This is the first thing I see when I open my apartment door. The picture really doesn’t do it justice. As I step inside, I’m greeted by a cool grey accent wall featuring a personal photograph—courtesy of my roommate’s father’s excellent photography skills—matted in a simple black frame. And in front, a small, square white-and-wood dining table adorned with a couple of ivory place mats and an arrangement fresh flowers. It might not look like much of an entrance (and I also failed to capture a good full view), but I love walking through my front door! It’s cute with just enough class in an understated way. But my favorite feature has got to be the beautiful aesthetics of fresh, blooming flowers! I could stare at these orchid blooms all day long.
The thing is, fresh flower arrangements require work to maintain, are short-lived, and are costly to replenish depending on the species and time of year. While I take full advantage each and every time I’m blessed with a bouquet (insert boyfriend shout out here), more often than not I don’t have fresh flowers on hand. My solution to this? A silk floral arrangement. Silk flowers are, as the name suggests, artificial flowers made from silk-based materials that look almost like the real deal. Silk arrangements still offer the aesthetic appeal while effectively target the cons of fresh arrangements: they require virtually no maintenance, last forever, and are quite affordable!
Creating your own silk floral arrangement couldn’t be any easier either. You’ll likely find materials on hand, or something you can quickly pick up at a local craft store! You’ll need a vase of some kind, a few silk flowers and decorative stems, and optionally small pebbles, marbles, twine, string, or ribbon. I have a number of empty glass vases that I’ve collected over the years, so after making a quick trip to a discount store (I found silk stems for $1 but Michael’s also sells them for ~$3-7 depending on the flower type), I was ready to fill them up! I tied a little twine bow around the necks of each vase, added a some decorative stones, arranged the floral stems and dropped them in. Voila!
These three arrangements can be found in various areas of my apartment: entryway, kitchen, and bedroom. It’s so easy and fun to play around with the different colors, arrangements, shapes and sizes of each vase and bouquet combo!
supplies
vases | on hand, suggestions from Amazon
craft ribbon | Wraphia via Amazon
silk flowers | dollar tree for simple ($1), Michaels for fancy ($3-9)
decor stones | dollar tree, Michaels
Oh, and also: Welcome to Autumn! What a wonderful season of colors, flavors, and holidays… much more to come!
-pfht
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