I love history, I love vintage items, and I love using vintage items and antiques in my decor. But, I also think this is something everyone should do. Adding vintage items is one of the easiest ways to make your home timeless. Few and far between are the homes that can’t benefit from a few touches from the past. You may not want to add so many that your home starts to feel like an antique shop, but sprinkling in a few vintage pieces here and there will give your house a collected feel and depth that you simply can’t buy at the nearest chain store.
By adding vintage to your décor, you give your home a timelessness and collected feel that cannot be gotten any other way. Look at homes in magazines—I’ll bet just about all of them contain one element that you could not just go to the nearest chain store to purchase. That is the other thing about adding vintage items to your decor—it makes your home unique. It is very unlikely that anyone else will have the exact same vintage piece as you do and, even rarer, that they would use it the same way as you do. Is it expensive? I suppose if you are buying original antique chairs from the 18th century then yes, they will come at a price; however, so many vintage items can be found for a song at thrift stores, flea markets, and yard sales. You most likely already have a few things handed down from a relative! Have I sold you yet on using vintage in your decor? I hope so! If you would like to start incorporating vintage into your decor here are a few ideas of where to begin.
Books
Vintage books are one of the easiest and cheapest ways to start incorporating vintage elements into your decor and to make your home feel timeless. You can find them at library book sales, yard sales, online, Goodwill, and just about every thrift shop. Use a couple of books as a riser for a candle. (You may want to cushion the bottom of the candle with a coaster before sitting directly on your books—we are not fans of book burnings here!) You can tie a few books together with a piece of burlap cloth and slide a faux or dried flower in the ties and use it as part of a vignette. Vintage books can also look great next to a candle on your mantle.
Vintage Candle Sticks
These too can be found almost anywhere and quite cheaply. Use them in your centerpiece, to frame a large photo or sign, or in any vignette you assemble to give dimension. Also, think of how you can use them in unique ways—candlesticks don’t have to just hold candles! In the fall they can hold a baby pumpkin, or a small bird figurine, and I have even used candlesticks to hold my air plants! (Before I killed them..)
Vintage Clocks
Does anything add feeling and depth to a house like an old clock? How much time has passed through its hands.… I would even go as far as to say it doesn’t have to work! A truly beautiful clock is a work of art and can thus be hung on a wall as such.
Old Photos
An old photo adds so much sophistication—bonus points if it’s a photo of your family and you know who the people are! You can look around and find a gorgeous vintage frame, or update the photo with a modern frame—either way will create a great talking point in your home’s décor and give your home a timeless feel!
Wall Decor
While we are talking about things to put on walls, let’s not forget old paintings and other art. Purchasing old art that may have been reproduced quite a bit during its day and has now faded from popularity can be an inexpensive way to bring taste and style to your home. Instead of opting for a sign from a big box store, do a little searching and see if you can find something older that speaks to you. Art doesn’t have to be limited to paintings and drawings—a beautiful piece of needlepoint, an old mirror—these count too!
Furniture
Antique and vintage furniture is oftentimes made so much more solidly than today’s modern furniture! Sometimes you may need to paint or refinish the piece to bring it into style, other times the patina may have aged it nicely. My large upright piano has had a hard life in its 100+ year lifespan and is no longer in pristine condition. I love how it looks worn and well loved! And as they say, if it’s been around for a 100 years or more and is still going strong, you probably won’t be able to hurt it either—at least not easily!
Kitchenware
Ironstone pitchers, wooden dough bowls, and vintage serving trays are goldmines! You can use antique pitchers and crockery to hold unsightly paraphernalia: rubber bands, twist ties, etc. A crystal dish to hold sugar will add elegance to your coffee or tea station. Also don’t overlook the antique china—you don’t need a full set! You can mix and match different pieces for an even more unique and collected look.
Antique Tins and Baskets
You can use these to store items ranging from office supplies to cotton balls in your bathroom. You can also place a plastic cup within the tin and use it as a planter. The same goes for old baskets.
