Bulletin Board Inspiration No. 3 | French Country Lavender

A Paper Series Post

Bulletin board inspiration can come from anywhere, including French Country lavender plants from Trader Joe's. 

While a lavender post was planned for this year's new series of Bulletin Board Inspiration posts, the plan was for July when lavender fields are in full bloom in France. But, finding beautiful lavender plants this past week inspired the May bulletin board and offers a bit of a tutorial on how to create bulletin boards for viewing, not just for personal inspiration. 

With each new bulletin board are a few suggestions, or tutorial, on how to elevate a collection of bulletin board clippings from unplanned haphazard pinnings to layouts designed for inspiration to house guests as well as to the bulletin board's creator.  

B U L L E T I N   B O A R D   I N S P I R A T I O N

french country lavender 

Inspiration  Source

Many bulletin board ideas begin with clippings from magazines, brochures, catalogs, or maps. However, for the May Bulletin Board Inspiration, lavender plants inspired the bulletin board, and became the three-dimensional star of the overall arrangement. A design tip is sometimes to allow the surroundings in a room dictate what prints to tack on a bulletin board instead of choosing the bulletin board prints first and choosing items to go with the board. 

Seize the moment inspiration strikes instead of following a set schedule. 

After finding the beautiful lavender plants, I searched my collection of clipped lavender prints to pin to the ink blue bulletin board for a background to the live lavender. 

And, as other Bulletin Board Inspiration posts show, sometimes the season of the year or a holiday inspires the theme of the prints on a bulletin board. Sources for clippings on this month's bulletin board inspiration are below. 

• Pottery Barn - catalog, years ago 
• Martha Stewart Living - magazine 
• Country Living, British Edition - magazine

NOTE: The heavy cast iron flower pot is designed for outside use with drainage holes in the bottom. To protect the chest of drawers from scratches and water leaks, the French style container sits on a footed wood riser with a silver metal border. 

Layer  Decor  Items 

The planter sits away from the stone wall so the bulletin board can slide behind the lavender plants and in front of the floral print hanging on the wall. 

The lavender plant container overlaps the bulletin board and the hanging wall print which visually connects the three decorating items together. 

Layout  Design

The selection of prints used in the layout design tells a story beginning with a field of lavender and ending with lavender displayed inside the house.  

The Storyline

A variety of lavender prints give views of plants 1] growing in mass in a field, 2] close up growing blooms,  3] in a worker's arms full of harvested lavender blooms, 4] bundles of cut lavender lying on an outside bench, and 5] a photo of a lavender arrangement inside with rustic accent decor. Stages of lavender from field to inside display . . . 

Print Placement 

A close-up print of lavender blooms was placed behind the potted lavender plants so the real plants' blossoms visually blend together with the printed blossoms. Where does the real plant end and the print begin? 

Keep the Eyes Inside the Design Arrangement 

One recurring tip for vignettes is to keep the viewer's eyes within the overall arrangement and not direct the eyes to look off into the wild blue yonder with no link to bring them back into the arrangement. 

At first glance, the three overlapping prints stair-stepping the eyes upward to the right may appear to lead the eyes off the bulletin board, but look more closely to see how the eyes are directed back downward in the top right print. 

True, the eyes are led from the bench to the armillary sphere with the arrow, and then to the cut bundle of lavender in the worker's arms. But, the downward drape of the bundle of cut lavender leads the eyes back downward. 

Decorative Tacks

Add a little flair to how prints are pinned! In addition to using beautiful decorative tacks, also creatively place tacks so they become part of the overall design layout. The beautiful bee pins the print and also looks like it is buzzing around the lavender for nectar. 

Store tacks in a pretty recycled jelly jar which becomes part of a beautiful display. The lid is spray painted in a pale periwinkle blue color to cover the original jelly jar's written information. Then the lid was lightly sprayed with gold metallic spray paint from a distance so only specks of gold paint reached the lid. 

A gold-colored bee magnet sits on top of the metal lid. 

The jar of decorative tacks sits near the bulletin board for handy retrieval of tacks. 

Bulletin  Board  Placement

The bulletin board is still roving around the house with no permanent placement. For May the board sits on top of the pine chest at the end of the stone fireplace between the living room and the kitchen. 

The board is lightweight and easy to move. 

After a few days inside, the potted French Country lavender plants will move to outside. The board will stay on the pine chest until next month's Bulletin Board Inspiration display. 

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For digital lavender inspiration

Pinterest Board, French Lavande (Lavender) 

Sources 

Inked Blue Bulletin Board Debut 

Bulletin Board Inspiration No. 1 | Baskets, Eggs, Wreaths 

Bulletin Board Inspiration No. 2 | Moody Blue Flowers

Lavender Plants - Trader Joe's, no plant tag for variety 

Jelly Jar - Wagner's, several years ago 

Bee Magnets - Botanic Bleu 

{Disclosure: If you purchase items from Botanic Bleu, I receive compensation for your purchase. See my Disclosure and Privacy Policy for more information.} 

Black Iron Flower Container - family member, no source 

Decorative Tacks - Ballard Designs, several years ago