10 MINUTE DECORATING WITH FAUX FLOWERS
I am on a one woman crusade! I’m hoping to reach every home and everyone who loves decorating their homes. I have a message… a strong message of hope and happiness… and the America way! I’m out to tell everyone who will listen… TODAY’S FAUX FLOWERS ARE NOT YOUR MAMA’S FAKES! Not one little bit! I think faux flowers have gotten such a bad name! And maybe deservedly so! Remember when faux’s were plastic? Yes, I do! My mom had them. But that was yesterday!!! This is today, and today’s faux blooms are amazingly real and fabulous! So I’m asking you to join my bandwagon! Spread the word! And go ahead… don’t be afraid to use them in your home! Here’s an easy-peasy way to take that first step with an easy and beautiful faux flower arrangement…
It’s 10 MINUTE DECORATING… THE FLOWER EDITION TODAY! I’m loving this series because I am all about easy home decor that looks amazing. Make sure you check out my 10 Minute Decorating buddies and their 10 minute take on flowers at the end of this post.
Actually, this is more like 2 minute or less decorating. I want to remind you to add some flowers to your decor. And please, please, please don’t turn your nose up to fabulous faux flowers! Today’s faux flowers look so amazingly real!
You can pass on most of the ones you find at large craft stores. Start looking for gorgeous fakes in home decor stores, small boutiques and online. Buy the best you can afford and ALWAYS buy on sale!
They might be a little pricey but they will last for years and bring beauty to our homes! And that’s a bargain in my book!
This little ranunculus arrangement took a couple of minutes to put together. I cut the bottom of the flowers and plunked 3 stems into 3 white milk bottles. Adding these sweet little bottles to my open shelves made such a difference!
I love putting single big blooms in small jars! They make a gorgeous statement.
Cute, right? I think these little blooms add life, even if they are faux, to the open shelves!
One pretty bloom in the right container creates an added layer of beauty! I bet you can think of a space in your home that a single bloom would look charming!
Here are a few tips for using fabulous faux flowers in your home…
- get the best quality blooms you can afford
- buy them on sale
- “fluff” and position stems, leaves, and blooms. It’s so sad to see stunning faux flowers that have not been properly arranged. Take a little time to make them look real
- cut the stems if needed.
- Faux flowers look better if they are all the same kind in an arrangement
- Go bold! Don’t shy away from big, bodacious blooms
Do you have a favorite flower? You can probably find it in a fabulous faux!
Here are more great ideas when using faux flowers…
MAKING FAUX FLOWERS LOOK FABULOUS
Make sure you visit these talented decorators…
You might want to follow me on Pinterest and see what I’m pinning every day HERE.
This is exactly the push I needed! I’ve been eyeing some pretty faux flowers, but was hesitant to buy them. I love the way you used yours!
I agree with you completely. Today’s faux florals are amazing. I change out/ rotate my florals frequently, so they do not become the same tired dusty arrangements that gave faux florals their negative image.
You are so smart, Cindy! Dusty flowers are a giveaway!
I too am loving the new faux flowers! Question – what did you mean when you said they ook better if they’re all the same kind in an arrangement? I was planning Tomane a large arrangement with several fliers – tulips, iris, delphiniums. I’d appreciate more thoughts on this.
This is just my opinion but I think faux flowers look best when one kind is grouped together. En mass they look more real. Hope this helps, Karen. Your arrangement sounds beautiful!
Hi Karen – yes, I know what Yvonne is meaning … what is pretty is using all ONE Color but with different flowers (in that color) or MANY colors but in one species of flower. In other words, white hyacinths, white tulips and so on …. OR a bouquet of peonies (for example) in pinks, whites, magentas.
There e is nothing wrong with your idea – if you look in flower arranging books, that “lush just picked from the garden” look is beautiful. I think there’s a concern, though, when using faux flowers, that too many colors might look too fake. It’s beautiful when real but faux is a bit trickier to pull off. Also make sure you “match the Season” – pack away the faux tulips if it’s September! lol! Another trick is if some of the blooms look too bright (especially leaves) dilute some acrylic paint with water and gently stroke on the offending color. I just bought some blue hydrangea with long stems. The plastic green stems look too fake as hydrangea stems are brown when they reach a good length so I dabbed on brown craft paint nearly all the way up the stem. Now they look way better. I hope this helps.
Yay yay yay! Thanks, Yvonne! I have lots of silk flowers and I love them! I had a friend admire my faux gladioli several years ago and when her husband broke his leg badly, I took them a big bouquet of them. Several weeks later, her husband said, “Boy, those flowers Lynda gave us sure have lasted a long time!” He didn’t know they were fake! So thanks for breaking this stigma!
