The Gipson Girl's Honest Blog

   

This fabulous '50s Chevy Bar now resides in the personal home of The Gipson Girl!

There is a thin line between whimsical and silly. The best whimsy is usually found, or should I say stumbled upon, by accident. Even in the process of trial & error. You know, when you think, "Oh, I don't know if I can use that. Will it go with my decor?" Deciding to be brave, you go ahead and give it a try -- wham-bam! You have just added the perfect piece that makes your decor fabulous! It can be anything: An object, a fabric choice, something with unusual appeal or a vibrant punch of transitional color, which may take a room in a whole new direction.  
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There can even be some unexpected and unique surprises because of the way you arrange your things. For example, let's say you are creating a tablescape using a tea set. Before you stand the last cup up in its saucer, you realize that it looks more interesting left-horizontal on its side, as if it were tipped over. Oh, and now it needs a few beaded strawberries spilling out from it. NOW you have found a little whimsy! Do you want to go around and tip all the glassware in your house on its side? NO, that would be silly.

Whimsy should add interest and a little quirky fun. Whimsy should cause you take a second look at something out of delight. However, you do not want your friends to stare at it like it is the car wreck they can't look away from. Let's say you have a beautiful trophy-head mount hung in your casual den. It is a big deer with a full rack. A nice whimsical touch would be to toss some type of masculine hat (straw or felt) up onto the horns. Arrange the hat so that it looks tipped perfectly into, say, "Ricky Ricardo" Style! If you dress your buck up with more than that simple hat, it becomes silly -- or will look like a scene from a Steven King movie.

Let me share a personal example. In my home I love mixing things up. This 1885 house has the oddest fireplace in the dinning room. It sits back in an alcove with great fretwork framing the top. It has two simple built-in benches on each side wall that face each other, leaving the space directly in front on the fireplace oddly empty. It occurred to me that might possibly be a great place to put a wonderful old bar in. I have often come across them in my shopping but always wondered where I might put in something like that. I decided that you would almost have to have a house built around one of those old bar pieces.

And what about finding the perfect bar? The "light bulb" in my head popped on -- YES, I do have a great black Chevy bar at the store. Could I possibly use that in this old Victorian house? Really, a 50's reproduction "car bar" mixed in with all of the antiques? Yes, yes, yes! The mix is wonderfully fun. However, I realized that this works only because it is a black piece. If it were any other '50s color, say pink, turquoise or red, it would not do. I have used a lot of black in this dinning and living room. Even though the space is certainly not retro, the black car bar is delightful parked beneath the Victorian fretwork.Whimsy should be used in small doses, and whimsy will usually find you. You do not have to look for it, or even try so hard to fabricate it. Just keep your mind and your eyes open to whimsy so that you can spot it. And then be brave! Take take advantage of it when it magically appears.