Sometimes I impress even myself. One of the blogs I love to snoop is Nesting Place. She is an awesome mama, blogger, and inspirational designer. The other day I was reading her post about vignettes and I realized that I don't know that word in the context of interior design. Turns out a vignette, as defined by HGTV, is a the "[arrangement] of accessories into a gorgeous still life that creates a mood and makes your room look polished and pulled together". Well I may not call them that, but arrangements of this type are definitely part of my approach. I love to create seasonal displays around the house and I try to keep them fresh and interesting. In fact vignettes, as I now know they're called, play a key role in my cleaning approach.
A few years ago I sharing my philosophy to my sister-in-law who was doing some accessorizing around her place and chatting with me about cleaning. This was back when between the two of us we only had one kid, my nephew, but the techniques still apply I think. Basically, you have an arrangement (a vignette) that you like - say for example, a set of candles, a vase, a picture frame and a stack of books. You set them up on your television stand and as I describe it, "take a mental picture," of that arrangement. That's your set up and you keep it that way all of the time. You use this set up as a basis for quickly tidying up your space. This cleaning strategy can be done in two different ways - 1) when you have time to clean like after the kids go to bed, and 2) when you don't (like as it happens too often to me it's Wednesday and you worked later than you should have and your mother-in-law is on her way over for her bi weekly visit with her granddaughter and you need to make the place presentable fast). I grab a laundry basket, and remove anything from my vignette (a stack of mail, my water bottle, a bunch of toy blocks) that shouldn't be there and stash everything in the laundry basket. If I have time I go around and return things to their rightful place. If I don't I stash the laundry basket itself in a closet or in the laundry room to worry about later.
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| A Little Glass Box |
This technique works pretty well, but is especially helpful if you actually go back and empty the basket, and if you truly have a place for everything. It does you no good if your laundry basket sits in the closet for two weeks while you wander around wondering where you could have possibly put your commuter mug or if the same clutter you didn't know what to do with yesterday is clogging up the basket today.
Anyway, reading Emily's post made me take a look at the vignettes around my house and realize that they've gotten a little stale. I haven't put much thought into things and utilitarian has won out over style in many ways. For example, the beautiful square vase in which I love to put sand and pretty shells this time of year was holding our cadre of remote controls. I went on a hunt for inspiration. Who knew that a Pinterest search for "vignette" would yield dozens of artfully decorated surfaces? I'm sharing my favorites sprinkled throughout this post and having fun tweaking my shelves. I'll post my completed pictures soon!
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