How to Style a Coffee Table Vignette

Happy Thursday y’all!

A coffee table vignette is a fun and easy way to incorporate home decor on a budget and look great too! There are endless many ways you can style a vignette, so let’s get started!

There are five main things that you should keep in mind when styling a vignette:

1. Tray
2. Elevation
3. Greenery
4. Books
5. Trinkets

First let’s start with the tray. This creates a boundary for your pieces. Without the tray, your table just looks cluttered. There are lots of different types of trays: wooden, plastic, wicker, metal, etc. The type/color of tray you pick depends on how you want it to look on your table or what style you’re going for. I got my tray at the Vintage Market for $25. Since my coffee table has a dark finish, I wanted my tray to be lighter to have contrast. See the difference with and without the tray:

Without the tray the table looks messy

The tray groups all the pieces nicely!

The next element is elevation. This creates a sense of dimension and is far less boring than if everything were the same height. Elevation can be achieved in a few different ways. One is obviously having pieces that are different heights. If you have pieces that you have your heart set on using for the vignette, but are all the same height, you can create “faux elevation” by stacking items. For example, putting a mason jar on top of a stack of books next to a lantern. Having two or more different elevations is ideal. I got the lantern at JoAnn’s Fabrics for $20 (it was originally $40!) I already had the LED candle inside which was from Target.

Up next is greenery! Whether it’s real or not, having some greenery will brighten up any vignette and bring the whole piece together. My personal favorite are succulents (I’ve only killed one of two so far!) The terra cotta pot is from an estate sale that I got for free! (it was the original terra cotta orange so I painted it a light blue and used sandpaper to scuff it up a little) I got my succulents from Kings Gardens for $8 and the dark pink flowers are from Dollar Tree. I got the dome and cotton stems from the Vintage Market. The mint julep cup is from Bargain Hunt ($5) and the light pink flowers are from JoAnn’s Fabrics. While I was cutting some floral wire for the flower bouquet, I accidentally cut my finger. It wasn’t very big but I couldn’t tell how deep it was. I didn’t end up needing stitches, but I was 30 minutes late to work (crafting can get pretty serious sometimes, lol.) See some greenery examples below:

Multiple “greenery” options (only the succulent is living.) I’m planning on putting a wood circle underneath the wood dome

After I got the blood cleaned up from cutting my finger

Books are the next piece that bring the vignette together. They can be cute, coffee table books that you plan for your guests to thumb through or old books that are simply for looks. You can even paint old hardcover books to give them a fresh look! I got mine from an estate sale for $1 each. Magazines can work too, but you should at least have one actual book. I actually just bought The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines and I absolutely cannot wait until it comes in so I can read it all in one sitting! I love that family so much. So I might use that in my vignette at some point.

Cute coffee table books

Painted books from my fave farmhouse blogger Sarah at Little Vintage Nest! I love the piece of lace that ties them together so beautifully (figuratively and literally)

The old books that I have

Last but not least are trinkets. There are tons of varieties of trinkets out there so this is where you can have some fun. Whether it’s a little dish or figurine, trinkets add the finishing touch to your coffee table vignette. I got the blue bird from Queen Bee Gifts (I LOVE THIS PLACE!) for $8 or $9 I believe. The horse shoe was $5 from Feather Your Nest. I used to have several from the horse camp I went to for several years when I was younger and I wish I would have kept them! Oh well. The gold hexagonal figurine was $2 at Tuesday Morning. The Kentucky shaped item is actually a cookie cutter. I wasn’t planning on using it for my vignette, but when I was grabbing items that I could possibly use for this post, I saw it and thought “hm, that could work.” I probably won’t use it at school because none of my other roommates are from Kentucky. It is a cute way to add a personal touch though.

Cute trinket options

Overall, make the vignette yours! Add pieces that are part of your personality. And lastly, have fun with it! If you’re not happy with how the vignette looks, change it up! Move things around every once in a while. Mix it up at the start of a new season or when you’re getting bored with it. See multiple options below:

 

Have fun styling!

Alyssa

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Vintage Market Days of Lexington

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all those who put their life on the line for this country. Your service and bravery don’t go unnoticed. (Special shoutout to my awesome roomie, Rachel Baker who is in Army ROTC, you rock.)

As I’m sure most of y’all know by now, I love anything farmhouse/vintage home decor, so when I saw on Facebook that an event called “Vintage Market Days of Lexington” was coming to the Kentucky Horse Park, I was beyond excited.

Imagine a crazy redhead running out the door, sporting a messy bun, purse in tote and coffee in hand: that was me on Saturday. I literally could not sleep the night before because I was so excited. I know that sounds lame, but I live for this kind of stuff.

This is the first time this event has come to Lexington, but I know they will be back because of the great turnout. A portion of the proceeds went to Old Friends Farm in Georgetown, KY where they rescue old racehorses and give them a home. Each event has it’s own theme and this one was “Home Sweet Home.”

 

Taken from the VMD Instagram page

The event was this past weekend and boy, was it fun. Friday was the first day and was the “early buying event” as customers got the first pick of everything. Customers were given blue wristbands which allowed them re-entry for the rest of the weekend, including free parking.

