Easy Way to Create a Vignette Like Stonegable

Oh dear!!!  Are you prepared for a visitor who gives you a phone calls and says that she is stopping by for a little impromptu visit?  If you are like me, you want your home to look fresh and clean when someone stops in.  But what if your fresh flowers aren’t fresh anymore, the floors need to be vacuumed, and there are dirty dishes in the sink?  The bottom line is that it is time to get to work…..STAT!!!  If you are like most of us, then you and your guest will probably end up in the kitchen.  That seems to be where most people prefer to hang out, even when it’s a fancy party.  So, let’s concentrate on that area.  First off, get rid of those dishes.  Either wash them, put them in the dishwasher, or (and this is the worst case scenario) hide them in the oven.  And then create a quick vignette for the kitchen table.  One that’s colorful, cute, and uses items you probably have on hand.

 

I have a major blog crush on Stonegable.  I thinks it’s one of the best blogs out there.  Yvonne  puts so much thought and research into her blog and always has the best tips.  A perfect example of her informational posts is six tips for creating a kitchen table vignette.  She also has the most beautiful photos, and I am constantly wondering how she takes such colorful, crisp, and clear shots.  That is always a challenge for me.  She has loads of very good suggestions on every blog post that she writes.  If you follow her tips, it would be easy  to create your own version of a kitchen table vignette, and you can pretty much do it in about five minutes.  I needed a quick one recently, and although it wasn’t as beautiful as Yvonne’s creations, it sure was better than a bare table.  I followed five of her six tips, and created a nice vignette.

 

 

 

Her first tip is to use a runner.  Since I didn’t have a spring runner, I used a pale green checkered table cloth, and folded it to look like a runner.  I failed on the second suggestion.  She says use a tray to hold everything.  I didn’t have a tray on hand, so I skipped this step.

 

 

 

The third tip says to use lots of dishes.  I used a stack of ironstone dessert plates and topped them with some blue willow bowls.

 

 

 

The fourth tip is to use other kitchen items and more. I added a tall ironstone pitcher and put my wooden spoons in it.

 

 

I also used some colorful spring-like napkins.  They started life as bandanas, but when I saw them in the store, I knew they would make perfect napkins.

 

 

I also added some silver knives in another pitcher and tossed in some oranges for color, texture, and shape.

 

 

 

Tip number five is to vary the heights, and that was an easy one.

 

 

And the last tip was to include one big focal point.  I just happened to have a fern that I had purchased at the garden center recently.  It was still too early to buy some ferns to hang outside, but I knew this fern could add some spring freshness to our indoors.  I put it in a small galvanized pail, and it was the perfect focal point.  It added life to the table, and was a perfect substitute for fresh flowers.

 

If you aren’t a regular reader of hers already, be sure to stop by Yvonne’s Stone Gable blog and take a look around.  She has tons of information.  Oh, and she, along with two other bloggers, has a podcast that has three new episodes a week.

 

Take care.