Contemporary Accessories can be made from so many items. Wall art can be a piece of jewelry, like a brooch. Or Mod Podge magazine pictures or posters onto foam core and frame them. Twist Fimo into a piece of sculpture, worthy of standing on a plinth in a MacMansion vestibule. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.
Coffee tables offer space for books, flowers and decorative pieces. To keep objects orderly and pleasing to the eye, use trays to group similar items, such as ceramics and pillar candles. Try clustering candles of different sizes and colors in one tray and bowls or vases in another. Jazz up a stack of books by topping it with a vessel filled with found objects.
Personalize a space on the mantle by using items that symbolize you and your interests. You’ll want one piece or element to dominate the grouping, with smaller items supporting it. The subject can be anything that describes you. Just be sure to keep the items in the same theme.
Adding flowers can provide a beautiful and colorful focal point to the space. Choose one large arrangement or multiple, smaller potted arrangements to showcase organic elements.
Complement a credenza with a striking piece of wall art. In reality, it should hang from 8 to 12 inches above the credenza to form an eye-pleasing connection between the items. So adjust for your project’s scale. To complete the effect, make sure that some of the accessories are tall enough to overlap the artwork, helping the art and accessories appear as a single unit.
Using elements that are different will give the space in your room box interest and flow. But be careful not to create a hodgepodge of collectibles scattered around a room. The eye will not be able to focus — and enjoy — any one item. Simplify what you collect. Stick with items that are a similar size or hue. Then gather your favorites in one spot for major impact, sans the clutter.
Harmonize objects of different shapes and sizes with an asymmetrical arrangement. You’ll want to avoid items that have all the same height or all the same size and scale. Balance a tall, large object with several smaller ones. Nestle the items together to increase the arrangement’s visual weight and overlap shapes to create layers. Choose items from the same color palette to unify unrelated objects.
Keep your miniature fresh looking by rotating accessories, Change the flowers on the coffee table often. If you have more than one interest that you can symbolize in a grouping, rotate that display on the mantle.
Make sure you have the “right” coffee table. This is mainly an issue in contemporary miniatures, where the idea is to depict life as we know it today — or a recent “yesterday.” Is the coffee table in a formal living room, or in a space where the kids will be hanging out doing homework, while your husband watches a football game? The old maxim “function before form” will point you in the right direction on what kind of table to select, and how to accessorize it.
Susan