Dresser Decor Inspiration {In which I break out a fancy word}

I enjoy the small amount of decorating I get to do in my home, but in the past I have not been very intentional about broadening my horizons and trying new things. This year, I’m making an effort to make the decor in my bedroom - slash - office - slash - shop - slash - crafting room practical and inspirational. A room with that many uses has to be all that and organized, to boot!

An inspirational work space was becoming increasingly important to me, and what I had going on in the space was not working for me anymore. I decided to be a bit more intentional in my decor, putting thought into what I actually wanted instead of just slapping a few things up and calling it a day. I started dreaming up plans for the space - beginning with my vintage wood dresser.

And here is where my fancy word comes in.

What do you call it when you are decorating the top of a dresser? I was thinking of it as a sort of mantle arrangement, but a mantle it is not. Tablescape won’t work either. After scouring around for some ideas {you’d be surprised, “top of dresser” does bring up some search results in Pinterest} I decided on this fancy word: Vignette.

Doesn’t it just look and sound fancy to you? {Seriously, say it out loud.} I believe this is the right word for this type of top-of-something arrangement of random items.

I looked up vignette in the dictionary, and the basic meaning was “a small portrait that fades into the background without a border.” And I decided that was a good name for this type of decor. I do want it to be beautiful, but to “fade into the background” so to speak...to add to the room, but not be all like, “HELLO, I’M DECORATED!”

So, I’m creating a vignette...now what?

That is what I continued to ask myself, “How does one go about deciding on an arrangement of random items that works?” Well first of all, you scour the blog-land and Pinterest for ideas. Here are some of my favorites:

Project Decor

It's Just Laine

pennies'n'grace

Bower Power

There is always a common theme of tall and short items, textured and smooth, with complimenting height and depth. I found that I love vignettes with a very specific colour scheme, but I’d be pushing my luck to think I could get that fancy on my first effort at this thing. :)

Tomorrow, I’ll share the end result...after several weeks of collecting items, ideas, and putting it all together. I have a great blank slate to work with…

...well, if you ignore the phone. :) Too bad that has to be right. there!

Here is a teaser to give you an idea of the space as it’s looking today:

Come back tomorrow for the final result! =)