A bookshelf in a country house should look as though it has grown rather than been arranged. That is the difference between a display that feels collected and one that feels staged, and it comes down to mixing books with objects — ceramics, framed prints, natural textures — in a way that feels unhurried. The good news is that this is easier to achieve than it sounds, and it rarely costs much. Most of what you need is already in the house.

Begin with the Books, Not the Objects

Books are the backbone of any traditional shelving scheme, so arrange them first. Resist the urge to sort by colour; a wall of matching spines looks like a hotel lobby. Instead, group by subject or by the part of the house they belong to — cookery near the kitchen door, garden writing in the snug, novels and poetry in the drawing room.

Vary how they sit. A run of upright books, then a small horizontal stack of three or four, then upright again. Horizontal stacks are useful for filling the gap above a shorter row and they give the eye somewhere to rest. Keep the tallest books at the ends of a shelf where possible; it prevents that sagging look Victorian shelves are prone to after a century or two.

• Leave a little air. Books pressed tight to the shelf edge look cramped.
• Pull a few volumes forward so the spines are not perfectly aligned.
• Keep a basket or two of paperbacks for the boot room or a bedside nook.
• Turn worn jackets spine-inward if the covers are tatty; the page edges are often prettier.

Layer in Ceramics and Small Objects

Once the books have settled, add ceramics. Country interiors suit stoneware, creamware, slipware and simple terracotta far better than anything glossy and new. Odd numbers work best — three jugs, five small pots — and grouping by material or colour usually reads better than grouping by size alone.

Place taller pieces towards the back of a shelf and smaller ones in front, slightly overlapping, so the shelf has depth. A single large bowl can carry a whole bay on its own; if you have one good piece, give it room rather than crowding it with six modest ones. Mix glazed and unglazed finishes to bring texture in without adding colour.

• Use a stack of two or three plates or a small tureen as a plinth for a smaller object.
• Tuck a little dried lavender or honesty in a jug for a soft, faded note.
• Keep the very best pieces lower down where they can be seen and reached.

Hang Prints and Let Them Lean

Framed prints and small paintings are the quickest way to stop a shelf reading as storage. Two approaches work well. The first is to lean a framed print at the back of the shelf, behind a run of books so only the top half shows. The second is to hang a small picture on the wall inside an alcove or on the shelf face itself, so it sits above the shelf's contents.

Gilt, dark wood and simple black frames all sit happily together in a traditional room — perfect matching is not the aim. Botanical studies, old maps, architectural engravings, silhouettes and family photographs in plain mounts all work. If you have several small prints, lean them in a shallow overlapping row; it feels collected and takes up little depth.

Bring in Natural Textures

This is where the country look really takes hold. Books and ceramics are hard surfaces, so introduce softness and roughness alongside them. A length of ticking or a folded linen runner hanging over the shelf edge. A woven basket, a rush bowl, a piece of driftwood, a stone picked up on a walk, a bundle of dried hydrangea in a stoneware jar. A little moss or a small fern in a terracotta pot, if the light is kind.

Natural materials age well and forgive dust, which matters in a house with a fire going for half the year. Wool, rattan, wicker, oak, stone, unglazed clay, beeswax-polished wood — all of these belong.

Balance, Light and Practicalities

Stand back every so often. A good shelf has a little weight in each bay without any one area feeling heavy, and it usually helps to repeat a colour or a material two or three times across a bookcase — a note of blue, a flash of brass — so the eye travels along it. Avoid symmetry; an almost-balanced arrangement is more interesting than a mirrored one.

Think about light too. Shelves in a dark corner need paler ceramics and lighter spines; shelves beside a window can take deeper colours, richer woods and more pattern. If you use shelf lighting, keep it warm and low, and never wash a shelf evenly — pools of light look better than a flat stripe.

• Dust with a soft brush and a dry cloth rather than polish, which marks paper.
• Fix heavy ceramics and tall lamps within reach of a child or a wagging tail.
• Rotate objects seasonally — spring bulbs, autumn hips, a bowl of fir cones in December.
• A shelf at the lowest level is a good home for heavy things: baskets, log boxes, oversized books.

The final step is the most important one: leave it alone for a while. Add to it when something comes into the house, take things away when they tire, and let it shift with the seasons and with the people who use the room. A shelf that has been quietly added to for five years will always look better than one finished in an afternoon.