Getting Better at Styling

After posting the pictures of the hutch makeover I received many good comments about its styling, which prompted me to share a bit more about the whole process. I'm by no means an expert but I've been learning, perhaps from many of you out there, and I've been practicing it for the past two years. It hasn't been easy for me, but the more and more you do it and pay attention to it, the easier it becomes, your eye gets used to seeing what's right or wrong, especially when you see it through your camera lens.

Let's see, this is the hutch's main picture:

As soon as I placed it in that corner, I knew it was somehow too short for my space, the bookcase I previously had in that spot almost reached the horizontal molding on the wall. The wire baskets were the solution to that trouble, they make it look taller than it is.
Some people thought there were music sheets inside the basket, but nope! Remember the old windows I found to decorate my living room? The wrapping paper used to decorate those windows was saved. Each of the pieces of paper was rolled and tied with jute rope. Some of them were rolled from the inside out and some of them the other way.
My husband had the brilliant idea to use the Four Documents of Freedom replicas I bought at Mount Vernon last year when I went with my son's class, I like that the documents had different heights, which gives them more interest.

The second basket it's been used to store papers, and magazines, at first I filled it with papers but it didn't look good through the lens, only three books in there looked way better.

I looked around the house for another similar basket, but couldn't find it, so the string holder was used instead. I like the movement the loose string gives to that corner.

This letter E was one of the objects I decided to use to decorate the hutch from the beginning, and that's also the item that gave me the idea of using that color throughout, well, besides white ;)

Yes, I wanted to have mainly white items, the whole piece was filled with white dishes, white cups, white everything, plus a few aqua accents. After taking a couple of pictures, the basket used as a drawer looked like a black hole against all the white! Time to go shopping the house for dark items.
The old thrifty jar with old rusty utensils inside it is perfect ;)

The string of white bells taken from the recycled Christmas tree before throwing it away came in handy right here. Some more movement coming out of the pitcher  ;)

The tarnished silver pieces...

And the nests balanced the dark color of the lower basket.

The theme was formed... white, teal, dark brown, and tarnished silver.

Mostly white in this next picture, but take into account the power of three, odd numbers, and the different heights. Your eye has to go from top to bottom one step at a time (framing the picture).

I'm using the basket to store cloth napkins, we don't use them frequently, and it will help the basket from getting damaged too soon. The center drawer is the one that's going to get lots of use, the kid's supplies are in there. The last drawer is still empty.

Well, there you have it, that's how the whole styling of the hutch took shape. I hope this can be of help to you. Feel free to share your tips ;)


Thanks!





My uncommon Slice of Suburbia,  Coastal Charm,  A Stroll Thru Life,  Savvy Southern Style,  Stone Gable,  French Country Cottage,  Common Ground,  Thrifty Decor Chick,  Between Naps on the Porch,  Home Stories A to Z, Uncommon, The 36th Avenue, Tatertotandjello,