Have You Met My Friend, Tray Vignette?

Spreading your picture frames, accessories, books, and tabletop plants around your home makes sense and comes naturally. You want to prevent the crowding and jumbling that occurs when your things absorb more display space than you actually have. There is, however, a solution that is both stylish and space-saving.

An underrated and oft forgotten art in interior decorating is the creation of vignettes with your small items that lend themselves to bunching together. Curating vignettes is fun and dynamic; you may even be doing it without realizing you are! Vignettes are little statements that group textures, colors, and personalities featured in your home. Utilizing fashionable trays gives vignettes a natural place to be displayed and are great starting points when creating one.

Vignettes should be primarily defined by tone. Mixing modern and vintage items together is fine, but make sure the grouping is appropriate and doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. The things you place in a vignette should look like they’ve always belonged together.

When creating vignettes, be mindful that you’re not just piling stuff onto a tray or decorative dish and calling it a day. Be sure to allow an equal berth for each item you place, this will give the vignette an intentional, mindful feel and reduces cluttering.

Gathering items for a vignette should include grabbing things that vary in height and width. This variety allows the viewer’s eye to move about more freely, rather than just staring straight on. You don’t want a shorter item to be overshadowed by a larger item, so make sure the smaller thing is in the front or wherever the focal point is.

Varying a vignette’s featured textures gives it a unique and complementary feel. Again, things should look like they belong together, but filling a vignette with a couple different textures makes it even more seamless.

Lastly, you want to avoid a “staged” feel in your vignettes (yes, I know we are a staging company). Mix in personal photos, collectables, or favorite books to preserve the personality of not only the vignette itself, but your home as a whole.