Miscellaneous
Antique irons, baskets, vintage rug beaters and basically anything under the sun can add an old soul to your decor. If you see something you love, try reimagining it outside of its intended use. Maybe a vintage hat can be turned into a front door hanging. Keep your eye open for little bits and bobbles as well; an antique knob off of an old dresser can replace a modern hardware on a drawer, giving it more of a collected feel. Can you add flowers and use the rug beater as a wall hanging? Get creative! And as always—happy decorating!
P.S.
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Christmas comes and goes so quickly but in Pennsylvania where I live, winter does not go as quickly. I always feel a bit bereft after taking down the Christmas tree and all of my Christmas decorations, so I decided a while ago that I wouldn’t take down all my Christmas decor at once. It is cold and, except for the sporadic snowfall, it is quite bare outside and will be for several more months. I don’t want the inside of my house to feel bare as well. I want it to feel cozy—extra cozy! Winter is a season too, after all, and I want to decorate for winter!
How I Decorate for Winter
Since I just can’t quite cope with taking away all of my Christmas and winter decor at once, I tend to leave up greenery (if you use faux you have the ability to do this); I have little trees that look wintery and instead I only take down things that are expressly Christmas-related. There is some discussion over whether to leave up decor that is glittery and my feeling is this—if you like it, leave it, and if you’re tired of it take it down. I would say by conservative standards you should take down anything glittery, but since I like glitter to brighten up winter’s darkness, I leave it. Typically, I don’t use any red in my decor throughout the year except I do add in a touch or two of red in autumn and at Christmas. So I also take down most touches of red unless I have berries in with my greenery. As I said, we still have another two or three months of snowman-making weather so the snowmen don’t have to leave yet! I also keep up certain glittery accents as well—trees, frosted evergreen accent balls, silver deer figurines, etc. I love the look of white, glitter-dusted branches. I love it when the branches outside glisten with snow and frost and I love it inside as well—faux snow and frost that is!
My rule is:If it’s true in nature, it can be true in my decor!
Keep it Cozy
Think of your home decorated for Christmas in all its cozy goodness and what do you picture? Try stripping away all the elements that are overtly Christmas-y and leave all the candles, lights, and anything else that looks super cozy to you! This is what I call decorating for winter. Maybe you decide to take down the glittery accents and trees but still want something to make your home special through winter—think cozy! Throws, pillows, and candles can really warm up and transform a space. You want your decor to appeal to all the senses and in winter I love to appeal to the eyes and the sense of touch. It has been said that we feel texture with our eyes as well as our hands, so bring in lots of different textures. Replace pristine books with worn, warmer-looking books; faux fur pillows look soft and warm; woven baskets to chase away the sterile feel of a home devoid of Christmas.
Want other touches of winter? Here’s a quick list of some of my favorite winter decorating items:
Branches—bare branches in a big vase (These can be a show stopper!)
Pinecones
Evergreen and frosted evergreen branches
Candles, candles, and more candles!
Faux fur pillows and throws
Deer sheds (antlers)
Twinkle lights
Logs in the fireplace—even if it’s not a working fireplace!
Faux sheepskin throw
Remember What You Like
Scandinavian Decor
Over the last few years Scandinavian decor style has gained popularity. This style is known for lots of white, minimalism, and crisp, clean lines. Scandinavian decor also incorporates a lot of candles and faux fur, and evokes feelings of hygge. (The closest translation to this word is coziness, but think of being snowed-in in a cabin with a warm fire while the pine trees outside are covered in snow and you’ll get the idea.) If you’ve ever been a fan of this style of decor and wanted to try it, this time of year is a great time to add a few of these elements.
I want glitter and branches and basically want my home to transform from a Christmas wonderland to a winter wonderland for the next few months. What do you like? I think winter is also a great time to add more white to your decor than usual. Also, maybe you keep a pretty traditional-style home but would like to incorporate more vintage elements into your home—why not try it now?!
Maybe you are tired of some of the colors and decor you have been using as staples in your home, take this season as a little breather and an excuse to play and have fun with your décor. I think the number one reason we get bored with anything is because we stop having fun with it. So have fun! Check out my post on “Creating a Cohesive Color Pallet” as a springboard for ideas if you have the urge to switch up some of your décor.
