How to photograph tricky spaces
Do you have a space in your home that you love but can’t seem to photograph right? This little [...]
Quirky shelfie suggestions
What’s the quirkiest object you display on your shelves? When I buy anything beautiful, I automatically think about where [...]
Happy 1st birthday, Shelfie book!
A WHOLE YEAR! That’s how long it’s been since my book Shelfie came out. A whole year of getting [...]
The joy of colour coding your bookshelves
Sometimes all it takes is colour-organised books… I’ve done it for years (this was back in 2014), both for [...]
Shelfie tips: Buy colourful vintage books
Recently, @_lisa_dawson_ showed us some vintage Penguin books that she’d bought. I actually squealed with joy when I saw [...]
Design tip: The importance of white space
I took this #shelfie pic a while back but I wasn’t sure about sharing it Why? Because I felt [...]
Behind the scenes: a bit of insta-reality…
Here’s a tiny bit of Insta-reality: a bit of Colour File HQ that’s finished and a bit that’s most [...]
Pink and yellow shelfie
Hello, my colour-loving friends I adore pink and yellow together 🌸🌼💗💛 To me the combination conveys so much: softness [...]
My pink Art Deco inspired bathroom
I recently read that mint green is on its way back into our lives. I’ve been in love with [...]
Shelfie display with rainbow Penguin books
You loved these books so much yesterday, I thought I’d give you more…. They certainly do it for me: [...]
Shelfies and teenagers
Did you ever borrow clothes or make-up from your mum when you were a kid? I can’t recall ever [...]
The medicinal power of sweet peas
When I was a health writer at The Sun, I researched a piece about pharmaceutical remedies found deep beneath [...]
6 colour block shelf styling tips
Since arranging the pastels shelfie that you all seemed to love so much, it’s remained intact on my mint [...]
Shelfie with coloured candles
Don’t you just LOVE candles? I know I’ve said it before (and I’ll probably say it again – sorry-not-sorry) [...]
A small rainbow shelfie
Today I spotted this little aquatic beauty in @oxfamboutiquechiswick and just KNEW how beautifully she’d go with these vintage [...]
3 steps to creating a blue M&S shelfie
Hello and welcome to a new week Recently, I suggested a challenge to @marksandspencerhomepr – to show people how M&S [...]
Blue and yellow Easter shelfie
Happy Easter, folks. Today is forecast to be a day of uninterrupted, cloudless skies and dazzling sunshine, so naturally [...]
Peach and yellow M&S shelfie
Today has been a perfect day for creating shelfies. When I opened the blinds this morning and the spring [...]
Doing the shelfie shuffle
Does anyone else out there like doing the shelfie shuffle? Although it sounds like something you’d do on Strictly [...]
Why I love still life photography
Don’t you just LOVE still life? Whether paintings, drawings or photography, there’s something about the act of capturing objects [...]
Fluoro shelfie
Don’t you just LOVE a bit of fluoro? My first exposure to fluoro paint was as a kid in [...]
Farrow & Ball St Giles Blue shelfie
Hello from #shelfieSunday I’ve got celestial sky blue on my mind (remembering last week’s ‘false spring’ – false or [...]
27 February 19: ‘Shelfie’ in Grazia magazine
YAY!!! I’m sooo thrilled to be featured in @graziauk this week, chatting about shelfies and vignettes. Obviously I love [...]
Shelfie with world’s worst and world’s best colours
Welcome to Friday, and it’s a day of wall-to-wall blue skies. As such, I’ve very much got blue on [...]
Lisa James, design maven and first cousin
I’ve been thinking about whose design style inspires me. One of my earliest design influences was my cousin Lisa [...]
Pink and orange shelfie
Ah, pink and orange. You make me so happy when you work and play together. Pink and orange together [...]
Creating a shelfie with ‘hidden’ objects
Did you love hide and seek as a kid? As well as being great fun, it’s helps little ones [...]
Shelfie Sunday with Pascale Banks
For me, every day of the week is a shelfie kind of day (though the alliteration afforded by Saturday [...]
Shelfie tip: start with white props
Someone asked me the other day how to start a #shelfie styling project if you have no idea where [...]
Green shelfie
This green shelfie is one of a series I did to show how different shelfie colourways work on the [...]
