I remember watching a design show about five years ago where they were discussing the top decorating "misses" and right up there at the top was using faux or fake flowers. It was news to me that this is a major faux pas. Now I'm not sure that I always agree with that. There are some really beautiful and hard to believe they aren't real artificial flowers out there and I think if they make you happy then go ahead and rock that fake look. I know I do.
This piece is still in our breezeway. I just love how it has been consistently in bloom for five years despite my brown thumb.
Sometimes I like to embrace the faux and add something to the space that is so obnoxiously fake that it is kind of an, " I know I'm fake, what of it" kind of attitude - like these oversized numbers that usually hang out in my studio.
Then there are times where I am on the fence. I wanted an organic element but I was going for subtle so I bought these dried green stems last year at Target and added them along with some of those lighted branches ( those are probably totally kitsch too - that will be another post) to a vase I had spray painted white. I can't believe I forgot to take my before picture. I guess I thought with all of the photos I had of our family room that I surely had a photo of this arrangement. You can see them in from afar in that top image but sadly, this underwhelming photo is the best I could come with of them up close before my paint job. I was focusing on the table but hopefully this gives you an idea of where I started.
When I was at Ikea last month I bought some reeds that had been painted black and white and that gave me an idea. These dried grass things were looking a bit too dried now and they had faded over time. So what's a girl to do to save them? Why spray paint them of course. So that is exactly what I did.
What? They don't have bright pink grasses where you live?
That's what I mean about embracing the faux.
I also moved them over to the other side of the room.
I move things around a lot.
Pictures make it very clear to me if a project is finished or not. This one wasn't quite right so I added a few more of those striped reed to help fill in the lower part of this arrangement. So I tweaked it a bit more. I would have shared another picture with you but it is raining and I am so glad it is raining here today that I won't complain that I couldn't get a good picture without my flash.
Now I'm thinking that plain white vase is needing a bit of an uplift. Don't you agree?
xoxo,
p