Purge
Christmas came and with it a few new additions to my home, so after Christmas I love to purge and reorganize. It is a great time of year to ask yourself what things have you held onto for another year and still have never used. If you haven’t used an item and it is not an heirloom—pitch it!
Likewise, I like to do an audit of my home: where are the pain points? What drawer do I continually keep telling myself that I need to sort? This year I even switched a few things around in my kitchen to help it function better!
Are you ready for Christmas? I am so ready! I love all the days in the holiday season starting with Thanksgiving, from getting out and doing a little shopping on Black Friday to going out and getting a real Christmas tree. I love shopping for presents; I love wrapping presents; I love baking with family; I love the Christmas parties (probably the only kind of parties that this homebody gets excited about!), but I have to say above it all, one of my most favorite activities of the Christmas season is decorating my house! It’s almost makes the whole ordeal of growing up, finding a way to earn an income, and paying bills worth it!
For me, the beginning of the Christmas season looks like this: Thanksgiving Day, followed by Black Friday when my friend and I spend a day together and do a little shopping; Saturday—the Christmas explosion! I look forward to the beginning of the season when I can pour some hot chocolate or coffee into one of my Christmas mugs and pull out the decor and let the creativity start flowing. I think an important reason why I enjoy it is that I don’t treat Christmas like a chore. I don’t have kids yet and therefore the holiday is greatly simplified. We know that the way in which we approach things greatly affects the outcome so I urge you not to be a grinch this holiday season. If the thought of pulling out lots of decorations is simply too stressful, then don’t! Pull out a few key pieces and let it go at that.
Here is a little list to help you manage the stress this holiday season:
· Start thinking about the holidays—how many people do you have to shop for. Start making a list and a budget of how much you plan to spend on each person. What about your Christmas décor. Do you need anything new? Now is the time to start making lists and checking them twice.
· Are you sending Christmas cards this year. Thanksgiving can be a great time to take that photo since everyone is already cleaned up and there is usually an extra person or two around to snap the family photo. Through places such as Walmart, Target, or Walgreens you can design your Christmas card online and then swing by the store to pick them up the next time you do your shopping.
· Hopefully you can start buying some Christmas gifts. Maybe you have a day you can dedicate to this task, maybe you have to do it in fits and starts, but by starting in November and finishing it at the beginning of December, will help take a load off your mind.
· Wrapping: can you wrap a little on a Saturday morning before your kids get up? In the afternoon before your husband gets home from work? Whenever you can, try to squeeze in a few minutes for wrapping here and there. Turn on some Christmas music or a movie, and take the opportunity for more hot chocolate or a cup of your favorite coffee and enjoy!
Now about the actual décor . . .
Just like starting to think about your Christmas shopping list, start thinking about your Christmas decor. Were you short a strand of twinkling lights last year? Did the tree look a little bare and need a few more ornaments? Start planning where you want to put things and make a list of things you need to pick up.
In my post “Alternative Christmas Color Palettes.” I talk about using nontraditional Christmas color palettes in your home but what about other ways to add touches of Christmas to your home?
From The Outside Looking In
Even if you are not a big fan of hosting, this time of year makes it almost inevitable that you will be having someone over at some point. Create a welcoming front door with a beautiful wreath, or a festive door mat to help welcome your guests.
The Tree
I am not going to spend a lot of time on this one, but it is my opinion that everyone should put up at least a little tree. To me, Christmas trees are nondenominational and I think everyone should have one! I love a colorful tree with collected and handmade ornaments that tell the story of a family and a life. My aunt has given me a special ornament every year since I was born—and these ornaments are handmade, unique and gorgeous! It was so nice to have these special ornaments to adorn our Christmas tree when my husband and I were first married and had such a small ornament collection. I also see the beauty in a curated tree with a carefully selected color scheme—just make sure you’re leaving a little room for sentiment in decorating your tree.
