Connect

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Red Shutter Cottage

Beauty. Order. Contentment.

  • Home
    • About Me
  • Decorating
    • Fall Harvest
    • Christmas
    • Early Winter
    • Spring/Summer
    • Vignettes
  • Projects
    • Furniture
    • Painting
  • Organizing
    • Fall
    • Christmas
    • Kitchen
  • Kitchen
    • Menus
    • Recipes
    • Shopping
    • Food Prep
  • Gallery
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / Decorating / Beach-y Summer Dining Table Vignette

Beach-y Summer Dining Table Vignette

August 14, 2016 by Kristine 1 Comment

For summer, I wanted to have a dining table vignette that is beach-y and natural looking. Our home is small but there are nice sightlines to the dining room table from the living room and the kitchen table. Because of that visibility, I like to keep the dining table decorated in a seasonal way.

The principles of vignettes are color, texture, height, depth and shape. In this post, I hope to show you how this vignette utilizes those 5 principles.

I find that the best way to start is with a blank canvas, er, blank table!

Summer dining table blank for summer vignette

 

Step one was to put down a very natural looking runner; it’s almost a sand color. (It came from Home Goods a few years back.)

 

Dining Table with summer runner

 

Step 2 was to use this basket as a focal point. This basket jumped into my cart one day at Home Goods.  The structure is metal, with rope and wood handles.  I originally saw it as a rather nautical themed basket, great for summertime.  But truly it is far more versatile!  I have been able to use it for Harvest decorating and Early Winter as well.

Summer dining table with basket

In step 3, I added a couple of blocks of wood for height, and placed my garage sale lantern on top. I nearly balked when the original owner wanted $5 for it.  But I now consider money well-spent.  I love this lantern, and I would like to buy another one. I keep looking, but haven’t really found anything I love as much as this one! (Sitting inside the lantern is a battery-operated candle, on a timer!)

Summer dining table with lantern

In step 4 I start to fill the basket. The first layer is basically all wine corks mixed in with a few small pine cones. Together they do a great job of not falling out of the openings in the basket, and they build a slight foundation for the next layer.

Summer dining table corks and shells

For the 2nd layer I combined the wine corks, pine cones, and a ‘support’ layer of shells.  The pine cones with their dark color add a nice contrast against the lighter colors of the wine corks and shells.

Summer dining table basket second layer of shells

The 3rd and last layer is the showy shells with their beautiful patterns, shapes, and colors.  Since this basket is so open, every single layer shows through, making for interesting layers of shapes, textures and colors. An alternative could be a tight weave basket that is more shallow, allowing for a build-up of shells, small pine cones, wine corks, or whatever else you choose to fill it with.

Summer dining table basket third layer of shells

At this point, clearly the table needs something else.  I added two large green pots of pothos to each side, and stood back. Hmmm…not so good. The plants filled out the rest of the table nicely, but they were the wrong size.  The pots were too large, and were out of balance with the basket and lantern.

Summer dining table with large pots

Next I tried 2 smaller pots, in a lovely soft teal color that worked well with the lantern color and the runner.

Summer dining table with small pots

 

Now it’s starting to look better; these smaller pots don’t overwhelm the basket and lantern.  And the teal ties in well with the green roof of the lantern.  But all of a sudden inspiration struck! Years ago, I picked up these two sand pipers figurines; it was one of those “I like these, and they will work…..somehow!” moments.  And here, I think they work nicely. (I did see larger versions of these sand pipers at Home Goods this summer.)

Summer dining table with sand pipers

But just to show that vignettes can really be any combination of things, I replaced the sand pipers with 2 candle holders, topped with candles (again, battery-operated on a timer) with a starfish tied to them. Beach-y, summery and natural!

Summer dining table with candles

The principles of vignettes are color, texture, height, depth and shape. In this vignette, the colors all work together with their muted and natural tones.  The smooth round shapes of the pots are an attractive contrast to the shells, pine cones and wine corks in the basket.  The up and down height of the candles (or sand pipers) versus the squatty shape of the pots keeps the eye moving, without being jarring.

Summer dining table complete

Sometimes it just takes playing around until you find the right balance of look.  And always remembering to put together various combinations, even if you don’t think it will work!  How many times do you envision a vignette, only to have it fall short when it is put together?  Add in, take away, pull out. Combine random things that you’re not sure will work together.  Chances are they won’t, but in the ‘this doesn’t really work’ moment, you may catch a vision of what DOES work!

It’s a creative process: two steps backward, one to the side, three steps forward!

Happy Summer!

Kristine

 

 

Filed Under: Decorating, Spring/Summer, Summer, Vignettes Tagged With: dining room table, summer, vignettes

Previous Post: « Popovers – food that’s fun to eat!
Next Post: 2016 Fall Home Tour »

Reader Interactions

Newsletter

Please sign-up to receive updates of new blog posts!

Comments

  1. Janis says

    August 19, 2016 at 2:16 am

    I love the idea of dressing the dining room table for seasons other than just the big holidays. Our table is used mainly when we have guests but, like yours, is very visible in our big room. Thanks for the ideas!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Thank you for visiting my site! Red Shutter Cottage is a labor of love born out of my desire to organize, style and simply create and craft my environment. You'll see lots of great tips, ideas and hopefully inspiration to enhance your life and living space.

Please feel free to make comments and suggestions. I'm always open to new ideas! Read More…

Newsletter

Please sign-up to receive updates of new blog posts!

Featured Posts

Basket filled with pears from www.redshuttercottage.com

Taking a break…

Hello, and thank you for stopping by. Red Shutter Cottage is taking a little break.  I am writing this in October 2020 and hope to be back in 2021 with new posts about cottage style, why I love thrift shopping, and my (very tiny) obsession with roosters! Together, Sailor and I are facing some big…

Read More »

Archives

  • October 2020 (1)
  • May 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • February 2020 (1)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • June 2019 (2)
  • May 2019 (1)
  • April 2019 (1)
  • March 2019 (1)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (2)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • November 2018 (3)
  • October 2018 (3)
  • September 2018 (2)
  • August 2018 (1)
  • July 2018 (2)
  • June 2018 (1)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • March 2018 (2)
  • February 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • December 2017 (1)
  • November 2017 (2)
  • October 2017 (2)
  • September 2017 (1)
  • August 2017 (3)
  • July 2017 (3)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • January 2017 (2)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • October 2016 (3)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • July 2016 (2)

Favorite Blogs

https://www.onsuttonplace.com

https://missmustardseed.com

http://www.iheartorganizing.com

http://www.southerncurated.com

 

Footer

Copyright 2018 Red Shutter Cottage

Site built by Green Owl Consulting
Privacy | Disclosure Policy

Newsletter

Please sign-up to receive updates of new blog posts!

Copyright © 2022 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress