Simple Spring Entrance – Vinyet Etc.

Wow guys, just WOW! I am so thrilled to be included in this Spring styling home tour hosted by my lovely friend, Jennifer at Town and Country Living!  The styling inspiration you will see within the pages of these beautiful blogs (at the end of my post) will be without a doubt show stopping spaces – I know you will be blown away, so grab that coffee and get settled… here is a little peek of what you can expect. 

I’m feeling a wee bit like a small guppy in a very large fish bowl right now though. All of these beautiful souls are so giving of their time and are SO talented,  I’m completely humbled and honoured to be sharing my vignetting/styling tips with you amongst some of my styling heroes – gulp. Thank you Jennifer for inviting me and encouraging me to step out of my comfort zone – you are the most generous and sincere person ever! xoxo

If this is your first time here, welcome!!! I love making new friends and do most of my socializing on Instagram – if you are very curious about what we do at Vinyet Etc, you can read all about us here and here – that reminds me… our “about us” needs some updating.  😉 

We are trying (very hard) to welcome Spring this year, but living in Canada it sometimes can be very tricky! Unfortunately I don’t think winter is done with us just yet! Honestly, I was going to style the porch for Spring – but our weather is just not cooperating – so front entrance it is! Spring porch for another day. 

Our front entrance  

This space is a challenge – to say the least! When we moved in here it was a very dark and dingy space. This waaaaaayyyy before – before we moved in shot is leaving me a little speechless  – wow I can’t believe the walls were actually pink (this colour combo is kind of offensive – orange/pink/green and all the trim is faux finished – but actually looks like a dozen heavy smokers lived here too – shudder)… sorry about the horrific photo quality – but I wanted to give you an idea of the darkness of this space, even though there is a windowed door with sidelights the covered porch really blocks a lot of that fantastic light – and the orange oak and the – oh my goodness… I could go on and on. 

~Shudder~ 

It still needs work in my opinion, but until we get to a complete reno we’ve just tried to brighten and lighten with some paint and, for now it’s enough. We will also be doing the porch eventually to help bounce some light into the house… but I digress. 

Before

Christmas 2017

You can see that we brightened the space a bit with paint (still SO much to do). 

Since this is a, “how I styled” post I thought I’d go through some of the steps I take to get to my finished look.  First,  I have to admit  I’ve been deep into the “playing” process before I have any type of plan formulated – like no plan at all (bad blogger), yet somehow it always comes together for me? But since we are sharing our styling tips and tricks this is generally how I approach things. Design is really all about the elements of design – colour, line, shape, texture, space, form = function, unity/harmony and balance. I don’t use all of the elements all of the time… only as a general guide. But first I… 

Strip it down

Clean up and get rid of anything that feels heavy – colours, textures etc. any of the decor from Christmas… if that’s you. 😉 Hide the winter boots, ugh! We’ll pretend that it’s Spring outside – even if some of us aren’t quite there yet… due to storage issues and function, some of the bigger items in this entrance have to stay… working with what you have can sometimes be a challenge but this usually always pushes me to think outside of all the boxes. 🙂 

Pick your inspiration

My inspiration came from a cute tea towel I bought this past fall… I used it for our,  Vintage truck picnic at Thanksgiving – but it’s also perfectly Spring IMO and those pom-poms, they had me at hello. I didn’t want to spend a small fortune buying new Spring items (zero purchases – except the hydrangeas)… and that brings me to my next point. 

Shop your own home or yard or in my case, hoard

As I said above I didn’t want to spend a small fortune buying new spring items, so I reimagined, reused and foraged my Spring look this year. I must admit this is in my nature to do anyway… I kindly call myself “frugal”. I LOVE creativity and pushing myself to explore things in different ways and that pushes (or shoves) my creativity. This vintage wooden salad bowl just needed a bit of white paint and I think it made the perfect and most unexpected platform for this demijohn. Some faux spring flowers (until some of my own are in bloom) and an interesting vignette is created.

