The Value of Vignettes
Many moons ago, I drew up a list of New Year’s resolutions which included things that have been accomplished (get haircut), fallen by the wayside (run 10k), and no longer seem as pressing (buy new cowboy boots––not really part of my fall look). But one item that has been accomplished with flying colors––perhaps my most successful New Year’s Resolution of all time, in fact––was the intimidatingly vague yet delightfully-phrased task to “Make apartment dreamy terrific.”
When my sister started working at shelter magazines she shared a piece of sage advice with me: it’s often the final 10% that brings a room together. At my house, we had been skating by with 70% decor completion. We painted, we put up curtains, we bought a headboard. But it was going to take more than throw pillows to make this house “dreamy terrific.” (But really, what a difference throw pillows make! A white waffle print has perked up a corner of our sagging, uncomfortable flea market sofa.)
And while I’ve never been one much for tchotchkes, I’ve come to learn the value of home vignettes. My first rule: not any old knickknack will do. It has to be an item you positively love. Take the matroyshka dolls my mom and sister brought back from St. Petersburg in the spring (still in search of the perfect vignette companion), or the 1930s wooden toy lion found at a Paris flea market. These things don’t have to be expensive, but they do have to be, in your eyes, utterly irresistible.
Rule number two isn’t so much a rule as a personal preference (which, let’s just admit, is all rules really are; somebody had to make them up!): bring in green things. Let natural forms be a wild foil to your favorite objects.
And the final guiding principle is something I’ve read in magazines but hadn’t demonstrated its weight as a truism to me until recently. I had three different little pictures, each beloved, languishing around the house in separate spots. There is the Texas print given as a wedding present; a page of an astronomy textbook index printed with fine-lined, pen-and-ink blooms; and a silhouette print of a boy and girl, falling apart, but to me, immeasurably charming. Something compelled me to hang the trio above the bed in a little asymmetrical grouping. Together, they bring me infinitely more delight than each on its own.
But what I also love about bringing disparate items together is how deeply personal and unique each little assembly is. No one else has a turquoise typewriter set next to a ’50s ceramic coffeepot that has lost its lid and is now stuffed with the tissue paper flowers my sister made for our day of wedding dress searching. And while I hope every woman who wants one has a print of a red swim-suited woman afloat in an inner tube, I feel certain it brings no one else the exact brand of peace and equanimity it does me.
Alison: Your apartment is SO dreamy terrific right now–from your vignette about the bed, to the new fabric on the headboard and I LOVE the jade plant+lion toy! Who knew it would be so cute?1 year ago
Julie: I think in my house I have that last 10% done…and am lacking the initial 90%. Ha! I have lots of art, throw pillows, table clothes and fun little items, but no head board, never bought a new couch, ect.
You seem to have really set up good bones and structure to your “dreamy terrific” apartment, and now these last touches just finish it off. So lovely!1 year ago
heather: i’ve also found that looking at your space as-is with fresh eyes, as if you were seeing it on some faboo design site, helps…either helps you appreciate your existing quirks and character, or helps you see where one small addition or change could make a corner or a cranny pop. rather than seeing the dishes in the sink, the living room that needs dusting, the couch that grows ever stainier…look how the painting in the bedroom is so sunnily peaceful next to the crisp white lamp shade! remember why you love the photo over the gross couch that’s been up so long you hardly see it any more!
if you had a faraway friend who’d never seen your house, and you were going to send her photos…what would you shoot? this approach helped me, anyway–my apartment is a lot cuter than i’d given it (or me) credit for!
1 year ago
Thanks, Alison! It took long enough!
Julie, Having been to your apartment, I know that you are a big fat liar. Your couch is perfect, your apartment is the dreamy terrific-est, and as I recall, your bed is piled deeply with pillows––no headboard necessary!
Heather, Love what you wrote and how you wrote it. “look how the painting in the bedroom is so sunnily peaceful next to the crisp white lamp shade!” Sometimes my eye does catch unexpected delights like that in the apartment, like the way the light comes through a certain window at a certain time of day and then I think, “hey! this is pretty nice!”1 year ago
Jenna Sais Quois: I am completely in love with that print of the girl floating in the pool! I love how it extends just a bit outside the blue frame of the composition. Where did you get it?1 year ago
I was going to link to the artist’s site, but when I double checked it, I found out she’s no longer making stuff! I bought it at the Renegade Craft Fair a few years ago. I think it’s my favorite thing in our whole apartment, I love it so much!1 year ago
Brie Barton: you have just described what I was thinking as I walked about on my lunch-hour. and had decided that it probably wasn’t worth doing in my rented (and shared) flat…perhaps I should reconsider?1 year ago
It’s hard sharing living space. But I think of it this way: it’s never not worth it to add a little something to your daily life that delights you. Maybe you could look at the space that is yours and yours alone, like a bedside table?1 year ago
Claire: Thank you for inspiring me to a) go the final 20% in my apartment and finish it, and b) look at my space differently and to accept that not everything needs to match, or sit symmetrically, or be “perfect.” I have a studio and due to lack of space/creative storage, I can never “hide” everything — this post made me realize I can utilize some of these items I’ve been trying to stash away as indicators of my personality, instead.
1 year ago
Hope: Oh how nice. I personally need to think in these terms and do the same thing around my house. Yours looks just lovely!1 year ago
molly: Oy. Suddenly realizing I’ve been skating by on 28%. On a good day. Must. get. busy. (Vignettes? Absolutely. All but the dusting. But still, so worth it!)1 year ago
Katie @ cakes, tea and dreams: This final 10% is so important, I agree. Thanks for the inspiration. (And about the Texas print…do you have Texas roots? Because I do. Or do you just love mockingbirds and bluebonnets? Either way, it’s gorgeous.)1 year ago
Claire, Yes and yes!
Thanks, Hope!
molly, Yeah, the dusting. But I have a confession: the most worthy splurge I’ve made in the last year is hiring a woman to come do a deep clean once a month. It wards off so many household fights and keeps the vignettes (not to mention baseboards and dark corners) dust free!
Katie, I was born in Dallas and got married there, so yeah, Texas roots! But those state prints are so pretty, I want them all!1 year ago
Suzy: I must know the name/brand of the lovely aqua paint colour! It’s perfect!1 year ago
Suzy, I’ll have to look if I still have the paint chip and get back to you!1 year ago
Lillian: Excellent! I just wrote a blog post featuring my friend and her knack for charming vignettes. One thing I definitely suggest to keep things from crossing the fine line from cute to cluttered is to keep space between items, rather than having a pile of things. I hope this isn’t viewed as spammy but here’s the link to that post: http://ldpgraphicdesign.com/2010/09/pads-with-panache/1 year ago