ᐅ Using Ikea BESTA: How Can I Store Books and Decorative Items Efficiently?

Hello everyone, I have the IKEA Besta system in my living room and I’m considering the best way to store books and decorative items there in a practical way. The challenge is that I want to create an aesthetically pleasing organization while also keeping frequently used books and some delicate decorations easily accessible. What experiences do you have with optimizing storage space within Besta shelving systems to accommodate both needs effectively and practically? Are there specific types of inserts, boxes, or dividers that work particularly well? I’m also open to tips on how to keep the whole setup looking elegant and tidy without appearing cluttered. Looking forward to your suggestions!

I use shelves in my BESTA unit and place boxes to store small decorative items safely. I arrange books closely together and sort them by size, which makes it look tidy.

I know this well, the BESTA system is very flexible, but keeping it organized can sometimes be challenging – for books, I have different compartments assigned to each family member, which helps us keep everything tidy. For decorations, I like to swap items regularly, as it keeps the look fresh and also helps to reduce clutter.

Thanks for the tips so far. I find the approach with different compartments for various categories interesting. Are there any experiences with storage boxes that fit well with BESTA? I’m thinking of boxes that don’t look too bulky, so the airy design of the open compartments is maintained. Or would it make more sense to use doors or flaps to protect decorative items?

I use doors on my BESTA shelving unit for delicate decorations and open compartments for books that I use frequently. This way, the decorative items stay dust-free and the books are quickly accessible.

I like to play around a bit with decorative elements on my BESTA! Small patterned boxes look great next to the books, and if you have doors, you can hide decorations underneath that you don’t want to display at the moment – this way everything looks neat without being boring. The shelf can definitely show a bit of life!