The secret lives of colourful pottery
Often happiness lies in the simplest things – like the unmatchy matchness of three little plants and the stories [...]
Shelfie tip: ‘same on same’ colour
One of my favourite interiors techniques is putting ‘same against same’ colours on my shelfies. In fact, I talk [...]
How to ‘shelfie’ your way to mindfulness
Can creating ‘shelfies’ help as a form of mindful activity? Martha Roberts asks the experts… ‘You should try mindfulness [...]
Colourful boxes for shelf styling
Ok, so you know my penchant for buying books for their covers. But did you know about my ‘thing’ [...]
Shelfie tip: Buy books for their covers
Happiness is a pile of colourful books (well, a pile of colourful most things but ESPECIALLY books). When I [...]
Pastels shelfie on a nightstand
I’ve been thrilled by your love and enthusiasm for my pastel shelfie (it’s the idea I was telling you [...]
Pastels shelfie in colour order
Hello, my colour-loving friends. I’ve had pastels on my mind for some time. I hankered after them over Christmas [...]
Where the idea for Shelfie book came from
Hello my colourful friends. Aren’t you glad it’s the weekend? Another throwback, this time to the early days of [...]
The story of how the RA cups went missing…
When I was younger, I’d go to the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) with my mum, and (typical kid) [...]
Orange and lemon shelfie
Happy #shelfiessunday! I don’t know about you (and I know I’ve said it before) but around these parts, Sunday is [...]
Shelf styling with a white wall
When I started doing Shelfies at Colour File HQ around 18 months ago, I began with what I playfully [...]
Sea blue and green shelfie
What’s on your mind today? No, don’t tell me: it’s ‘When does term start and can I drop them [...]
Where my shelfie inspo came from
Naturally, I’m faffing about with shelves today. Apart from realising that one of my shelves is bowing slightly and [...]
How do you organise your books?
I’m obsessed with how people organise their books. I ask pretty much everyone I come across, ‘What’s your system?’ [...]
Creating a Pure PR Shelfie
Yesterday, I spent the day what I love doing most: shelfies. As part of their Pure Academy, @purepr set me the [...]
Yellow shelfie – and yellow love
Ah, yellow! How I love you! But we both know it hasn’t always been that way. Let me explain: [...]
Shelfie book at the Tate!
Oh.my.gosh. I am, officially, ridiculously excited. Yesterday, my super-lovely and super-talented Instachum @marydarchdesign (take a look at her gin [...]
Blue and white imperfect/wabi sabi shelfie
There’s something about imperfection that I profoundly love. It’s an aesthetic thing – there’s something that makes the world [...]
Cobalt blue shelfie
I remember the first time I saw a lapis lazuli gemstone. I was 16 and was Interrailing around Europe [...]
Playing with a rainbow shelfie
I keep thinking of the perfect book-lined room in Aberporth, mid Wales, where I’ve stayed several times in the [...]
What colour were your favourite childhood books?
As I seem to spend so much time declaring my unabashed ardour for arranging coloured books on shelves (just [...]
The shelfie props I take on holiday
What’s the strangest item you’ve ever taken on holiday with you? Whatever it is, I bet I can totally [...]
Shelfie with vintage blue glass bottles
When I see coloured glass medicine bottles, I remember those times when I was a kid and went to [...]
16 July 18: The ‘working’ shelf
Welcome to a new week, folks. What a top weekend: friends, fairs, festivals and all-round good fun. I’ve also [...]
14 July 18: Picture shelfie
It’s #shelfiesaturday folks. And in celebration of this, I’m bringing you a picture shelf shelfie from my book. I [...]
13 July 18: Shelfie is out!
See…I told you it’d only be a matter of time before I mentioned it again. Heaps of you have [...]
10 July 18: The power of yellow
Hello, folks 💛☀️📒☀️💛 I recently read that when they worked, both Maya Angelou and Robin Williams wrote on yellow [...]
6 July 18: Sweet pea shelfie
Ah, sweet peas! What’s not to love? When I bought these the other day, the first thing I did [...]
5 July 18: A week to go!
Hello, lovely friends. When I submitted the manuscript for Shelfie to @octopus_books_ back in January, it felt like absolutely [...]
