Obsessed with Vignettes

My two year old loves to pick up an object in one room and place it somewhere in another room. She delights in rearranging my house in 'unique' and 'interesting' ways.  The other day I found the crystal doorknob from my back door mixed in with a grouping of wine corks and milk glass vases on my dining room table.  The next day, it became very apparent that I needed to get my handle fixed when I found the door knob placed neatly on a stack of books I'd left on a corner table in the living room.  I wasn't upset with her though.  Instead, I felt inspired.  Why not move things around in unexpected ways? A door knob with a stack of books. Makes perfect sense.  Is Cassidy a future design star? Maybe.  Am I obessed with vignettes now? Absolutely.

I love grouping unusual objects together. Vignettes are such a sweet way to dress up a corner of the room or add visual interest to an entry way or coffee table. In my opinion, any flat surface could use a little va-va-voom.  Plus, a vignette on a flat space is way cooler than your pile of bills and your car keys. However, vintage skeleton keys might look nice...

This is a vignette I created in my foyer.  It makes me happy to see it as I walk to the front door each day.  As you walk around your house, there are so many objects that you can group together to make pretty displays.   Challenge yourself to rearrange and regroup a little...even things that don't seem to go together(like an egg, a crystal necklace, a gravy boat and a vintage camera).  Find inspiration in the things you love, or the things your two year old loves, and go with it. 

I started this vignette with a pair of casement windows from my old house as the back drop.  Add in a small stack of books, a crystal doorknob(thanks, Cass!), a red lantern and a little bird on a stack of parisian plates under a glass dome and viola!  va-va-voom.  Looking at the picture, I think a charcoal colored chalk paint on the desk would really make the whole thing pop.  See? Inspiration can come from any where, at any time!

Lastly, this book looked amazing to inspire ideas for beautiful surfaces.  I plan on picking this up next time I'm at Barnes and Noble. My husband saw the  book cover picture and wanted to know where that was in our house.  Love his attention to detail. I'm hoping the book will give me a great idea for my coffee table.  If I find one, I'll share it with you.  I'd love to see your inspired vignettes, too!

Update: The Closet Project is on hold. I'm waiting for my darling husband to stop working for just one day so he can show me how to use the table saw. The new cubbies I bought to organize our toy shelves are far too heavy and I need to give a little extra support to them. After that, I swear, I will conquer the closet monster. Or go certifiably insane from the mess.