Have a wonderful Mother’s Day~love and blessings
Lynda @ Gates of Crystal
I LOVE your shelves and the flowers are beautiful!! xo
As usual, you are so right. When looking for the faux flowers I try to get only ones that are wired. A bit more in cost but can be bent into more natural shapes easier. And as you have always said, they last for years. A wise investment. Thanks for your always great blog.
Carol, you are right! The more we can make each flower look “individual” by shaping it the more real they look! You are a smart one!
Can you recommend a good on-line source for faux flowers? The choices where I live are limited to the craft stores. I do look when we travel and have better shopping opportunities, but would like a source I can access any time I need flowers.
I get most of my fauxs in small home decor shops locally. But I do like Pottery Barns flowers and Pier 1’s too! Hope this helps.
I have bought flowers from the Magnolia Market (Joanna Gaines Fixer Upper) they are excellent …the highest quality!!
Thanks for the input Kathy!
Thanks!
Love the faux flowers. I love tulips and have some white and green that I hope to order this afternoon.
Getting ready for back surgery and will enjoy seeing them while I am recovering. Also looking for some white stems like you have on a coffee table recently. Just beautiful keep it coming.
Darlene, I just stopped and prayed for you. I pray that God will be with you and that you will heal quickly. Just look at your down time as more time to read StoneGable! Hugs!
I am a huge fan of faux flowers! I like to scout local shops and boutiques when I can, and found some beautiful faux tulips at Magnolia Market in Waco last weekend. Joanne’s flowers in there are fabulous! One reader asked where she could find some good florals online. I’ve had good luck with florals from Country House. Theirs are very similar to the ones I used to buy at a shop called the Homespun Cottage. Unfortunately, the owner retired and the store closed. There are some really good florals at Hobby Lobby, but I only buy them when they’re on sale, and I’m picky. I also buy some garlands there, and cut them up in pieces for my “fluff.” You just have to go through them and find the good stuff! I use them indoors mostly, but also have some on my front porch so I have “blooms” all season long. I change them out once fall comes, and then use Christmas florals and greenery in December. It’s really fun to play with them and make arrangements! I love your ranunculus in the little white bottles – how cute!
I like to put real foliage (I grow leather leaf fern) in a mason jar, add water and faux flowers!….The real fern & the water really make the flowers look real.
Hi Crystal – I do that trick too plus I paint little “flaws” on some of the leaves and petals to make the bloom more natural looking. I also snip off a few petals and place (on the table or mantel) at the foot of the arrangement to make it look like fallen petals. I fool a lot of friends! 🙂
Great idea too, Elaine! Thanks for sharing with all of us.
That sounds like a winning combination Crystal! I’m going to try it!
Love my faux flowers – keep them sorted by season in long under bed boxes.
OOPS another thought – our local Pottery Barn has had free faux flower arranging classes. Where visible with your containers…the designer said it is okay t put water in he vase for a more realistic look. Just make certain they are totally dry before packing away. I have only done this with Pottery Barn flowers and have never had problems.
I didn’t know that! Wow!!! Thanks, June!
Love the faux flower ideas you have. I had been wracking my brain for weeks trying to figure out what to put on top of my curio in my dining room. I couldn’t find any arrangements I liked at the moment. I wound up using a couple of floral stems I already had just laying around, stuck them in a beautiful wine bottle, a pretty platter displayed in the middle and another faux arrangement I found at a rummage sale years ago I haven’t been using. I just love when I can re-use/re-purpose things. Then I don’t need always to go shopping. I am so happy I tried this!
Don’t you love that lightbulb moment?
Hello Yvonne! Thank you for your beautiful blog. I always find lots of inspiration and really appreciate all your hard work! When it comes to the florals I use in my home, I always say “Faux not fake”. My budget does not allow me to buy fresh flowers every week. But your advice to purchase the best you can afford (on sale, of course) is the rule I follow – and it works! Have a lovely day!
Yvonne, I couldn’t agree more! I have real and faux orchids in the dining room, and no one can tell which are real or not. I have faux boxwood topiary trees coming up the outside entrance of our front door and people cannot believe they aren’t real. The quality of faux flowers and plants now is really amazing… but you’re right… get the good quality ones! Thanks for your message to America. 😉
Great post today! Thanks for the tips and the for the few places to look for faux flowers.
Be Blessed
Thank you for supporting faux! A few decades back I became interested in floral design and instantly loved working with fakes….the good and expensive variety, which are not easy to find. If you qualify for a retail license you have access to a much wider selection of high-end florals. Unlike real flowers, faux take direction! They are easily manipulated and if stored properly, they last forever. Arrangements can be dismantled and the “ingredients” used over and over. We had a long, dry spell, but they are coming back and I’m so pleased.
I love your floral design phrase… “take direction”. Thanks, now I know!!! Hugs to you for that!
