Time to Lose The Knick Knacks!

So, if you are like me, your abuela was a mean collector...of anything and everything she could get her hands on! Mine had 1,000 figurines, statues and random inatimate objects of no particular theme spread out all over her wall unit and on the coffee table. They took a while to dust off and me, with my creative eye, would spend half an hour every few days rearranging them on the wall unit. She also had this blown glass statue of a clown, that my brother and I swore would stare at us and follow us wherever we moved around the room! Now that she is in heaven, I'm sure she knows that we "accidentally" knocked that clown over and broke it during one of it's staring sessions. (Oops!)

We all have that family member, or maybe it is you, that has a large collection of elephants (because they bring us good luck) or capias that we have collected from every baby shower, quinceanera and wedding, or gifts that we have gotten throughout the years. Yes, us Hispanics, we love our STUFF but we often lose sight of how to properly arrange them within our space, or whether they even belong there in the first place. My fellow Latinos, it's time to get rid of some of those knick knacks. It's time to simplify our style.

Take a look at the curio cabinet above. The items inside the cabinet are random, but follow a theme and a color palette. They are scaled back and grouped together in varied numbers. Here are some rules to follow when creating a grouping on or in a cabinet.

1. Rule of 1's 2's and 3's. Design will tell you that grouping similar items in sets of threes and fives is most appealing to the eye. The problem with that rule is that people take it so literally, that they will line up three of everything in a space and leave a path of little soldiers. Too much structure leaves nowhere for the eye to gaze then rest. You will tend to focus on the overall picture instead of the individual pieces within the space. Try taking items of different shapes and sizes and dispersing them on each shelf in a random number. On one shelf place three items, on the next focus on just one larger piece, below that group four together.
2. Stagger your arrangement. This goes back to the soldier theme. Don't line them all up in a row. Place a larger piece behind, as an anchor for that arrangement. Then place a coordinating piece in smaller size and shape further up on the left and maybe a taller, yet narrower piece off to the right. This will create visual interest.
3. Coordinating doesn't mean all in the same color. Matching colors is nice, but too much of the same is not always a good thing and is also a bit outdated. As you see in the cabinet above, the adjacent room's palette is of warm coppers and the wall where the cabinet sits is a khaki green. In the cabinet you find a mix of copper and salmon colored pieces, together with peachy yellow pieces ( a few tints lighter than the main color) and then small hints of khaki in accent pieces. This creates the perfect blend of the two spaces.
4. Have fun with it! Creating a beautiful, updated space doesn't mean that we have to be so serious and grown up, well...maybe a little grown up! Mix a serious collection of items with a witty statue or a crazy picture you got on your trip to the islands. You don't have to get rid of every fun thing you have- use that one favorite elephant, but then store the rest of the herd in a memory box with all of the important things you just can't part with. Stuffed animals (I'm sorry novios) have no place in an adult decor. Take a few of those Valentine's Day gifts that he bought on the street corner with the balloon in it and neatly display them on the top shelf in your daughter's room. Or tuck one away for safe keeping, but separate the attachment you have for the bears and update your style. A Latin interior can be just as beautiful as we are, if you take the time to do it right!