Hey Gabrielle!
Shelfs can be tricky, but where there’s a will, there’s a DIY solution!!
I’m not sure if you’ve seen Upcycl’d but I made over an old wicker bookshelf into a black and white colorblocked floral wonder. Maybe you could do some colorblocking like that with your shelf to bring some personality in!!
Another option is just painting the shelf, adding trim, or leaving it as is and composing what you put on it into a really awesome vignette! I know that you need your shelves to be functional, but with one or two cute decorative items and some sweet styling, it will really look special!
For your inspiration, I have a video on vignettes here and a blog post about how to style shelves (with some of my favorite pieces to shop) here!
I hope this is helpful! Let me know how it comes out!
XOXO,
Kate
