We have been incredibly lucky with the weather this summer and have been able to spend our days enjoying the outdoors, but as it turns colder it’s time to bring our focus indoors again and get our homes ready for the winter months.

One great way to create impact without spending much is to look at how you display the things in your homes.

We all have stuff: books, photos, vases, bits and pieces that we picked up on our travels, and often they are simply placed on a shelf without much thought. However, with a little planning and sorting, your shelves can be a striking display that will give your room that bolt of impact it is crying out for.

Rules
When it comes to displaying items, there are a few rules that will help you achieve a professional look. One trick is to stick to a colour palette. This is a great way to give a unified look to a collection of things that don't necessarily relate to each other. Groupings of ceramics, glassware, books, photos and even artworks could look cluttered and chaotic without anything to unify them. But by choosing three or four colours the whole composition will sit very happily together.

Group items of similar shape or texture together. Uneven numbers work best, such as threes and fives. Things that are the same shape and size can be displayed in a row side-by-side. Place heavy items on the lower shelves to avoid a top heavy look.

Books are something people often struggle to find a home for. When displaying a collection of anything, including books, you don’t have to be hung up on colour – the collection will give unity – but do try to break up the collection by displaying some books on their sides and others upright, place interesting bits and pieces throughout the display to create points of interest.

An old display trick involves using one item as a base to give height to a smaller object. You can use a small box or upturned bowl to create a platform for a small item of interest. A pile of books can perform the same function.

If you want to use books in this way but find they are not working for colour reasons, a great tip is to turn the books around so that their coloured spines are hidden and the neutral colour of the pages is exposed instead. This will allow the books to blend beautifully with the scheme.

So have a go and get your shelves in order. Don't be afraid to bring things from other rooms and move things around. With a plan and a little reorganisation, your home can have a new lease of life. And the best thing about it is that it won't cost you a penny.

Denise O'Connor is an architect and design consultant