Vases aren’t just for flowers! Chances are we’ve all got an empty vase lying around somewhere in our home, and a bunch of random decorative elements sitting in a box unused. Put them together to come up with a contemporary decorative accessory.
Here are a few arrangements which can be found around my home.
This one I put together to fit into an empty corner in my dining room (the furniture in my dining room is deep black/brown and I’ve got a black & white crystal chandelier hanging above which have set the colour theme for the space). This piece was made up of: *A tall cylindrical glass vase * Black feather boa ( bought this for $1 at Halloween the year earlier) * Decorative branches (artificial) – I got these branches with silver balls at the ends following Christmas *Colourless crystals (plastic) – you can’t tell from the picture, but at the bottom there are a bunch of these crystals which came with a centrepiece given away at a wedding. I just played around with what I had. I stuffed everything into the vase and made the remainder of the boa puff up at the top.
Here is a vase filled with balls – these are Christmas ornaments. But what’s great is that ornaments come in any colour and finish under the sun so they can really be displayed all year long. It’s easy to remove the metal ends on them (the part where you attach the string). Buy them after Christmas and they will be sooooo super cheap compared to those actual decorative balls sold in stores. Peekaboo can you see my reflection?!
Round vases filled with moss. These sit on my fireplace mantel.
Fruit isn’t just meant for bowls! I’ve got apples in a vase. Since I keep these out long term, I opted for fake apples – they’re from Pier 1 Imports and look so real. When having people over, hosting a meal, why not fill some vases with fruit like lemons or apples?
River stone & tea light candles
River stone & tea light candles
Sea shells, coral and broken faux gems (acrylic) in baby blue fill a small round vase. It’s topped off with a big fluffy yellow flower (fake flower, but the petals look more like fabric than plastic, which I think is key when decorating with artificial flowers). The sea shells and coral were collected during various beach vacations. This arrangement can be found in the kids’ bathroom which is accented in grey, baby blue and yellow.
Some more Christmas post-Christmas ;)
What to do when you have your family’s boutonnieres from right after your wedding (and you don’t want to throw them out?). Why dry them and stick ’em in a vase!
Here we are, flowers in a vase! When going artificial, I always look for flowers that look and feel more like fabric than plastic. My favorite are white/off white hydrangeas because they look full and real (IMHO!)
And other times, a vase looks at it’s best just on it’s own. No flowers, sticks or anything else needs to fill it.
