Ah, the styling of little vignettes around the home…something many of us didn’t even think about until the dawn of Pinterest. Yet now styling every flat surface in our home is an art. From coffee tables to desks to, of course, dressers and vanities, any empty spot is an opportunity to show off our personalities, interests, and tastes.
No surprise here, I have a few thoughts and opinions to lead you in the direction of properly styling your dresser, so here we go.
STYLING A FEMININE DRESSER
I like to think of my dresser as the one place in the apartment where I can be over the top girly. Perfume bottles, sparkly little somethings, and all. However, I also don’t want it to become a museum display of all things for primping. Much like my view on coffee table styling, my dresser styling needs to be as functional as it is fashionable.
An arrangement of primping products, jewelry storage, art you love, and books that you’ll actually read should take center stage in an artful, but practical arrangement. Don’t try to put too much in one place — you want every space in your bedroom to feel like there’s room to breathe and your dresser is no exception.
THE VESSELS
This is where you get to put all those tiny little dishes to use. The ones that are too small for anything in the bathroom or to hold any real makeup, but that work perfectly for rings and little stud earrings and perfume samples. Two of my favorites? A gilded oyster dish where my sapphire ring resides and this pineapple ring dish that was a gift a few Christmases ago from my godmother. I also have a slightly larger navy and white bowl that either my sister or my mom made in a pottery class decades ago. Somehow it ended up with me and the colors have suited my decor perfectly ever since.
Pick two to three little dishes and arrange them by height in your dresser vignette. The taller ones shouldn’t block the smaller ones, from both a visual and functional perspective, and never overcrowd them. You want them to hold just a few little pieces that you reach for on a regular basis, not your entire jewelry collection.
THE BAUBLES AND BITS
Since I’ve emphasized that you shouldn’t let too many things live on top of your dresser, what girly pieces should earn a place there? I have a few pairs of earrings I’ll likely wear at least once a week, a necklace that belonged to my grandmother that I wear almost every day, and my curated perfume collection (oh, I feel a post coming!). A luxurious little candle is perfect for evenings when I want to feel a bit more glamorous when getting ready.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Once the pretty pieces are in place, I like to pull the vignette together with a piece of art and some books to add weight to the whole scene (and shouldn’t we be reading before bed?). Above my dresser and Adam’s are a pair of prints from an artist on Minted. I chose the more feminine work for my side and the strokes of navy, turquoise, and white pull everything together from the pottery to the books to a little Tiffany earring bag.
And, yes, to be totally honest, I may have chosen a couple of the books below based on the color scheme. However, I would recommend each and every one: Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling — this one still makes me crack up, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by Josh Berendt — a great book if you love Savannah, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor, and Choosing a Jewish Life — one of the books I’m reading while working with a rabbi on exploring Judaism.
HOW DO YOU STYLE YOUR DRESSER?
So, what are your tips and tricks for styling your dresser or other bedroom vignettes? Are you a fan of the giant perfume tray? Stacks and stacks of books? Or perhaps a completely minimalist approach? Let me know!
