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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham
Showing posts with label Pottery Barn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pottery Barn. Show all posts

Three Easy Designs...Patriotic Deck

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Have you ever noticed how 
patriotic the designs of automobile license plates are?

License plates are one of the three easiest ways
to add patriotic decor any place.
Easy to find...
Inexpensive at antique stores or free after expiration...
Versatile to use... 
Just stand one anywhere,
or hang using the built-in screw holes.
Easy, easy, easy... no drilling.  


Stars, red, white, blue... 
An older Texas plate that once was on my car is 
very patriotic, 
among its many themes... 
state map, space travel, cowboys, oil wells... 



This is one of my all-time favorite Texas plates.  

I grew up outside Huntsville, Alabama, 
the Rocket City in the United States, and 
married a long tall Texan. 
He wasn't a cowboy with a horse, 
but he did wear boots, attended Stock Shows, 
and we have a gas lease on our two acres. 
Don't get too excited. 
The last royalty check was $36.  



Here are four license plates found in my 
haphazard collection of auto license plates, 
and all of them are patriotic. 

Look at the bottom left Alabama plate. 
The background is a flag, and 
the logo is, 
"God Bless America." 



Welcome to my patriotic deck, 
outfitted for summer holidays 
with pillows, colorful drinks, and license plates. 

Independence Day - July 4 
Bastille Day - July 14 
Labor Day - September 1



Sit for a while. 
Enjoy a cool drink under the shade trees. 
True summertime activities... 



Texans in the left Adirondack chair... 
Filled with blue stars and stripes... 
Who says stripes have to be red? 

The second quick way 
to add patriotic decor is with pillows. 

The large pillow came from Pottery Barn last fall 
when it was the last one in the store and on sale. 

No throw pillows?
For talented DIYers,
Confessions of a Serial DIY
shows how to make your own
patriotic drop cloth pillow.
Now, if only my sewing machine would work. 

Then there is always bargain hunting for beautiful pillows.
Watch for end-of-season sales...
Like the European-size blue stars and stripes Pottery Barn pillow...

Or, best of all, outlet shopping. 


Alabamans in the right Adirondack chair... 
With the new Pottery Barn OUTLET pillow. 

I was so excited to get to go to a Pottery Barn Outlet last week. 
The closest one is about four hours from here, 
and the cost of the gas for driving there cancels out savings. 
So, no Pottery Barn Outlet shopping. 

Then, I looked online and found one in Memphis, Tennessee, 
right on the route to my mom's house in Alabama. 

My sister and I stopped there on 
the way home from visiting Mother. 
It was just ten minutes from our highway.  
The flag pillow was not the only bargain I found. 



After all that shopping and driving, 
sitting on the deck is called for. 



A patriotic California license plate tops a rustic homemade birdhouse 
that doubles as a storage box. 



Native of other states?... sit at the table. 
We can round up more chairs as needed. 



Linen and cotton blue napkins with stars, 
more Pottery Barn Outlet bargains, 
are tied with a re-used ribbon. 



Patriotic designed drinks are the third easy, inexpensive way 
to add patriotic decor. 
Classic Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and bottled water 
sport red, white, and blue colors.  

 The navy citronella candle to ward off pesky bugs 
 was on sale at Lowes. 



The drinks in a G. Wolff pot found at The Greenery
look even more patriotic inside a kitchen dish towel
and sitting on top of a star-filled napkin.



Bottled water and Coca-Colas... 
Cool summer drinks... 



What better way to spend a summer holiday?
Surrounded by three easy patriotic decor ideas and ...



