Admittedly, styling vignettes is not my strong suit. I can work a layout, figure out the larger pieces of a design, and shape a space - but decorating a bookshelf or mantle till it looks just right can drive me batty!

The living room dresser was in need of an update. Sometimes, it all comes together and I can place objects haphazardly and they just work. Other times, I can try and style something and it comes out like this:

What a mess. Obviously, piling everything in there is not the way to go. It looks a bit forced and the objects had no connection to each other. So I pulled a few things out and added a few others and came up with this:



A little better, but it still looked a bit too full, don't you think? I needed some breathing room. And some inspiration so I watched this tutorial by Emily Henderson (seriously, she could style a mantel in her sleep!) and finally zhushed the dresser into this:


Much simpler, more rhythmic, just enough. An easy mantel for easy summer days.

 
Do you have a decorating weakness? What are you challenged by?