I actually got to experience both sides of this event as a worker and a customer. I wanted to go to the Friday show, but my friend, Sabrina, who was going with me had work that day, so we went on Saturday instead. So on Friday and Sunday I worked the event. They even gave us these cute little aprons to wear. I loved those. Eric and Mimi Griffith are the owners of the Lexington VMD franchise. They put so much work into this event and I’m sure were “running on E” the whole weekend, but they were so kind and welcoming to both the workers and the customers.

 

Taken from the VMD Facebook page

I won’t bore you with the “behind the scenes” things that I did as a worker, but I will tell you about Sabrina’s and my customer experience Saturday!

Let me tell you, this event is so awesome. There are over 80 vendors from 18 different states and they all have amazing items for sale.

I should probably mention, my school friends and I got an on-campus apartment next year, so I have been searching for decor items for that. This was the perfect place to find rustic, farmhouse style decor for any space!

I went in knowing that I wanted to buy some cotton stems, but other than that I didn’t have anything else in particular in mind, just whatever spoke to me!

The doors officially opened at 10 and the first 25 customers in line got a special VMD bag that they could use to put their treasures in and there were also some goodies in there as well. Unfortunately, Sabrina and I weren’t the first 25 in line, but we were okay with that.

 

Taken from the VMD Facebook page

We actually purchased our tickets ahead of time, which I HIGHLY recommend. This speeds up the process so much, you just hand them your ticket, they slap a wristband on you, and off you go to find your vintage treasures!

Taken from the VMD Facebook page

When you first walk in, there are a few vendors on the upper level and a plethora of others on the lower level. Sabrina and I noticed that the flow of traffic seemed to be to the right on the upper level and it was extremely congested, so we said “I don’t know about y’all but we’re going to the lower level!” There were hardly any customers on the lower level because they were still on the upper level so we basically had the whole place to ourselves!

These pictures are just a glimpse at the types of items vendors were selling:

 

Taken from the VMD Facebook page

Taken from the VMD Facebook page

Taken from the VMD Facebook page

Taken from the VMD Facebook page

I found a few vendors that had cotton stems, but they weren’t long enough for what I was needing. I was planning to put them on a dollar store vase I bought and painted white (thrifty!) which was 9 inches tall, so the stem needed to be at least that long. I finally found some at the Rosewood booth (their main store is located in Harrodsburg, KY) which were 29 inches tall and were $8 a piece when you bought 2 or more (score!) I’m telling y’all and Sabrina can attest to this, when I saw these cotton stems I literally made a beeline towards them and didn’t look back! I was so excited I found some that were long enough. So I bought 3 and went on my merry way to find more vintage goodies.

Taken from Rosewood LLC Facebook page

 

I also found a glass dome that I was wanting in the back of my mind. I wanted to do something similar to this picture (with the wood circle on the bottom, but with the bark still on.)

 

I knew Home Depot had some on their website for $11, but I got this sucker for $6 at VMD. I was beyond hype, but I think Sabrina was even more hype than me, because when we were looking around more a little later, we saw similar ones for literally over $40, so I got a steal (insert emoji wearing sunglasses here).

The last thing I bought was a wooden tray for my coffee table, which I still need to repaint and retain (find that post here) It’s beautiful, sturdy, and at $25, a great price for the quality.

 

As soon as I got home I went to work styling my coffee table vignette (ok, I lied, I took a nap first because I was exhausted), but after that I played around a little with the vignette, moving pieces around and seeing what I liked where. I think I settled on this design, but who knows, I will probably change it 15 times before I actually move in. (If you’d like to know where I got the other pieces, feel free to comment below!) I’m planning to put a bright pink flower in that mint julep cup to add a pop of color.

 

There were also a TON of blanket ladders (these are literally wooden ladders that you put blankets on, decorative and functional!) I had actually already bought one at a garage sale for $10 (another steal), but if I hadn’t, I for sure would have bought one here. Most of them were $22-$25 (such great prices!) Below is the one I have:

 

 

Sabrina had a few things catch her eye as well. She bought an adorable wooden piece (pictured below) that you could put a multitude of things in (silverware, plants, makeup brushes, etc.), but since she is an education major, she plans to put crayons or colored pencils in it and maybe paint the front to say “Teacher” or “Ms. Spillman” (or whatever her new married name will be ;)).

She also bought a cute little vintage tin cup that she plans to put a flower or succulent in. Who would have thought of that? I’ll tell you who: vintage market people.

 

Sabrina is also obsessed with cacti (I’ve taken a liking to succulents, hence my header on my page!) So she also bought a cute little succulent decal that she wants to put on a piece of cardstock, write a cute quote on it, and frame it.

Overall, we came away with some great pieces and had a wonderful experience! The Kentucky Horse Park is having another VMD event October 20-22 (my birthday weekend, so you know I’ll be in there like swimwear). I debated on whether or not I should tell y’all because I want to keep this amazing event on the DL (more goodies for me!), but I also can’t help sharing my great experience and wish you the same.

 

Hope to see you there in October!

Much Love,

Alyssa

P.S. If there is something y’all would like me to write about, just comment and let me know!