Pick up the ginger jar on your bookshelf and carry it around the house for a minute. On the end table by the sofa it starts to look like a lamp base. On the bathroom vanity it looks like it was always meant to be there. A big one standing in the empty corner by the fireplace makes that corner look finished.
Most ginger jars never leave the shelf they were first put on, though. Years go by, the sofa gets replaced and the walls get repainted, and the jar stays where it landed on day one.
1. Use The Jar For The Accent Color In A Room
A lot of decorators plan color with the 60-30-10 rule: 60% main color, 30% supporting color, 10% accent. Walls and big furniture usually cover the first two. The 10% is the small stuff, and a ginger jar is one of the easiest ways to fill it.
Say the walls are gray and the sofa is white. A blue and white jar on the console, one blue pillow and a couple of blue book spines on the shelf will tie the room together. If the room already has a strong accent like mustard or emerald green, go with a jar in that color or plain white. Blue isn’t required just because it’s the classic. For more color pairings, the home decor ideas here cover a few rooms in detail.
2. Pair Ginger Jars With Chinoiserie
Chinoiserie wallpaper and fabric go naturally with ginger jars. That makes sense historically, since chinoiserie started as a Western style borrowed from Chinese art in the late 1600s, and porcelain was a big part of it.
Where people go wrong is stacking patterns. Patterned wallpaper, printed curtains, a toile chair and a painted jar in one corner leave nothing plain for the eye to rest on. One of them has to lead:
- Patterned wallpaper: use a solid jar, plain white or one glaze color.
- Painted jar: keep the wall behind it plain.
3. Ginger Jar Lamps Should Put The Shade At Seated Eye Level
Have you ever sat down to read and had the bare bulb shining right in your eyes? That’s a lamp that’s too short for its table. Too tall, and the light lands somewhere above your book.
Most lamp sizing guides use roughly the same numbers for an end table beside a sofa:
- A lamp of 26 to 34 inches fits most end tables.
- Table plus lamp should come to 58 to 64 inches from the floor.
- The bottom of the shade should be at eye level for a seated person.
So a 28 inch table works with a lamp around 30 to 36 inches tall. A pair of ginger jar lamps on both sides of a sofa or bed looks balanced, and they don’t need to match any other jars in the room.
4. Glazed Porcelain Jars Are Safe In The Bathroom
Steam ruins a lot of bathroom decor. Prints ripple, baskets get musty, wood swells. A glazed porcelain jar doesn’t have that problem, because porcelain barely absorbs water. Under the tile industry’s ANSI standard, porcelain has a water absorption rate of 0.5% or less, and the glaze seals it further.
On a vanity, a small jar with a pothos cutting looks fresh. On a double vanity, a pair of jars on either side of the mirror works well. A large jar by the tub can hold rolled towels.
Old jars with chips or cracks in the glaze are the exception. Keep those in a dry room.
5. Put A Liner Inside Before Adding Fresh Flowers
You’ll see plenty of photos of peonies spilling out of a ginger jar. What those photos don’t show is the cleanup. The neck is narrower than the body, so you can’t get a sponge inside to scrub it.
That’s a real problem with fresh flowers. Iowa State’s extension service recommends washing vases in hot, soapy water to kill the bacteria and fungi that shorten vase life, and changing the water when it gets cloudy. Inside a jar you can’t scrub, that bacteria stays put between bouquets.
A glass jar or plastic tub that fits inside the ginger jar solves it. Arrange the flowers in the liner, lift it out to wash, and the ginger jar stays dry.
6. Large Ginger Jars Belong On The Floor
Jars that are 18 to 24 inches tall look cramped on a shelf. On the floor, they fill the spots that are hard to furnish, like the corner next to a fireplace, the end of a hallway, or the gap beside an armchair that’s too narrow for a side table. A low wooden stand helps if the rug underneath has a busy pattern. Leave the lid on. Without it, the jar looks unfinished.
7. Museum Wax Stops A Ginger Jar From Tipping Over
With the lid on, a ginger jar is top heavy. A bump from the vacuum or a cat on the bookshelf is all it takes. Museums use a sticky product called museum wax for this same problem, and the MFA Boston’s materials database describes it as a soft mineral wax for positioning and stabilizing small objects on shelves and in display cases.
Hardware stores sell it. Roll a few small balls, press them under the base, set the jar down and give it a slight twist. It peels off clean later, and a small piece under the lid keeps that from rattling.