The Mantle Or Other Large Surface Area
Mantels are such a fun space to decorate! I feel like I have two mantles because I have my actual mantle and the top of my old upright piano. If you have a mirror above your mantle, hanging a lovely wreath can be a great touch. Adding greenery and some twinkle lights is a classic look; from there you can go any in direction with your decor. I love the look of lots of candles clustered in the middle of the greenery and then letting it go at that. I am also a fan of working a manger scene into your mantle. You can add a grouping of Christmas signs into your mantle, or make a little village with porcelain houses and bottle brush trees, or use a variety of miniature Christmas trees to make a little forest clustered on your mantle.
Vignettes
You didn’t think I would skip over vignettes did you? If you are doing really a low key, simple Christmas décor, this year think of adding a vignette or two throughout your home. These can add some holiday cheer without being a lot of work! Here are a few ideas I like.
· A bowl full of ornaments.
· A tray with a candle, some books, a gold or silver deer figurine, and a faux tree.
· A faux tree with a deer and an accent ball.
· A closh with a sprig of greenery, a pinecone, and an ornament.
· A faux tree, candle, and festive holiday sign.
The Table
I usually just have a runner on my table but sometimes at Christmas I get fancy and pull out a full-fledged tablecloth. See my post of my table’s Centerpieces Throughout The Seasons for some ideas of how to tweak what you may already have going on on your table. In addition, you could do a nice vignette or a beautiful bowl with some ornaments—just keep in mind when decorating your table that you will most likely be hosting more than normal this season so don’t make the centerpiece too big or too cumbersome to move. In addition, if you are using a tablecloth and need to insert a table leaf for when guests comes over, make sure your tablecloth is large enough to cover your table.
A Few Other Touches
Depending on how crazy you want to go with your decor this year, here are a few other touches that are very nice and very festive!
Mini wreaths on your cupboards or back of dining room chairs.
· Add a faux tree to your hand soap and lotion in your bathroom or by your sink.
· Pull out the Christmas dishes! You don’t have to wait for company to use those gorgeous dishes! Use them as decor, set them out ready for use—but either way, don’t forget about them!
· Accent pillows—add some Christmas cheer to any room!
Hopefully this will get you excited for the season! Regardless of how much you do or don’t care to decorate for the season, I hope you will find at least a few minutes to spend time with family and friends, slow down, and remember the reason for the season.
We made it through the spooky month! I admit, I’m not the biggest fan of spooky decor. (There are worse faults a person could have!) But, now what? Done with the Halloween stuff but not quite ready to tear into all the Christmas decor? Here are a few ways to keep your home nice and cozy, just by adding a few touches of winter to your decor—and you don’t have to pack up your pumpkins.
Mirror Nature
I know this is one of my popular refrains but it’s so true! Take a look outside—what do you see? Granted, this may be a little more difficult to see if you live in the south, but for those of us who live in the north, we are starting to see that most of the trees have lost their leaves, frost is appearing on branches and you may even see little red winter berries starting to appear on bushes. Try tucking a few frosted branches in amongst your pumpkins. Stick large branches in a vase. Try mixing real branches from trees with faux frosted branches for a more dimensional look. Stick a spray of faux, real, or dried berries into a vase.
Curate Your Colors
If you do more of a traditional decor color palette for fall that consists of yellow, orange, and red, try editing down your colors. I would take out anything yellow and anything that is a super bright, fall color. By the time Thanksgiving rolls around, the colors in nature have started to fade considerably.
Leave the Pumpkins
Keep your pumpkins. I think nothing is more gorgeous than sticking a spray of red berries into a vignette with your pumpkins. Tuck frosted greenery in with white pumpkins, if you have a more neutral look.
Refresh
Do one last sweep for any scarecrows or overtly early fall decor. Pack up those things and then stand back and examine. Have things gotten a little rough around the edges? Rather than waiting until after Thanksgiving, reset things and do a little tidying up now, so it will be less overwhelming later.
Next Add a Few Touches of Winter
Faux Fur
Scandinavian decor has cornered the market on cozy. One of the things that I love about Scandinavian decor is the use of faux furs. Bring in a faux fur throw blanket, throw pillows, or (my favorite) a faux animal pelt and drape it over a chair, or use as a small floor mat.
Chunky Knits
If you haven’t yet, and especially if you live in a four-seasons climate, pull out the chunky knit throws and blankets.
