These four simple tips will make your faux blooms look like the real thing.
Faux flowers and greenery have come a long way in the past several years. I love them for so many reasons - they’re low-maintenance, budget friendly, and versatile. But there is a trick to styling them!
SHOP SMART
The first step is knowing what to look for.
Shop for flowers and greenery that have a lifelike feel and colour. You’ll see some fake flowers have very bold, saturated colours, when in real life, those blooms would not.
You want stems that bend easily and that you can shape and arrange.
Choose flowers and greenery that match the scale of the real flower.
DON'T MIX & MATCH
When decorating with faux flowers, branches or greenery, it’s best to decorate with just one type per vase. They start to look fake when you mix too many together.
Style each stem or bunch individually, bending and fluffing as needed.
Think about your vase. Some stems look less lifelike, but the flowers on top are worth it! Avoid clear glass vases to avoid exposing a lot of the stems.
Get creative...use vintage containers, tins or baskets.
PERFECT PLACEMENT
If you are arranging flowers in a low vase, or container, and are having a hard time keeping them in place, tuck floral foam or chicken wire in the base of the container.
For taller vessels, wrap the stems in a rubber band, use floral tape on the top of the vase taped into a grid, or use chicken wire in the bottom of the container to help place each bloom.
For oversized arrangements, chicken wire works best for creating a full look.
MEASURE FIRST, SHOP ONCE
One question I get asked all the time is: How many flowers you need to style a vase? It can depend on where the vase is. If it is up against a wall you can get away with less, but if your vase is out in the open, you want to make it look full from every angle.
Measure the circumference of the vase before you go shopping. And make sure you get enough blooms to cover more than that opening size.
Bend and spread out the branches to make the flowers or berries look fuller.
Think about the height of the arrangement too. Taller vases need taller flowers or branches. The ‘rule’ is that flowers should be 1.5 to 2 times taller than the vase. But you can break that rule for smaller arrangements and keep it low.
