Décor Basics: Create interesting Vignettes around your Home

If you are a décor lover, you have no doubt seen the word vignette often enough, in decorating blogs and mags. From the pictures that are captioned or described as ‘vignettes’ we kind of know what they mean – a small area of a room that contains attractively arranged décor items/ sometimes it looks like a closeup of a section of a room. To add more clarity, I would like to say, from what I have seen and learnt, a vignette is usually attempted on a flat surface – a corner, a table top or a floorspace, and could spill over to the wall (or surface) directly behind or next to it, or even a wall itself. I hope that didn’t sound too technical.

Would you like to learn more about creating vignettes around your home? Here are some ideas

& Vignettes can be made using something you have been collecting. For instance, I collect brass knick knacks and I have just created this vignette with my brassware.

 
& It’s not a must that homogenous items form a vignette – dissimilar items can mesh together beautifully. For instance, a stack of books, a vase filled with flowers, a fat white candle, a photograph can all come together beautifully to form a vignette

 
& Add visual height to your vignette to create interest. Or not. The good thing here is there are only ideas, no hard and fast rules!

 
& Vignettes are a great way to ensure that all your décor treasures get their place in the sun.

FAQs

1. So if a vignette can be done on a table, can a tablescape be called a vignette?
   Technically, no. A tablescape usually refers to a dining table set for a meal, carefully arranged with tableware as well as pretty things such as flower vases and candles. A tablescape usually has a colour or other theme, while a vignette may not. But, you could create a vignette with food, like this (of course this is something that will look beautiful only for a short span of time, but never lose an opportunity to create a vignette hehe)

2. A wall is a flat surface. Can a vignette be arranged on a wall?
   There are purists who say no. But I would say yes, you could create a vignette on a wall. Here is a lovely example on Vasudha’s wall.

3. Can a cross section of a room – say the seating, be considered a vignette?
   Ehmm, no. If you remember what I said earlier, a vignette is arranged (usually) on a flat surface. So on those grounds, no – a seating arrangement is not a vignette. To put things into perspective, that would be a slice of a room, while a vignette is tinier, a bite of a room, if you like.

I hope that this post has in some way helped you get the hang of what works as a vignette and what doesn’t. Have anything more to add to this? Have a question to ask? Get in touch!

I invite you to join the facebook community page on decor called Decor Drama, where every Thursday is #vignette day, and you can treat yourself to some really gorgeous images all day!

Happy decorating!

Image credits:
My home in Pune
Wall image is by Vasudha Narasimhan, blogger at Cheris hing Spaces
Top image: from the keybunch archives, owner unknown (pls contact if the image is yours)