Winter Decor
I briefly touched on this earlier but try adding frosted greenery, a spray of frosted berries, or a spray of non-frosted berries to your decor. Play with adding these to your centerpiece, or a fall vignette.
Candles, Candles, Candles
This is the perfect time to pull out your white candles—be they pillar candles, votive candles, or a traditional candle stick. Remember, all of these come in battery options too, if you aren’t crazy about an open flame in your home. If you want to dress it up even more, you can place votive candles in mercury glass votive holders and thereby add some sparkle.
I hope this helps inspire you to play with your decor this Thanksgiving and helps you to create a cozy home that you and your family can curl up in and enjoy this holiday season!
Other Posts You May Enjoy:
Alternative Christmas Color Palettes
How to Decorate Your Home for Winter
How to Create A Vignette for Any Room in Your Home
The seasons are starting to change—are you itching to change some of your seasonal decor? At this time of year, I always get the bug to switch things up. I enjoy the summer months so much and am focused on being outside that I let the decor in my house rest. But after a few months, I am ready for a change!
The beauty of seasonal decor is that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel and totally switch everything for the upcoming season—we can simply switch out a few elements or maybe just a few minor pieces. Take your table centerpiece for example: do you totally strip it down and redo it, or do you just switch out some of the elements? I used to try to make major decor changes just about every season and then I realized that (1) I definitely had a favorite way of doing things, and (2) it was silly to keep reinventing the wheel. Yes, it can be fun to do a total overhaul and switch everything but other times it is just as good of an option to switch out seasonal elements.
I have had the same centerpiece for about a year now. While I do different variations of it, it is the same base each time. For me this includes: the base which is a shallow wooden box, my candlesticks, and my twine balls. Then I switch out the seasonal elements.
Last fall I added little pumpkins and twinkle lights to my centerpiece. I also added the pinecones as they give my centerpieces a little more woodsy, fall-like feel.
This is a picture of my centerpiece at Christmas. I love sprinkling in the mini ornaments to add some sparkle and shine to my centerpiece. Again, the pinecones make it feel more like winter.
After the holidays, I usually just strip down my centerpiece to just the twinkle lights, pinecones, and twine balls. It’s simple and it reflects the world outside my windows. And I let it remain like that until spring.
This is a picture of my Easter-style centerpiece. By adding the faux Easter eggs, it gives it just enough of a touch of spring.
And that takes you through a year in the life of my centerpieces!
That is what I do for my centerpieces, but the same principle applies to other decor in your home. Instead of feeling like you need to replace everything, can you swap a candle on a pillar for a pumpkin in the fall, or insert a garland of sparkling greenery at Christmas?
Here are some seasonal accent items to keep in mind:
In the winter, think about the world outside—nature is dormant and there is much more brown than in other seasons. You can add a touch of evergreen or even a sparkly branch or two, but also think: pinecones, twine balls, bar candles, plain branches, and even deer sheds (antlers).
In the spring, keep a base of twine balls and pinecones and consider adding some faux eggs prior to Easter, some dried flowers, or accent balls that correlate with the color you have in your home.
In the summer, you can still have your base of twine balls and even pinecones, but also add some flowers—faux, dried, or real, sea shells, greenery from outside, plants and even fresh cut branches!
For fall, keep your twine ball base along with the pinecones and consider adding: acorns, baby pumpkins, strands of wheat, and twinkle lights.
Christmas offers a lot of options! You can add ornaments, holly branches, glitter greenery, angels, or even a manger scene and, of course, the twinkle lights.
I hope this gives you some inspiration for how you can switch up your decor without the headache of redoing everything! A few little touches can completely change the feel of your decor. If you want to totally redo your decor, go for it! But if you just want to add a seasonal touch and change the feel, you don’t have to go crazy! Look at your decor and see where you could add a few seasonal elements. Just have fun playing!
I haven’t talked about vignettes in a while—but that doesn’t mean I’ve given up using them! I talked about how to make a vignette in my post, Vignettes: Tell Me A Story, and that’s great for getting you started, but are you overlooking great places to use a vignette? Are there certain things cluttering up your area that could look cute and be functional by making them into a vignette? I bet there is! Here are a few ideas for how to create `a vignette in any room of your home to help elevate your everyday!
