HOW TO DECORATE WITH FAUX FLOWERS

Faux florals have come a long way! They now look so lifelike, it’s difficult to tell if they were grown by Mother Nature, or not.

 

 

High quality long-lasting faux boutique florals bring the allure of “just picked in the garden” flowers to your home.

 

 

 

Here are my favorite tips to get the most out of your faux flowers and arrangements at home.

 

1. ARRANGE FAUXS LIKE YOU DO YOUR FRESH FLOWERS.

 

Just like real flowers, faux flowers look better when they are not “perfect” –  bend the stems a little this way and that until you love the arrangement and the bunch looks natural.

 

 

That is actually my inspiration with the new hand tied bouquets, you can keep them tied together in a vase, or take the bunch apart and arrange to your heart’s content, like I did in the larger French vase below in the living room. {sorry for the slightly out-of-focus photograph!}

 

Real fresh flowers don’t have perfect leaves and stems, so your faux flowers shouldn’t, either. They will look better when they are not perfectly arranged or symmetrical. And…a designer’s tip: Loosen a few petals and let them drop to add to the illusion!

 

 

 

2. ADD WATER TO THE VASE.

 

Some of our faux flowers are especially made to be in water, like our hydrangeas.  I love to combine them with fresh flowers sometimes, too, to mix it up and fool the eye even more.

 

 

 

There are also faux florals that come in a vase with faux water inside to create an illusion of a real bouquet, like this sweet petit rose arrangement.

 

Some spaces call for just a few flowers, like my antique French vanity.  I often have a real rose in a little vase here, but once our garden roses have bloomed out, I am just as happy to see one of these small faux arrangements there.

 

 

 

3.  USE FLOWERS THAT ARE IN SEASON.

 

If you use flowers that are in season, in seasonal colors, your florals will always look more natural.  This doesn’t mean everything has to  be orange or brown….a deep red orchid, for instance goes from now through the holidays and early winter months.

 

 

The deeper autumn colors and dahlia’s combine with raspberry stems for this little arrangement. It could have been snipped by you from your garden, and arranged in the clear ribbed vase.

 

And that’s exactly what you want your faux flowers to look like!

 

 

 

For fall, these little darker purple sedum topiaries are enchanting. I’ll admit they don’t grow like this in the “wild” but aren’t they great fun?!

 

 

While not technically a floral, a faux wreath that features the colors of the season can add great ambience to your home too.  Again, the seasonal colors and accents of berries and apples translate to a dazzling autumn focal point over a mantel.

 

 

 

4. USE THEM IN UNEXPECTED PLACES. 

 

This is the best part of the faux flowers and plants of today. Because they are faux, they can grow anywhere and everywhere. Because they don’t need water, or light to thrive, you can use them in darker spaces, little nooks and crannies, anywhere and everywhere to liven up your home decor.

 

In a darker corner of our kitchen, a faux potted lavender plant is just right to bring some French Country charm to my little side table.  Echoed by the hanging bunch of dried lavender, it even smells a little in that corner like the fields of Provence!

 

 

Here is another little Provence lavender that looks perfectly at home in the guest bathroom on an antique child’s chair. No watering needed, ever!

 

 

5. ARRANGEMENTS SHOULD HAVE ODD NUMBERS.

 

Odd numbers always look better in a floral bouquet.  Three’s, five’s and so on.  A mix of different flowers in complimentary colors looks more natural, my personal favorite is to have a “stand out” flower like the dahlia in the bouquet below, a few secondary flowers, and filler like leaves and smaller buds or branches like the raspberry stems and catkins.

 

 

5. TAKE GOOD CARE OF THEM.

To ensure that your gorgeous faux florals bring beauty to your home for as long as possible, I recommend that you display them out of direct sunlight.
Silk flowers need to be dusted as often as any other decorative accessory in your home – you can use a Swiffer or a hair dryer set on the low, cool setting. Make sure to use the cool setting as hot air will change the shape and form of your flowers by warming up the fabrics used.  

 

 

You can also use a can of compressed air – sold at office supply stores to clean computer keyboards – and direct the blast of air into the blossoms, holding the bouquet upside down so that the dust doesn’t settle back on the flowers.

 

Faux flowers and wreaths will add a seasonal touch of natural beauty to your home, where fresh flowers are impractical.  Fluffing, bending and doing a little tweaking will have them looking natural and realistic in no time at home.

While they won’t last forever {usually a few years} they are a worthwhile investment in your home decor, and how you feel when you see them!

 

 

 

ARE YOU A LOVER OF FAUX, OR NO?

 

à bientôt

 

 

 

Shop for the best in French Antiques, furniture with the patina of age, vintage accessories to delight you and your family & friends, and French Country utilitarian pieces. Treasures that make your home fresh, beautiful, inspirational and uniquely yours. Visit our shop FrenchGardenHouse.com

 

 

7 thoughts on “HOW TO DECORATE WITH FAUX FLOWERS”

  1. Beautiful Lidy! I’m always looking for floral arrangement ideas. I’m on a team at church to provide flowers for the alter every Sunday. My best area is silk/faux flowers and I always shudder when I have to do real flowers (LOL) but mostly do silks to be reused when no one has signed up to purchase flowers for a Sunday! Your blog is always a great inspiration for my floral creations. Always natural looking and not stiff & staunchy. Thanks Lidy! You have no idea how many people you must help in the floral areas of life…

    Blessings, Edie Marie

  2. Thank you so much Edie Marie! How blessed your church family is that you create your beautiful flowers to make services lovely. It is so wonderful that you use your talent for creating beauty this way. Wishing you a very happy Monday! xo Lidy

  3. I found this publication very useful. The artificial flowers are also very beautiful and nowadays they are very well imitated. The bouquets you show us are beautiful, I love them …
    Thank you for showing so many beautiful things.
    Dolores

  4. These are all so lovely! I have got to get some of mine out this Fall now that I’ve seen yours. I love shopping the faux flowers aisles for something new. Such wonderful tips on how to display them around the house dear Lidy!

    sending hugs your way…

  5. Penny at Enjoying The Simple Things

    They all look so real! Beautiful Lidy!

  6. Ginger Valdes

    I LOVE faux! Or, I’ve learned to! My cat eats any fresh flower or plant, and so many are poisonous to cats. Yours are stunning and beautifully realistic.

  7. The are so very, very realistic and gorgeous!….I love them all and I think the topiaries are my fav as I have always been so drawn to them….I used to have so many of them in my yard in Florida..to the point that my son gave me a topiary ornament one year for Christmas!….You truly offer the most exquisite items!

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