Organizing with Kitchen Vignettes

Organizing your kitchen is one thing. Making a personal statement with organization is another thing entirely.

A deluded prelude to kitchen vignettes

Austerity makes a kitchen counter simple to clean. For two years I kept my counter completely bare. It wasn’t because I embrace a minimalist aesthetic, because I don’t. I just found that relentless smatterings of crumbs were easier to clean without hindrances. But…

A kitchen vignette awakening

The austere look lacked humanity. And style. Plus the melamine counter top of my rental simply didn’t merit 100% of the attention. It simply could not do the style job on its own. It demanded a distraction from its underwhelm. An infusion of personality was the answer, in the form of kitchen vignettes.

Sparking a kitchen vignette

Combine any or all of these elements to spark your counter top vignette:

– cooking, eating, or seasoning implements corralled in some type of container, like a vase or tray
– objects in some type of natural material, like wood or marble
– something unexpected: a portrait, a table lamp, or anything you wouldn’t expect to find in a kitchen
– something living like plants or cut flowers, or convincing fakes
– something that reinforces, punches up, or disrupts your color scheme
– something that is uniquely you, and would never be found in a furniture/lifestyle catalog
– a textile that speaks to you, like linen napkins artfully folded and stacked in a basket, or kitschy vintage print tea towels
– something so tacky it makes you laugh

Kitchen vignette takeaway

Eschew austerity with style. There is no need to settle for mere practicality. Things can be both useful, beautiful, and imbued with the quintessential you.

Meaningful kitchen vignettes = utilitarian objects + materials with integrity + an unexpected element.

This guest post was contributed by the gifted Kelly Ellyn, a lifestyle blogger and singer-songwriter based in the Chicago area. Her mantra for making lifestyle decisions is, “How do you want to feel?” This guiding question steers us towards creating a home life that nurtures, soothes, and stimulates. It’s what humans need. Read more about Kelly’s lifestyle ideas at www.lilymoor.com.