TIPS for When You Don't Have the Perfect Vase
There’s just something about a house full of fresh flowers, right? Between Pinterest and friends who are crazy-talented, I’m learning little-by-little to stop wishing for a magical fairy who delivers gorgeous bunches at my doorstep each week…and instead figure out how to arrange them myself!
Here’s the thing though, I got rid of almost all my vases a few years ago because I was so tired of storing them and decided to start thinking outside the box instead. I wanted to use items that were more multi-purpose, things I already had around the house.
From that, this quickly become my favorite way to display my little flower obsession:
Candle holders (typically from the Dollar Spot or on clearance) and random vessels I find at Goodwill or garage sales have now become my go-to favorites because I can repurpose them and a they’re little unexpected.
Think outside the box for your plants, too!
Here’s a little secret tip…
If your vessel has a wide opening, it’s often hard to keep the flowers standing tall and full without purchasing a ton of stems (which if you’re not careful, can get spendy).
All you need to do is tape a grid onto the top of whatever large-mouthed vessel you choose or have on hand (Ideally, I’d use floral tape but I’m a big fan of washi tape because I always have it on hand).
This is one of my favorite Goodwill purchases EVER.
Continue filling your vessel until you can no longer see the taped grid and you'll have a perfectly full arrangement that looks straight out of a magazine!
I’ve done this trick with every photo you see in this post (aside from the succulent in the tea cup, obviously).
Don't you love how the tape holds the flowers into place in their own little squares so they don't flop around?!
Elsabet + I grabbed the silver sugar and cream vessels from her tea-set and put flowers in them instead.
floral tips:
1 | It's just my personal preference but I typically take off all/almost all the leaves on a stem. If you need/want the extra fullness, by all means leave them. If I want greenery, I’ll typically add that separately.
2 | Another personal preference is cutting the stems down further than you'd think, enough that they don't show very much. The flowers clump together so beautifully when they're short(er)!
3 | It's easiest if you put water in before the flowers. Especially when using washi tape (which is made of paper)...true to form, water and paper do not mix so be careful or the tape will come right off!
4 | To increase the longevity of your arrangement, make sure to remove any leaves/greenery that will be in water.
5 | I love when roses are fully open, almost looking like english roses. If you’d like your tightly closed rose buds to look this way, too, use warm (not hot) water when placing them into the vessel.
Pro tip!
I learned this from Sarah, my floral designer friend:
Take your partially-opened rose and bringing it right next to your lips, blow on the center of it super hard. I know it sounds a bit weird, but try it! The force of the air from your mouth will open up the rose without breaking the fragile petals like your fingers would! I usually need 3+ burst of air on my grocery store flowers to open them up large enough that they look like they’re from a florist (wink).
This vessel used to hold a faux plant from Target. The plant was smashed so it was on (massive) clearance. I just removed it and now I fill with fresh grocery store flowers!
Grocery store flowers never looked so beautiful!! Let me know what you think!!