cozy minimalist

Our bedroom is one of the few places in our house where I feel like I can make a vignette and it will stay that way. But that’s the one room where I go a little crazy and demand that everything in the room be ‘quiet’.  The duct tape wall is loud enough for me, I want everything else to be almost silent. So I admit, my dresser vignette lacks pizzaz but, it makes me feel all calm.

dresser

The reality in most of our house is that I’m the messiest person and set my junk down everywhere. So my surfaces have a choice, they can either be a cute vignette that is interrupted with a Starbucks cup, random jewels that I unknowingly removed, a pen without a cap and my phone. I can NEVER find my phone.

Or,

pink peony

I can keep so little on a space that when I set down my junk (that’s my stuff, not my hiney) I can easily find where I put it because the surface doesn’t have much on it in the first place. It’s not glamorous, it’s not a high-end decorating tip, it’s just my reality. Most of my surfaces are cleared off (when not in use with a project which is often) or, have one to three things on them. Nothing like all those beautifully full vignettes in many of those pinterest pins.

By the way, that’s the only Peony I have right now. After The Great Peony Debacle of 2012, one of my planted plants did come back, another was protected by being in a huge container (shocked it bloomed again) but, alas, our Disney trip was last week and I left four ready-to-burst-buds and came home to brown flowers. I will remain strong in my love for peonies even though they mock me. So this flower is getting a workout around my house…

peony

A hem.

empty vignettedisclaimer, the lampshade photographs purple but it is dark grey in real life, I am so vain I have to tell you that–an empty canvas is beautiful to me, but I cringe at the thought that you might think my shade is purple…clearly I have issues

So back to my vignette. It’s empty. And I not-so-secretly like it that way.

Remember how I hot glued the wooden monogram to this canvas? I LOVED it. But a few months ago while I was moving the canvas around to see if I liked it on the downstairs gallery wall, the monogram popped off (no damage to either, I LOVE that about hot glue–the perfect adhesive!) and when I put the canvas back in our room it let out a huge breath. And so did I.

I’m actually not looking to put anything on the canvas. The point of this post is that I like it empty. So I’m purposely keeping it empty *gasp* for now. Right now in my life, I can use a little breathing room. Hence an empty canvas. Kind of a metaphor that I like. I know better than to think it will stay like this forever–that’s the best part, I can change it whenever I want. And I’m already looking for a new fun place for the monogram. Or maybe I’ll put it back.

I’m keeping it empty for now on purpose. Because I like it that way. Did you know you are allowed to do that?

coffee table

So yes, I love and adore and dream about and preach about vignettes. Mine really aren’t that remarkable. But they are quite livable, serve our needs and represent where we are right now.  A little in transition, a little white space, a little risky, and that flower will die in three days and I’ll need to find something else to put there. Really, when it comes to vignettes, my goal isn’t to create something everyone will oooh and ahhh over and shake their head in agreement that I did it ‘right’, it’s about being intentional and knowing what I like and what our family needs.

amen.