Scaring up Easy Autumn Floral Arrangements

Autumn is the best time for easy flower arrangements... even for those with the least amount of gardening experience. If you have a tree or a shrub near by, you most likely have a floral arrangement moments away. Sine floral arrangements do have have to be flowers, you can use leaves, bare branches, berries, and grasses.

The one- two- three of floral arrangements-

ONE~ choose your tallest spiky pieces for the center- no more that twice the height of the vase should extend beyond the vase.

TWO~ pick something from the outdoors that drapes in order to cascade over the edge of the vase

THREE~ Place a medium length branch (no more than one times the height of the vase should extend beyond the vase) , at a 60 degree angle to your work table. This piece is your "fill line" and your guide for the foliage extention area.


So your one- two- three formula will look like this to the left!



Now... what to choose!  Here are my picks for leave, berries and grasses! *Please know that none of the images below are my images and I do not have any claim on them as my own. They are used as illustration on for educational purposes.

Leaves-

7-bark hydrangea ( also known as oak leaf hydrangeas)- great reds to purples

maple- yellows, oranges and reds

junipers- adds lacy greenery and sometimes they have an ashy-blue berry


Berries-
Oak- if your acorns fall off before the leaves turn the color you want, you can glue them back in or wire them to the branch... discreetly!

Beautyberry- fantastic purple berries. If you grow them yourself, please leave some berry branches from your local birds to have some variety in their winter diet.

Nandina- if you do not have pets of small children (the berries can fall off and make very sick tummies)

Grasses

Cattails- once dried will keep for years!


Red fountain grass- great purple color

Warding off evil at home- haint blue, jack-o-lanterns and bottle trees

Great Haint Blue porch from franklinpainting.com

Tis the season to to protect the home and hearth from ghosts, ghouls and goblins. Historically, keeping out spirits was a year around battle. The best protections was to keep them from entering the home through windows and doors, scare them away or to capturing them in the yard.

Common to the Southern United States is a shade of blue that was painted on porch ceilings and inside window frames. This color was intended to prevent ghosts, commonly called "haints" a derivation of haunts, from entering the home through the openings. It is a lovely shade of sky blue that rather extends the sky onto the porch. Perhaps that is how it ward off evil spirits, at night the porch looks like day and everyone know spirits called haunt you during the day. Haint Blue on the porch gives even the most modern home a historic context and feels like a cool drink of water on a hot day.

Carving ghoulish faces in fall vegetables are common in many parts of the world. Typically the indigenous vegetables are placed outside the home to scare away the local goblins! Of course pumpkins are common in the States, however, in Europe, large turnips and rutabagas are used. Pumpkins are not just for Autumn, the color is flattering to all skin tones and makes a lovely color for gathering places like family rooms and dining rooms.

From Walterreeves.com

Capturing spirits before they get to your house and are warded off by your haint blue. Bottletrees were originally designed to capture spirits by hanging bottles from trees or by placing the bottles on ends branches. With so many colors of bottles available, the bottletrees create a stain glass effect in your lawn. Driving in the country, often the bottles are blue. Perhaps there in a correlation between the haint blue and the blue bottles Or maybe, people in the country use a lot of Phillips milk of magnesia.

Back in Black- decorating with black



Black striped chair on black floor from Decorpad.com

As difference colors are referenced as "the new black" each season, it appears that black must always be the new black, really. Not only does it work well in fashion, it also plays well at home. Forget black lacquer furnishings from cheap-furnishings-are-us, black in the home added weight to a space providing the contrast for the rest of the colors in the space. It is the concept of not having light without dark. And like white, black comes in many shades as well.

Adding black to your home works the same as wearing black, it fools the eye into making something look smaller, or less detailed, because black things visually recedes when placed with other colors- especially light colors. In choosing what to paint or purchase in black, look for items you would like to recede or items with details you would like to diminish.

In contrast, black can also call attention to something if there is not a large variation of color hues in the space, or if the lighting in the space is very bring.

Black can visually cover overly detailed items as the light tends to not have a shadow on black, or a minimal one. Think out-of-style family heirloom with too much details. Black in perfect.

Black also shows off an outline of an item. So, it works well on items with great lines by calling attention to form without getting bogged down in detail.

Here are some great spaces with black to inspire your home.

From Traditional Home, painting a chair black accents great lines! White rooms benefit from black by adding contrast and a comfortable place to rest your eyes.

Yellow and blue are a classic color combination. The dusty version of these colors could be too sweet and out of context in this Miami condo, However, the classic lines of the two console tables are heightened with the color black. The contemporary black tree echos the forsythia branches on the table, again drying the sweetness of the space. From ElleDecor's Miami Showhouse.

