After all, whatever “lives” in our spaces, and which we like to touch and see regardless of its practical function, is often more important than a new and very useful piece of furniture or household appliance.
Far from being considered a useless frill, ornaments are nowadays fundamental instruments of decoration. They can create a pleasant moment of liveliness in a very serious house, they can redefine an interior which is too formal, they can create islands of elegance in spaces which would otherwise sail in anonymity and sterility.
What is important is to have the sense of proportion and of decorative harmony. And this is not easy when arranging the ornaments.
In this article we want to give you some guidelines and some useful recommendations to identify “necessary” ornaments and about how to put them on shelves or chests to create right combinations.
Enhancing modern ornaments: the key words not to make mistakes
How many ornaments are to be used in order to be really enough and not to spoil the visual balance? A lot surely depends on how many spaces need to be “filled” and on the way they are.
To have an idea about how to start to arrange the ornaments, please keep these 6 verbs in mind:
1) GATHERING TOGETHER
Union is strength, even in design. A nice rule for an effective vignette is to put the objects on the shelves one close to the others. If you have a big shelf, you can use a tray or an object which can work as “gathering point”.
2) LINING UP
Different objects put one close to the others permit to increase the depth of the spaces.
3) COLLECTING
Particular collections (vases, bottles, cups, boxes, photos, paintings or beloved objects) are perfect ornaments for a modern living room, especially if they contain pieces of design.
4) COMBINING
- Heights, to give spontaneity to the ornaments arrangement
- Shapes: slender and round ones, geometric and soft ones, regular and irregular ones
- Textures: shiny elements used with mat ones, rough elements with more refined ones. Ceramic and wood, glass and metal
- Colours: matching colours or complementary ones
5) USING IN ODD NUMBERS
The balance which results from using an odd number of ornaments is always higher.
6) REMOVING
Empty spaces allow “the gaze to rest”. Don’t forget to leave some areas empty, to lighten the objects arrangement and the whole interior.
What to put on a shelf in the living room
Here are some ideas to decorate the living room with ornaments.
1) Small pieces of art
Small sculptures with essential shapes or elements like decorative spheres or objects of decorated glass can turn into modern, refined elements of interior decoration, especially if combined together to create an elegant fil rouge. You have to choose them according to the style of the room.
2) Decorative vases
If Georges Braque was right when saying that “The vase gives shape to emptiness and music to silence”, there is no better ornament to put on the pieces of furniture in the living room.
There is a very wide choice, of course: there is a model for every style and decorative need. From the ones of worked glass, perfect furnishing objects of design for an elegant interior, to the ones of ceramic with materic effect, ornaments whose natural charm helps to create corners of intimate elegance. 
You can also “dare” a little with vases, choosing more refined, hand-crafted models of design like bottle-vases, to complete your interior decoration with contemporary elegance.
3) Theme objects
The world of houseware objects is limitless when you have to choose what to put on the pieces of furniture in your living room.
Every decorative style has its objects. For instance, if you want to decorate your beach house, you can choose maritime ornaments like sailing boats of recycled wood and metal (for discovering other ways of decorating in marine style, please read also “Decorating in marine style: some ideas to drop the anchor of elegance”)
If the interior is characterised by the natural, harmonic tones of Modern Country style, you can choose decorative houses of recycled wood in different sizes, to create a refined, elegant vignette.
What to put on the dresser in your bedroom
As for the bedroom, the balance between look and functionality must not be underestimated. You have to pay attention to details to keep harmony in the living space, but at the same time you can use necessary, everyday objects.
Among the ornaments for bedrooms, there must therefore be:
- A lamp: in the bedroom, an interior where decoration is normally essential, a luminous object on the dresser or on the bedside tables can change the character of the whole room, creating soft, delicate effects.
- A photo frame: some photo frames can increase the importance and value of the pieces of furniture thanks to the materials and the refined decorations they are made of; others capture the eye through their unusual shapes; the minimal character of others helps to focus attention on one’s beloved objects. No matter how you choose it, the photo frame stays a unique item among the ornaments to use on your dresser to add a sophisticated touch to your bedroom.
And if you are wondering how to arrange photo frames on your pieces of furniture, remember the rule of final balance always applies. It will be therefore important to examine the relationship with the other furnishing objects. If, for example, the frame is in a side position, you can think of something that balances the weight on the wall. The elegance of storytelling, the harmony of colours, shapes and styles, the insertion of touches of modern refinement for breaking old furnishing patterns: this is what one should really be looking for when wondering how to put ornaments.
After all, this is what a successful vignette is: it generates the sense of wonder.
Begin to create your own with L’Oca Nera’s proposals.
