee table, media stands
Low eye range: Consider baskets on the floor, shoe cases or benches are great ways to have beautiful items that rest on the floor because if we’re all honest, if you don’t find a place for your clutter it will end up on the floor.
Create a neutral baseline: I have lots of clients that want to add color everywhere. This may be a bit controversial because I know so many designers who do color so well. It’s all about editing color not throwing rainbow at a room and hoping it’ll be magic. Make space for that colorful piece. Neutral colors give your space that elegance and sophistication that you can build on. Start with a blank canvas and pick neutral colors (gray, white, black, cream, tan) for large furniture items like sofa, arm chairs, coffee table. Concentrate on bringing in textures (wood, metal, glass, concrete) rather than color. Then add in color and patterns with your accessories like throw pillows, rugs, wall art, throw blankets and baskets. Trust me then the magic will come!

(photo credit: kismet_house and idealfamilyhouse.com)