3 July 18: Shelfie books for looks
Happy Tuesday, folks. Recently, I had a conversation with someone who was shocked that I sometimes (errr, often) buy [...]
27 June 18: Shelfie is on her way!!!
I have a question for you: is a book masculine or feminine? Ships are shes and so, I believe, [...]
24 June 18: Shelfie Sunday
Happy Sunday, folks. It turns out it’s a shelfie kind of Sunday. I don’t often do a pure, unadulterated [...]
15 May 18: Quirk & Rescue shelfie
Good morning, folks. Firstly I wanted to say thank you all SO much for all your lovely responses to [...]
28 May 18: S is for ‘shelfie’
Hello colourpeeps. How’s your Bank Holiday weekend turning out? Ours has been a combination of spray-painting and socialising, storm-spotting [...]
23 May 18: Birthday shelfie motivation
Hello my colour-loving friends. When I do shelfies, it’s often a combination of factors that come together to inform [...]
21 May 18: Shelfies to de-stress
Hello, folks, and welcome to a new week. Tell me something – what do you do to relax and [...]
20 May 18: Garden weed shelfie
Hands up who’s gardening today? I recently read a survey about gardening habits in the UK and learned that [...]
14 May 18: ‘Shelfie’ is on its way!
BOOK NEWS!!!!!! OK, so I’m seriously excited. Some of you know (because you’ve been an intrinsic part of it [...]
Ice cream shelfie
What’s in this shelfie? Ice cream square vessel (top left); Ice cream tiny vessel (middle right); Ice cream geo [...]
4 May 18: Are shelfies in the genes?
…So, second-in-command has been off school this week and has not been his usual chirrupy, chirpy self. He’s still [...]
31 March 18: Whose deskie is this?…
Who works at a desk like this? The clue is in the letter…and the style. I couldn’t resist snapping [...]
1 April 18: Osterbaum tree shelfie
Happy Easter, colourpeeps. Here’s an ‘osterbaum’ (Easter tree) for you. Well, in truth it’s a kind of ‘best of [...]
14 March 18: Yellow shelfie
Hello from Wednesday 🐣🐥🐤 I love this time of year: for someone who adores pastels and sorbet colours, Spring [...]
8 March 18: Green shelfie
Hello folks 🌱🌿🍀🍃🍏💚 The other day I asked for your suggestions on what shelfie to do next. One of [...]
6 March 18: Neon fluoro shelfie
Good morning, folks. If you’ve been following my feed, you’ll know I’ve been doing a series of shelfies with [...]
1 March 18: Black on black shelfie
Hello folks. On Tuesday I showed you how the Moss shelf from @madedotcom looked against a pale pink wall with muted [...]
27 February 18: Shelfie love
Ah, shelfies. How I love them. I style them when I’m happy, I style them when I’m feeling a [...]
13 February 18: Purple and orange power
Ah, purple and orange, what an unorthodox and devil-may-care duo you are. They’re not for the feint-hearted but I [...]
10 February 18: Shelfie-shaped happiness
Hello, folks. Happiness is shelfie-shaped. Today’s shelfie is probably one of my favourite types: a simple run of rainbow-coloured [...]
29 January 18: Spring flower shelfie
Happy Monday, folks. What’s your favourite aroma? According to a 2015 UK survey, top of the list is freshly [...]
31st March ’17: Asymmetry rules
Happy, happy Friday from The Colour File. Friday means flowers (don’t EVER wait for someone to treat you – [...]
27th March ’17: Purple & orange
Happy Monday, fellow colour-lovers. What a life-affirming weekend of friends, family and, of course, colour. 🌈☀️ I’ve gathered so many [...]
25th March ’17: Yellow on yellow
Happy sunny Saturday, lovely people 🌼🌸☀️ Something simple and Spring-like for you today. I started to put more with [...]
® Shelfie is a registered trademark of Martha Roberts, The Colour File
© Martha Roberts, The Colour File™
Hi, I’m Martha Roberts, journalist, mum, ardent second-hand rose and avid collector of colourful objects and images. I’m something of a colour magpie (or maybe a Satin Bowerbird, that quirky bird that collects blue objects to decorate its nest, only in my case a rainbow version…). This colour-craziness is why I started The Colour File.
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