Sometimes the item needs "something" - sometimes the item is better without fillers. I think it depends on the vignette you are setting up, what other items are nearby, perhaps even what season. Sometimes you just need to try something different - just to be different and creative. For instance, I have a leaf shaped metal display dish from Pier One on my 20 year old EA coffee table. At times, it has held candles, then some leaf stuff, then branches with small faux lemons, and now some decorative balls in natural materials from Michaels.

I think I need to remove the price tag - LOL.

{{!gwi}}

I have been considering new lamps for this room. Still mixing new and older items in my decor.

The only thing I have that is decoratively filled is a smallish, oval shaped copper dish with handles on the coffee table that I put some real pine cones in. If I had much more the kitties would just appropriate them as cat toys. For some reason they ignore the pine cones, but will get into just about anything else.
I rarely put anything in the vases I have, and I have a fairly sizable collection of early 20th century art pottery. I guess I figure they're decorative enough to stand on their own, and I like to put several of them together as a group.

You have to edit yourself while using fillers so you don't over do it. I'm lazy so I also take into consideration how much work will I have to do to keep them looking fresh and dust-free LOL.

Sky

I bought some beautiful dried flowers for the paired vases I had flanking my fireplace at the other house - I ended up taking them out and giving them away because they were just "too much enough already". The vases looked just fine by themselves, and I think that's the way to decide whether they need something or not - does it look fine by itself or do you get the "it's lacking something" feeling?

I admit I'm kind of minimalist when it comes to tchotchkes - tchotchkes for the sake of tchotchkes just ain't never gonna happen in my house. I have a couple of collections, including a collection of gemstones and crystals that lives in a basket for people to play with, but I don't do the "stuff just to fill a space". Maybe all this "filler" stuff is necessary so that the mega-houses don't look empty and that's why I just don't "get it"? (I admit I'm also like Sky in that if it's going to be a hassle to keep nice, it is not even coming into my house!)

I think containers should be filled when you can fill them with something that is meaningful to you. I don't like the idea of buying stuff just to fill a container, if you know what I mean. If you live near a beach and collect shells or stones, then fill containers with them. I collect small glass hearts, so I have a dish full of those. I have a small wood box in my living room that's filled with items that are meaningful to my husband: remote controls!

sueb20: "...I have a small wood box in my living room that's filled with items that are meaningful to my husband: remote controls!"

Heh! I've placed small McCoy planters in strategic locations to contain all the meaningful odds and ends my husband leaves all over every available surface, but it never works for very long! Screws, nails, drill bits, unidentified metal piece-parts, nail clippers, pens, change, receipts, AA batteries, paper clamps, etc., etc., etc...

I'm not enthusiastic about fillers. My partner and I both tend to clutter, and mostly our home is full already, with books, pens, magazines etc,. I have a collection of silk flowers in a large vase on top of a dresser in the living room... I shop at thrift stores a lot, and can rarely resist well made silk flowers for twenty cents, the wilder in colour and style the better. It really is an astonishing vase. On the back porch there is bar height round marble table with a box full of sea shells (nothing special) that the kids pick up every time they go to the beach, and whatever else they may have recently decided was a treasure they had to bring home, seed pods etc. But other than that, no fillers here.