What decorative books are for

Decorative books divide people. To one group they are a sensible piece of furniture; to another they are a book-shaped lie. Both positions are defensible, and this page sets out what these objects actually do so you can decide which you hold.

What they are

Three different products get grouped under the same heading.

Faux book boxes are hollow containers made to look like a stack or a single volume. They hold things — remote controls, keys, cables — and hide them on an open shelf.

Risers are solid blocks, book-shaped, used to raise an object to a different height in a shelf arrangement. A plant, a lamp or a photograph on a riser sits at a different level from its neighbours, which is the entire technique behind shelves that look composed rather than lined up.

Miniature shelf ornaments are small models of bookshelves or stacks, used as objects in their own right, sometimes doubling as a pen holder or a bookend.

The case against

Stated fairly, because it is a reasonable position. A book is a thing with contents, and an object that imitates one without having any is a piece of set dressing. Decorating with fake books in a house that has few real ones is a form of pretending. And a shelf full of colour-sorted books nobody reads is, to a certain kind of reader, mildly offensive.

None of that is unfair. If you own a lot of books and your shelves are full, you do not need these and will not enjoy them.

The case for

Also stated fairly. Shelves have practical problems that real books do not solve well.

Height variation. An arrangement where everything sits at the same level reads as flat. Raising one or two objects fixes it, and a riser is a purpose-made object for that job. Using real books as risers works too — until you want to read one.

Hiding the ugly necessities. A shelf in a living room accumulates remotes, chargers and keys. A closed box hides them and stays accessible, which a drawer in another room does not.

Weight. A wall-mounted shelf has a load limit, and real books reach it quickly. Lightweight display pieces let you fill a shelf without worrying about the fixings.

Depth. A shelf too shallow for real books will still take a decorative piece.

Where they work best

On a shelf that is genuinely for display rather than storage: an entryway, a mantelpiece, the top of a low cabinet, the shelf above a desk. Anywhere the alternative is empty space or clutter.

They work least well interleaved through a working bookshelf, where the difference is obvious at a glance and the effect is odd rather than pleasing.

Arranging a shelf with them

A few conventions that hold up:

• Groups of three. Odd numbers of objects at differing heights read as arranged; pairs read as a mistake.
• Leave space. A shelf that is eighty per cent full looks considered. Full to the ends looks like storage.
• Mix orientations. Some books upright, a short stack lying flat with an object on top, one thing leaning. All-upright is a filing cabinet.
• Front the objects, back the books. Depth in a shelf is the effect these pieces are best at producing.

The miniature shelf ornaments

These are a slightly different proposition — desk objects rather than shelf furniture. A miniature bookshelf with tiny books in it is a small sculpture, and it does one useful thing: it sits on a desk holding pens or bookmarks without looking like office equipment.

They are bought as gifts for people who like books rather than as decor, which is a fair use for something book-shaped.

Buying honestly

Two things to check, because both are frequently unclear in listings elsewhere.

Is it hollow? A box opens and holds things; a riser is solid and does not. They photograph identically. Our listings say which.

What is it made of? Linen or paper over card is light and looks convincing. Solid wood is heavy and expensive. Foam-cored pieces are cheap and dent. Where a maker states the material, we repeat it.

On the shelf here

The faux book boxes, risers and miniature shelf pieces are under decorative book decor. If what the shelf actually needs is storage, the boxes and files are on the book storage and cases page, and if it needs something with contents, that is the books page.