Vignettisizing

I'm pretty sure that I made up that word-vignettisizing-many years ago when attempting to describe to a client what we were going to do with a niche of shelves in a wall in her entry. I wanted to make the niche interesting and pretty and not just a catch-all for stuff she didn't know what else to do with.

I think that display areas are a tricky thing for a lot of homeowners, which is too bad because they can really make or break the overall appeal of a room. There are a few tricks to making bookshelves look great. In general you want to follow these few simple rules:

-use the '3' rule-place 3 exact items on one shelf-i.e.

3 potted plants, 3 glass apples, 3 carved boxes-you get the idea.

-stagger the shelves. for instance if you are using mostly books and you do not have enough books to completely fill all shelves (an interesting look all on it's own), then place most books at one end of one shelf, at the opposite end on the next shelf, on their sides on some shelves and standing upright on others.

-add at least a little bit of greenery: ivy works well as does philodendron.

-vary the size of objects you place on the shelves.

-add a few family photos, if possible in varying size frames.

The thing about interest in these spaces is to play for a while with what you have. Putting things in and then moving them around is the way to figure out what is going to be most pleasing to you-and that's the important thing: that you like what you're looking at and that it has some meaning to you. For instance, my fiance has his shelves filled with only books and family photos. It's meaningful to him because he loves to read (and believe me, he will NOT put a book on the treasured shelves if he didn't enjoy reading it!) and he loves his family.

So take some time to fill your shelves with things you love in a way you love looking at them-and if it doesn't work the first time, don't be afraid to play some more.