Vignettes are the secret to up leveling your decor! Learning how to create a beautiful vignette will take your decor from looking like a bunch of things plopped down on a tray to a curated collection, purposefully put together. They can also be a great way to add seasonal elements to your decor, for more on adding seasonal elements to your vignette check out my post:
So what is a Vignette Anyway?
A Vignette is a collection of items, or furniture, that are styled together. That’s it in a nutshell but let’s dive a little deeper! You will typically use a vignette to gather items that you want to display together, styled in a way that makes sense and is pleasing to the eye, and one that tells a story. As I mentioned above a vignette can be as simple as hand soap and lotion placed on a dish, a collection of cutting boards, an herb plant, a pretty container holding your favorite kitchen utensils, and a lemon or lime stuck in for a pop of color. A vignette can also be as large as a floor lamp, a chair, and a stack of books on the floor; a vignette such as this tells the story of a lazy Saturday morning spent reading, or cozy evenings with your favorite books. There is so much room for variation in a vignette, and they are the perfect time to have fun and express your individual style!
Where to do a Vignette?
The great thing about vignettes is they work almost anywhere! I love to use a vignette to corral odds and ends in my kitchen example: I use a tray to hold a decorative hot plate that I use all the time, my pour over coffee maker, my basil plant that I haven’t yet killed, a utensil holder, my salt and pepper shaker, and other odds and ends.
Other places that are ideal for vignettes are: Mantels, end tables, coffee tables, dressers, shelving, countertops and anywhere in between!
Where to Start When it Comes to Creating a Vignette?
I like books and therefore I like to think of my vignettes as a story. The height of different objects acts as the emotional ups and downs that a good book will take you on, the varying textures in a vignette are the different colorful characters. Just like the setting in a book might be strongly textured and central to the books plot you may have a tray, box or bowl that is your vignette’s foundation, or you may not have your items on a tray and instead have the grouped together using colors to pull your vignette together just as many books have strong characters that pull the plot together.
The other thing you want to make sure you are doing in a vignette is layering! Simple vignettes are great but sometimes, (like on a coffee table), there are items that are necessary to the functionality of the room. For example; you might have a large book with a vase, candle and small sculptural object on top of it. Then you have 2 stacks of smaller books next to it, making the shape of a large rectangle. That’s cute! But what about the remote for the tv? And where did you put those matches to light the candle? Save yourself the trouble and replace one stack of the smaller books with a tray that will hold a small box of matches and the remote- your husband will be happy and you’ll use your candle more!
Or maybe you just have more to display! If you love art and have lots of it to display you might start with a large painting on your mantle, then by layering smaller pieces of art in front of it, you’ll gain a more collected look.
What are the Rules for Creating a Vignette?
There really are no rules when it comes to creating a vignette, but I know that isn’t helpful so here are a few things to keep in mind:
Pick an odd number of items: Usually my small vignettes end up with 5 or 7 items. You can go with more or pair down to 3, but generally the smaller the items the more you can get away with.
Our minds like to group things together, and are always looking for shapes that it can group together. One of the most pleasing shapes for our mind to spot in a group is a triangle. For this reason you will typically want to include at least 3 items, and generally always an odd number of items. However, in case you can over analyze the situation as I have been known to do, this doesn’t mean that you can’t have 8 items- if the items read to your minds eye as more like 7 items. Example: If you have a stack of 2 books of the same size your mind will see this as 1 item, not 2 items. Create a little tension. My natural tendency is to make everything absolutely perfect and lined up, but when it comes to styling it’s often better for something to look slightly lived in. You want your eye to travel through the peaks and valleys of your vignette and then slowly be led off to the other decor in the room. Making things too perfect will keep your eye recirculating on your vignette and not let it wander to take in the rest of your beautiful room!
Vary the heights of the objects in your vignette. Take your viewer on a tour of your vignette- and make it an interesting one!
Vary textures! If you add only things that are smooth, shiny, or rough, it will be like reading a magazine in black and white. Companies add color to their magazines to grab your attention, and that is what adding texture will do for your vignette!
Add personality! Books, decor items, pictures, coasters- these are all great but also toss in something unexpected. Like any decor you want to add just a little bit of visual tension to your decor- think plot twists in a book! So here is the place to drop in any odd keepsake you’ve been wanting to display but haven’t known where or how to!
On what should you display your vignette?
Just when you thought you couldn’t have anymore fun with a vignette the options once again opened up! A tray is probably the most common way to showcase a vignette, but a wooden box, a large bowl, a round slice of wood, a blanket, a mirror, a mantel, or a large book are all possibilities. A small end table or accent table will automatically act as a tray for grouping items. Get creative! What do you have around your house that you are under utilizing? Use that thing!
All Done?
It can be hard to know when to stop when it comes to vignettes! Sometimes analyzing all the details and tweaking so many things, so many times it can start to feel like nothing is working. When this happens it’s time to stop, and walk away for a while. Come back several hours later or the next day and take another look, oftentimes you will think it looks great, and if not the answer will most likely be much clearer! Walking away for a bit will save you so much time and frustration so don’t hesitate to try it!