AND the texture of that yummy wool, swoon! – (faux macrame hanger with gorgeous yarn tutorial).  That brings me to… 

Adding texture 

This is another way I love to style our home – adding texture gives your eye something different to move to – especially if there are a lot of hard surfaces in a space (like here) it provides movement and can create a focal point – I particularly love to layer textures and contrasting different textures or colours is my number one favourite way to style. These soft blankets are really great draped across this vintage bench, welcoming if you will. They have been grabbed many times on the way out the door, especially if we are having a bonfire, something to toss around your shoulders while the air is still very cool – function! 

Colour

 

Colour can be added in so many different ways… paint, furniture – wood tones, nature – flowers and accessories, it’s endless really!  Your colour choices can also be “enhanced” and magnified or reflected with mirrors and glass – you don’t need a lot of colour to have a colourful impact.  I typically have a neutral backdrop because I adore my vintage accessories (I seriously need to be in vintage/thrifting anonymous group – instead we have this enablers group – HA). If my backdrop colour is too strong I find my vintage vignettes disappear – I shudder to think of that! 😉 Regardless… if you use a lot of colour, try not to overwhelm a space – use balance, scale and consult a colour wheel if you aren’t sure – complimentary colours are a real thing. Colour theory can be a whole blog series all in it’s own, it’s very in depth – besides, colour is such a personal thing and for this post it’s pretty straight forward, choose colours that remind you of spring and sprinkle them into your decor – simple.

Vignetting 

 

Vignettes give me life and if you want to see more Springtime vignettes you can pop over to March’s Cozy Living Series. Ever since I can remember I’ve played with “stuff” aka treasures, I’ve rearranged more rooms and made more holes in walls than I care to own up to –  I love to play and layer and explore the possibilities, it’s as simple as that for me.  Do the unexpected – play, have fun and break some rules! Most importantly always remember – it doesn’t have to be perfect, all your decor needs to accomplish is that it makes you and your family happy! I shouldn’t mention here that throw pillows make me giddy, deliriously happy, BUT  they don’t make everyone in my home as happy! (not naming names) – haha – so, when you are styling remember that the peeps you live with have to live in that space too. And, finally… 

 

Edit

And finally I edit, in the frenzy of styling – (at least it’s a frenzy around here) I can get a tiny bit over enthusiastic! haha UNDERSTATEMENT!  Anyways, once you think you are done, stand back and squint! Yep, squint. Squinting is my go to technique… it helps me to see the over all space so my eyes don’t focus on all the little details (haha no pun intended) – it helps me to see the big picture – it’s my secret for lights on a Christmas tree too – the bare spots jump out when you squint. haha at least they do for me, and my whole family does it now – so don’t tell them if I’m cray cray! 😉 Rearrange and add or remove as needed, then stand back and enjoy – my family doesn’t even mind when I joke that they should move out for a week, just so I can enjoy a clean house, they think I’m kidding – I am, sort of. 

PIN this for later

Thank you so much for coming over for a visit – hopefully I’ve given you a few little ideas to make your entrance light and bright and Springified… now I am so happy to encourage you to have a peek at the beautiful Spring styling tips from this talented group of bloggers – my mind is completely blown! xoxo

Much love,

Monday – Living Rooms

Town and Country Living / Maison de Pax / Duke Manor Farm / Decor Gold

 

Tammy Damore / Kelly Elko / Shabbyfufu

 

Tuesday – Dining Room

House by Hoff / Happy Happy Nester /Paint Me Pink / Craftberry Bush / Designthusiasm

 

Wednesday – Kitchen

Sincerely, Marie Designs / The Happy Housie / Zevy Joy / A Burst of Beautiful

 

Tidbits / In My Own Style / Sand and Sisal / Thistlewood Farms

 

Thursday – Porch/Entryway

Vinyet Etc. / Shades of Blue Interiors / Taryn Whitaker / Unskinny Boppy

 

The Happy Housie / Bless’er House / Seeking Lavender Lane / Rooms for Rent