Sitting on the shady deck with family and friends,
having a Coca-Cola....
❦
~~~~~~~~~~
Please join me at these inspiring sites...
SUNDAY
Share It One More Time @ One More Time Events

MONDAY
Amaze Me Mondays @ Dwellings, the Heart of Your Home


TUESDAY
Anything Blue Friday @ The Dedicated House
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Vignette Design Series #2~Theme

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Have you ever wondered 
how stylists create their beautiful 
vignettes?

Welcome to Element #2
Theme
"the subject of a vignette"
in a

A collection of botanical items
enhance one another in this vignette.
 Each brings a variation of nature to the group 
creating an interconnected complex nuanced setting.  
The birds relate to the bird's nest on the card and
 to the boxwood suggesting places birds nest, 
one a manmade home and one a natural home. 
The three cards depict foliage in various forms 
that echo the boxwood's foliage.

The lamp's flower-filled cup base reiterates the floral theme
 of the botanical print on the wall and the 
botanical print of a hydrangea in the paperweight, 
all of which relate to the boxwood 
in a way different from the birds or cards.

Take a look at a Pottery Barn image.
Source: Pottery Barn Online Catalog
Beach is obviously the theme.
Simplicity of the grouping
relates to the beach theme;
very few items are needed to make
one happy at the beach.
No worries, no fuss, no hurry...
The lanterns with candles say beach in that
they provide light where there is
no electricity.

The bottles in the lanterns are
subtle reminders of messages
in bottles that wash shore.

Look at the group of items below
 that is filled with unrelated items I LOVE.
Yes, I intentionally worked 
at putting things together that are very unrelated.
A vignette without a theme may have 
beautiful objects in it, but without a connection (theme)
there is no harmony in the vignette.
Non-themed collections 
are only individual items, 
each clamoring for attention, 
but not enhancing the others. 

A grouping with a 
theme
 is greater than its parts.

 To borrow a well-known saying
botanic bleu
Examine a vignette that calls to you.
What is the theme?
Is it possible that you are drawn to the vignette
because you love the theme?

Stay tuned...
The roles of Texture and Color
 are coming in future posts.
❧
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Vignette Design Series #1~Composition

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Have you ever wondered 
how stylists create their beautiful 
vignettes?

How do they choose...
Which objects to include?
Where to place them?
Quantity to use?

I've always enjoyed arranging
 and re-arranging 
little groupings of objects. 
Since I began blogging, I have been
studying others' vignettes to 
find ways to improve my own.

 Nope, I am not a licensed interior decorator or
a degreed architect interior designer.
 In another life I may have been.
These thoughts are just things I've
 noticed about vignettes that please my eyes.

Here's where I find (peruse for hours) arrangements that help me.
Source: Pottery Barn Online Catalog and Printed Catalog
Of course, main sources for inspiration are
blogs written by talented and creative decorators...
Take a look at some of their vignettes...

Dwellings, the Heart of Your Home
Cedar Hill Ranch
and many, many more...

So, let me share some of 
the things I've learned

Element #1 
Composition
"the way in which a whole or mixture is made up"
in a
In this series, composition refers to how a vignette
is physically composed or made.

Composition is the real bones of a vignette;
 without good composition, the most beautiful
 objects are not ready for their close-ups, Mr. DeMille.

Several bloggers recently wrote articles that 
give great tips on composition,
 especially about the 
Number 
of items to group together.
Odd numbers of items seem to be more pleasing 
to the eyes than even numbers of items.

Visually, the vignette at my pine chest has 
a total of nine items 
(floral print, topiary, two birds, three cards, paperweight, lamp stack.)
 The lamp on the stack of books works as one unit.

Two birds with the preserved boxwood create 
a group of three.

There are three cards.

Seven items are in the cluster of smaller objects
 that are viewed together. 
 The lamp and print are so different that this small
 visual group is a vignette within a vignette.

Now, look back at the Pottery Barn image.
I'll wait.

There are three lanterns, 
 five items at the table group
 (3 lanterns, table, flower under the table,)
seven major objects in the photo
 (five at the table group and
two vertical posts.)

Composition involves more than numbers...
Movement
 of the eyes is also a big component 
of composition.

The whole scene should lead the eyes
 up and back around in a circular fashion.
 This is also one of the basic concepts in 
 printed page layout.
 The eyes should not be led off
 into nothingness, leaving the page, or, 
in our case, leaving the vignette. 

In this vignette, the preserved boxwood leads the eyes up
 to the print, then the lamp draws the eyes down, 
then down to the medium height card, 
which leads down to shortest card of the three, 
then down to the paperweight, 
which leads back up to the short bird, 
then to the taller bird,
 back up to the boxwood.

The eyes never wander outside the vignette;
 they are always pulled back to another feature.

Revisit the Pottery Barn grouping.
Here it is again so you don't have to look for it.
Source:  Pottery Barn Online Catalog
The three lanterns lead
 the eyes upward to the sky, but 
the right-side vertical post draws 
the eyes back down, and
 the curled rope leads the eyes 
down to the potted plant that leads 
the eyes back up to the lowest lantern.
No one is led off looking into the wild blue yonder.

Focal point
is another part of composition.
Those who have studied art 
are very familiar with creating a 
focal point in a painting or lettering 
so that a realistic perspective is created.
Focal points in paintings are often 
known as vanishing points, 
the spot where all the lines of sight 
converge.

The focal point in my vignette is 
the old French watercolor postcard.
This focal point is created by the placement of
 the objects on either side of the postcard.
The lamp/book stack and the birds are 
positioned closer to the front edge of the 
pine chest with the postcard
 placed farther back.
 The lines of sight on either side of the card 
converge on the postcard.

Seen from above, I realize I really should 
move the shorter bird a little closer to the 
front edge of the pine chest for 
a more pleasing line of sight 
to the watercolor postcard.

Oh, yes,... we will look at the Pottery Barn image 
to see its focal point 
and to see how the stylist achieved it.
Source:  Pottery Barn Online Catalog
Do you think you see the focal point?
Where do your eyes focus first?

My eyes say the focal point is the 
smallest lantern sitting atop the table.

Why?
The lantern is sitting at the corner of the table 
with the corner at the center of the camera lens.
The lines of sight to the lantern follow the edges of the table 
towards the front of the table. 
This is reinforced visually with the 
table leg pointing up to the lantern.

Horizontally, the large lantern is 
behind the smallest lantern and
 the medium lantern is slightly back 
of the smallest lantern.

Source:  Pottery Barn Online Catalog
 More subtle, not perfectly aligned 
lines of sight, is the rope draping 
down to the table from the posts. 
The rope appears to reach its 
lowest point directly 
behind the smallest lantern 
leading the eyes to the  
base of the smallest lantern.

Yes, those Pottery Barn stylists are
real pros!

Movement and focal point are achieved 
by layering objects.
Movement is created by vertical variations.
Focal point can be created by horizontal variations.
Height and depth are two important keys to 
stunning vignettes. 

In summary, 
Composition: Number, Movement, Focal Point
Photo Source: Pottery Barn Online Catalog
What do you think?

Try analyzing a vignette 
that you just LOVE.
See if it has any of these
components and let me know
 what you discover.

Stay tuned...

This is the first in a 
Vignette Design Series.
I hope you will be back for 
articles that will review the 
roles of Theme,
Texture, and Color 
in creating 
vignettes to love.
❧
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Please join me at these inspiring sites...
MONDAY
Blue Monday @ Smiling Sally
Amaze Me Mondays @ Dwellings, the Heart of Your Home

TUESDAY
Fabulously Creative Friday @ Jennifer Rizzo
Be Inspired Friday @ Common Ground
Anything Blue Friday @ The Dedicated House
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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