A few reminders:
When making a vignette, keep these few simple rules of thumb in mind:
· Use an odd number of items;
· Vary height;
· Vary texture;
· Use something with hard lines, something with soft lines, something with organic lines; and
· Add one item that is a little bigger and more of a wow piece to anchor your vignette.
Kitchen
There are things just about all of us have in our kitchens—I am going to take a gamble that you have these things too: a paper towel holder, hand soap (and probably lotion too), dish soap, salt and pepper, and a trivet. You may have more items, perhaps you have a few less. Regardless, how do you have them displayed? Instead of having your soaps just sitting on the counter, you could arrange them on a pretty tray near the sink; your most used spices and kitchen gadgets can be gathered on a tray; you can hide unsightly necessities like twist ties, rubber bands and matches in a cute pitcher.
Here are a few more ideas of things to include in a kitchen vignette:
· An herb plant;
· A bowl of fruit or veggies;
· A wooden cutting board;
· Spices or tea in a unique jar or tin; and
· Pour-over-coffee or French press coffee maker.
Bathrooms
I always say everyone is blessed with at least one really good idea in their life. Here is mine: add a cloth napkin to where you keep your hand soap and lotion so that you can tidy up any water spots around the sink. This looks cute and keep your bathroom sink tidy too!
For a bathroom vignette try adding:
· A candle;
· A small plant; and
· A diffuser, if you have room.
Bedroom
We all have nightstands. How you style that nightstand can be a vignette as well! You can use a tray to coral everything, or if you are always overflowing with books that you will read next, you can use the books themselves as a vignette.
I used to have a large picture on my nightstand, but then my stack of soon-to-be-read books got so high I couldn’t see the picture anymore! I decided to flip things and use my stack of books as I would use a picture to give my nightstand some height and interest, and let’s be honest—that stack of books is ever rotating and will never completely disappear!
Some other ideas for nightstand vignettes:
· A lamp;
· A small box or dish to keep little necessities in;
· An alarm clock;
· A picture; and
· Flowers or a small plant.
Living Rooms
Anything and everything works great for a vignette in living rooms! If you have a coffee table, books are great—and typically the bigger the better for coffee table styling! There are many options for where to create a vignette in this room; you may have a TV on or above a console table; the console table is a great place for short, linear vignette styling—think of a small tray on a short stack of books and maybe just one tall vase off to the side with a few feathers, decorative twigs or greenery—dried or fresh! (Click here to see my post on How to use dried flowers in decor)
For these, keep the follow items in mind when creating a vignette:
· A lamp;
· Books;
· A large candle or lantern;
· Something natural or quirky such as driftwood, or deer sheds (antlers);
· A random but interesting antique item;
· A family photo to add a personal touch;
· A vase with flowers—real, dried or faux; and
· A box to keep odds and ends in or to hide the TV remote. (You might leave a sticky note so your husband can find the remote, unless that his punishment for skipping chores last weekend—up to you!
Dining Room
The centerpiece is usually the vignette we think of when it comes to the dining room. I don’t know about you but I tend to find that making a centerpiece is one of the tougher vignettes that I create. My table is narrow so there isn’t a whole lot of room for a big centerpiece. My standby centerpiece is seven candlesticks displayed in a shallow wood box that acts as a platform. Then I switch out these items seasonally.
What are some of my favorite elements to incorporate into my centerpiece?
· Candles/candlesticks;
· Dried flowers;
· Twine balls;
· Pinecones; and
· Moss Balls
Seasonally I love to add:
· Faux eggs at spring;
· Dried flowers in summer;
· Pumpkins in fall; and
· Ornaments and evergreens for Christmas.
I hope this helps inspire you to get vignette-ing! Vignettes are one of the easiest ways to add style and up-level your décor. Happy decorating!
P.S. Would you be willing to do me a favor? If you are enjoying these posts and can think of anyone else who might enjoy them too would you please share this post with them? If you like this post, they will too and sharing like this helps and encourages me so much! Thanks in advance!
