3000 Followers Event - How to vignette with JUNK (plus link up)

Welcome to Funky Junk's
3000 Follower's Event!

Wow! We're there! 3000+!  To help celebrate the event, over the next little while you'll see some fun interactive posts come up, with the intention to inspire, teach and encourage you. You're here for DIY decorating, so that's what I aim to deliver!

~ Junk Vignette Day ~

When I gutted my own home to restage my mom's (post about that HERE), I left empty holes everywhere you looked. It was pretty depressing. So... I finally did something about it.

And I'm happy to report, I had enough extra junk to fill up the spaces just fine. :)

Here are some junk vignette tips I have so you too can have one junkin' happy household! Just remember now... if someone looks at your stuff weird, you have achieved greatness, ok? :)

Need height somewhere? Stack'em up! 

And then hug it all together with a long dangly fake lovely lush green plant. Moral of this story is, if one is not enough, take a few and try stacking them.

Allow your vignettes to tell a story that make YOU smile.

Bet you didn't realize I had sculpture magic inside these rusty veins, eh? How sophisticated are these contraptions I ask? :) I scooped these precious beings from my big rust junkin' day.

Look closely inside the (whatever these are) on the right. Inside. That tiny steel thing is a dip stick. I won the Dip Stick Award when I went camping. How? All I had to do was ask what the Dip Stick Award was all about and BAM that baby was mine! I'll treasure it always. :)

Groups work

Ok, this one makes me squeal just a little. Some bent up metal basket hugging all kinds of typography goodness. Yum!

I love decorating in groups. Why, I even wrote a post showing you all my groupings not long ago HERE. Groups emphasis your treasures in a unique way, so group'em up!

Anything that holds anything can hold anything.

 If an object can hold stuff, put it to work. This pretty vintage mix master (get a load of that porcelain bowl!) provides the perfect display for a kitchen. (thanks Bec!)

 meat grinder = pencil holder

vintage something or other = plant base

rusty gears = office helps plus drink coasters

Cheat on your finishes.

This cute little curbside found bench is also sitting at my mom's house. In order to enhance the top, I simply added loose palette boards.

Now, I would not hesitate to screw down these boards if I wished the top to stay! Which is exactly what I have in mind for another piece I'll be redoing soon. So.. you don't always have to sand like crazy to reach wood. Why not attach your own top to your desired size and call it done instead? (so you can even change your mind later! cooler yet)

Pickets have feelings too.

 By this, I'm referring to substrates all on their own. This vignette (again at my mom's) needed some height to compensate for vaulted ceilings, so simple pickets standing on their sides fit the bill. Same deal with the loose palette boards I brought. I had NO idea where I'd use this stuff but I just made it work in the right places. You just need to play, make mistakes and do it again until it works.

As you can see, there really ARE no rules when playing around with this kinda stuff. You tweak things until they just feel and look good to you, tell a story, and show your little areas to their best advantage.

How to achieve this look

I actually have a secret to my vignettes. Wanna know what it is? 

Take a look at all the vignettes above. They ALL have something in common except for the first basket one. See if you can't pick it out before you read on.

Ready?

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None of the objects are crafted. 

The items you see here are displayed in their authentic form. Sometimes the item left AS IS is actually perfect. Painting, tweaking, adding this and that can actually remove vintage rustic charm. It's a very different take if you're use to tweaking everything you get your hands on.

Some things are better played with. But sometimes they're perfect as is too.

 Here's my little challenge to you. Try a new vignette with junk. And do NOT craft the objects. Just display them as is. Group them, put stuff in them, place them here and there. Just don't tamper with their originality.

Now, this is meant to be a quick fast one so please don't distraught over the linkup below. Whip up something quick and linker up if you wish! Or just do it on your own and enjoy the fact that the paint can wait another day this round. The link will be up for a week.

What do you think? Can you feel the love in all things rustic left untouched or do you tend to see all the help the objects need instead?

The Pleated Poppy Giveaway 

is still open for entries!