Creating Beautiful Home Decor Vignettes

The craft room makeover is coming along nicely. I’m ready to disassemble my big craft desk and begin work on my new industrial pipe work table. This is going to take some time so I thought I would slip in a little post on

creating home decor vignettes.

Vignettes are by far one of my favorite elements of home decor. Yes, the furniture is important…and the color scheme, window coverings and flooring as well, but nothing gives me a glimpse into who the homeowner truly ‘is’ like a collection of things organized in a delightful way. Vignettes are not only pleasing to the eye, they are engaging; evoking feelings, curiosity and conversation. They are like an act or a chapter in the life of the home and I find them so beautifully interesting.

One of my favorite shopping experiences is in the store Anthropology. I think it is because their merchandisers have mastered the art of vignettes. Each space in the store not only wonderfully displays their wares but also creates a desire in the shopper to live in that world; to be a part of the little story they are telling. You don’t need to be a professional designer or merchandiser to create your own, equally stunning arrangements though. Just remember four easy elements and you will have arranging interesting and visually appealing vignettes ACED.

A: ‘A’RRANGE

The ‘A’ element in this formula is quite literal. After you have gathered everything you think might possibly work in your vignette you will arrange it in the shape of an imaginary ‘A’.

Let me back up just a bit. When you gather your display items, collect much more than you will actually use. It’s best to have many choices when building your vignette; and building is exactly what you will be doing. Now, imagine the letter A. If you were going to recreate it’s shape with ‘things’ you would need something tall for the peak of the A, mid height items for the cross section and a collection of shorter items to create the broad base of the A. If it’s easier, think of it in the pint, quart, gallon ratio. You will need a pint’s worth of tall things, a quarts worth of mid-height things and a gallon’s worth of shorter items.

C: CONTRAST

When selecting your vignette items make sure you have contrast in colors and textures. Hard textures like stone, books and metal will anchor your collection. Natural items like twigs, shells, and plants provide softness and movement while items like baskets give you texture. Make sure you have a nice variety from all these textural levels. Also, a very smart decorator (a.k.a. MOM) once told me, “you always need something shiny and something black.” To this day I adhere to that rule and make sure I have something either metallic or mirrored and something black.

In my reading room vignette, I have shiny in the spikey sea urchin thing, the brass metal ‘&’ and the ‘Thinker’ book end. The stand for my steampunk bird is a very dark brown that comes across as black (as well as the center of the sea urchin).

E: ESSENCE

I think this is one of the most important elements of building an interesting and beautiful vignette. The arrangement should have the essence of you. What’s the point of having an arrangement of stuff you bought at your local Home Goods that has no history or story behind it. Yes, you want to have a theme of sorts for your vignette BUT what makes a vignette so fabulous is when it tells a story and/or reveals something about the homeowner. This is one of the reasons I place vignettes in areas of the home I entertain in. They are fantastic conversation starters.

To clarify, not every piece in your arrangement needs to have deep meaning; there is no story behind the spikey sea urchin thing in my vignette – other than it serving my black and shiny rule. It’s okay to have ‘fillers’ that just look good but don’t have personal significance but make sure they don’t make up the bulk or whole of your arrangement.

In my reading room vignette there are several conversation starters. The ‘thinker’ book end is about 45 years old and was purchased overseas when my husband lived in a French-American compound in Saudi Arabia. There is a book on Australia, where I lived and where our daughter currently lives. There’s also a book on Astoria where we have visited and a book on cocktails which we enjoy. The steampunk bird was made by a husband/wife team who uses old watch parts and tool bits to create these funky birds on crochet balls and other found items. The faux leaves in the pottery vase are Ginkgo, which I love. While not every item in my vignette has a story, I feel the collection of items reveals a lot about me.

D: DEPTH

One of the best things about vignettes is that they create depth in your decor. Don’t line your items up – unless you are doing an ultra modern look. Vignettes take a little time to discover all they hold. You have to peer around things and from the top and sides to see all their wonder. Make sure you consider all the different angles your arrangement may be viewed and design accordingly. For example, my reading room vignette can be seen from all sides and from above. I tried to make sure there was something of interest from every angle.

Vignettes are a wonderful way to build interest, depth and conversation into your home decor. Give it a try. BONUS! It gives you a reason to drag some of your keepsakes out of the closet and out where you can enjoy them every day.

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