The art of Arranging Vignettes

Gathering beloved objects and collectibles together in artistic vignettes makes a house a home.  Sometimes one can try to be decorative but feel like their placement efforts just look like a bunch of stuff stuck on a desk or table top.  How do the professionals make everything look so attractive?  How do they make things look like they were made to go together?  Part of the answer is attitude.  If you think it is supposed to look good you believe it does look good.  Part of the secret is a few principles of placement and tricks of the trade.

This interesting display shows the importance of symmetry. There are a bunch of unusual articles on this table and under it.  I mean there is a wire basket with an open book and a baseball in it.  But the two large lanterns seem to anchor the whole kit and caboodle like bookends.  They are what makes it work.  Think two large lamps, urns, topiaries, or book ends to place on the outside edges of a vignette to make the inside stuff feel like it’s supposed to be there.

Here is another trick.  elevate small collectibles by placing them on top of a pile of decorative books.  Or use a candle base or other form of a pedestal to alter the height of your decorative items.

Here is another trick.  Gather all of your collectibles in one container.  Here a bunch of spoons are stuck in vintage pottery.  The spoons on their own would look loose and untended . Together your collectibles have more impact.  Same goes for all of your silver spoons, eggs, apples, seashells, art glass, brass items, silver items, bronze items etc.  Keep them all grouped in the same location for greater impact instead of spreading them out all over.

Here, a three tiered server gives lots of opportunity to display interesting items which will add a big decorative impact to a room.  The basket and boxes on the bottom of the cart are attractive but also double as storage. The top display level can change on a seasonal basis.  Notice how the use of cake pedestals help elevate some of the decorative items.

Well there isn’t much room to actually work at this desk but it is a decorative piece of eye candy.  Notice how the arrangement is gathered into the rough shape of a rectangle?  The straight edges help form an outline which makes all of the little pieces appear orderly and therefore meant to be there together.  The use of similar colors also helps the pieces look more cohesive.

Notice how this pleasing vignette uses books to elevate a smaller figurine to give it a similar height as the boxwood ball.  There is also a symmetrical pattern in use.  One tall item on the right two smaller items to the left.  (Pile of books reads as one unit).

Effective home decorating really boils down to  creating many smaller vignettes of artful arrangements of the items that you love to look at and things that provide warm memories of family, friends and good times.

Please check out all of the vintage decor items I have for sale in the drop down menu above or on our Instagram Posts