Thank you Yvonne, for giving the thumbs up for faux flowers and greenery! There are designers and bloggers out there who would curl up and die at the thought of anything artificial darkening their doorstep. They are certainly entitled to their opinion, but I for one, love little bottles and vases with a couple good quality faux’s. I have a small basket with fake tulips that I got ar our hospital gift shop, of all places, and a woman in the elevator asked me if I picked them outside! They even feel real!
I also have horrible seasonal allergies, so the real thing can’t be n my house in the spring.
Faux really – well, the look so real the way you style them Yvonne!
I love your faux flowers, they are so pretty, they sure have come a long way!
They look so real!! Love all your ideas 🙂 pinned for later – I need to find some pretty faux flowers!
We have a local shop whose price on faux is reasonable compared to catalogs where floral can be hundreds. I always am happy to have her floral to fill in. I feel kind of guilty when I have all kinds of things to make posies around my house….but I started finding a caterpillar pest oh on a pillow on my couch, on the floor etc. not near all my arrangements but I was grossed out. I may treat myself to one nice floral every once in awhile.
I’m beginning to get overwhelmed by my pottery barn galvanized three tier tray I thought I wanted. I just feel it’s messy. And I’m having trouble with a big iron green chippy basket I love but I’m feeling just overwhelmed anymore. My home is small and I don’t usually have this much trouble decorating my flat surfaces like coffee table, etc. I’m overwhelmed? Nothing feels like it looks right anymore.
Edit. I was making real bouquets from assortment of florals and greens in my yard. Done this for years. Never had a 3/4″ caterpillar problem before. Never used geraniums much before. I may treat myself to one faux something a month now to fill in. I put parsley in a jar of a hanging deal. Didn’t see eggs. Looks nice
Yes, quality faux flowers can really fool the eye…they look so real…Love the ones you chose to display among your pretty white dishes…
Love your white dishes and bowls with the raised dots. What brand are those? Do you have trouble with them chipping?
Hi Carolyn, the back of the dishes says, “Home” and they are made in Portugal. Like all raised surfaces on dishes etc. they have the possibility of chipping. But so far no chips here! Hope this helps.
I totally agree with you – faux flowers have come such a long way!! Love your arrangement.
I have a huge (I mean REALLY huge) vase that I love and have used many times for my home and centerpieces for many other functions. I have a collection of really good quality seasonal florals (Speing, Fall, and Winter) that I have collected over the years from various places. I am very selective in what I buy and although specialty shops have the nicest blooms, I have found some at Hobby Lobby. I recently did centerpieces for a women’s group dinner with a Spring theme. I wanted a “cottage style” arrangement for the tables, using fresh flowers. But my peonies weren’t open so I used my faux ones, mixed with real lavender iris, roses, ajuga and blue salvia in antique blue mason jars. I fooled everyone, got tons of compliments, and saved a boatload of money! I am a real believer and if you get the best ones on sale (I never pay full price) and treat them correctly, they are totally worth it.
Can anyone tell me how to clean the flowers? I find the ones I have get very dusty but I am afraid to wash them in case I stain them or ruin the fabric
Hi Cheryl, I take mine outside and give them a good shake. I’ve also heard that you can use a blow dryer on low and clean the dust off them that way too.
Hi Cheryl – I do the same as Yvonne, taking them outside and giving them a good shake and also use the hair dryer. I also have filled the kitchen sink (or laundry tub if really long stemmed) with sudsy lukewarm water and EVERY bloom I’ve ever washed has turned out just fine. I give them a good rinse, gently shake them and place them on a clean towel. One word of caution – sometimes a plastic part (such as a stamen) may come off so before I pull the plug, I try to feel for any plastic bits floating around in the water that may go down the drain. I don’t want a clogged drain!
LOVE those pretty pops of green! And what could be better than flowers that’ll last for ages?! SO pretty Yvonne!
Last summer my house was featured in The Home and Garden Tour in my town. The garden club provided fresh flower arrangements for every room. I took pictures of a few of my favorites and recreated them with quality faux flowers They are beautiful! Of course I still LOVE fresh flowers, so I mix it up with real flowers in some rooms and faux flowers in the others!!! 😉
For years faux flowers were taboo. They are definitely making a comeback. They look much more realistic today than years ago. I have faux hydrangea’s in a white pitcher on my coffee table that I love. I also have faux lavender in my kitchen.
I dip my florals into soapy water and swish then rinse well. Sit in sun to dry. They really get clean! Hair dryer doesn’t work for me .
Greenery is necessary elements of the surrounding, and faux flowers are the easy and instant way to decor home or office. I like this blog post with useful tips. Thank you for sharing.
I love your examples. They are very simplistic, pretty, and could be a great touch to any room. Thanks for sharing!
YOUR POSTS ARE SO INSPIRING ANDROID INFORMATIVE, THANK YOU!
*AND. lol silly autocorrect!