Silhouettes are a great way to mark a moment, celebrate a child's age, or pay homage to a pet! Creating a collection of silhouettes make a great memory wall in a contemporary way. This custom silhouette comes from PaperPortraits on Etsy.

Chevron is hot and has staying power! Black and white in chevron pillow provides a update without breaking the bank! This pillow is from JCarterHandmade from Etsy.

Skull-duggery for the home

Celebrating Halloween year round can seem, well, not so seemly. Too Elvira. Too devil worshipping. However, adding a bit of Gothic to a home can add humor, depth, and gravitas. Here are some great picks to add a touch of Gothic Halloween to your home!



Day of the Dead is becoming a popular holiday in the United States adopted from Mexico, like Cinco De Mayo. The roots of the celebration is in honoring the departed and celebrating their life. It takes place on November first, in the Catholic calender is it known as All Saints Day. This graphic and beautiful pillow can be a gentle reminder of loved ones that have gone before us or a celebration of the beauty of graphic design and artful renderings. This "sugar skull pillow" is made of burlap and is from "The Watson Group" on Etsy.

Sometime antique furniture needs a touch of unconventionality- thank the family heirloom that doesn't fir into your modern aesthetic. Changing the hardware can change the piece. These bird skull drawer pulls could be just the touch you need!  This cast metal crow skull is silver plated. More information on the skull drawer pulls can be found HERE at BillyBlue22 on Etsy. 

A side view of the silver placed crow drawer pull from BillyBlue22 on Etsy.

Plate collections are a great way to decorate in a formal setting, to show of beautiful dinnerware that is not in use, or as a "placeholder" for future art purchases. This place add a bit of cheeky humor to your average plate collection! Create by the folks at the Lucky Fox on Etsy, this fun plate ships from England and adds instant interest to a staid collection.

No, you are my favorite! Always forgetting to leave a note? Wish you could write thoughts on the inside of your head? What to shock the in laws? Have I got the perfect thing for you! This skull is cast plastic skull if covered in chalkboard paint and is the perfect spot or leaving a note for the rest of your household. What time is the little league game? Check the skull. Starting a grocery list? Write in on your head.  Like to doodle? This guy is made for all your sugar skull skills!
Brought to you by iamhome on etsy.

Movie furniture

There are many movies that I like the decor for one reason or another. Elle Wood's bedroom in Legally Blond and her apartment in Legally Blond 2, for example. I like the melding the modern furnishings with pop colors. It takes the coldness out of modern. I love the pink boucle fabric on the Eero Saarinen's Womb Chair that appeared in her college dorm.  

However, I wonder if people would want the furnishings from a room in a movie. I noticed the chairs from the Hunger Games tribute dining area are currently available at MyHabit.com. It's is a kind of reverse product placement- you see the movie and find out about the furnishings instead of know the product then see it in movie. And, though I think the chairs look cool and possible even comfortable, I'm not sure that a reminder of the excesses of the Capital, which are depicted and egregious and despicable and the fear of the games, for hunting and killing other people, are something I want around my dining room table. Do I want people who saw the movie to think I am such a raving fan that I bought the chairs. It seems a bit obsessive. So, as cool as the chairs are, I an not sure the best marketing on them is to mention the movie. Especially since the book, and theoretically the movie is for teens, who typically do not purchase furniture.

Scene from Hunger Games in the dining area of for the tributes from area 11.

New "wood" floors- great ceramic tiles

I am in love with the versatility of the new floor tiles with the look of wood. They have come along way and the variety of patterns for each color way, as well as the size of the planks, enhances the look of real wood.

So, why would you want tile that looks like wood instead of wood? The are more durable that wood with insect resistance- including termites, resist staining, scratching and are easier to clean than wood. Additionally, they can go in places that traditionally are not recommended for wood, like bathrooms.

Granted the grout lines are a giveaway, however, you are not trying to deceive people that they are not tile, you are making an investment in durable construction!

Typically they come in a 6 inch by 24 inch length and can by cut like any ceramic tile. Lastly, some brands are 100% recycled content. So, no trees were harmed and waste was prevented from entering the landfills! Best of all no refinishing, no gassing off sealers, no warping or cupping!

Luxetile's porcelain wood grain plank tile in Chocolate



What interior designers do

The glamorous description of my job yesterday is that I was at the lake house fluffing and zhuzzing. The weather was so lovely, we left the french doors open to feel the breeze off the water. The beginning of the leaves changing was inspirational and was highlighted with the floral arrangements I made for a little tablescaping before taking some pre-photography shots of the space.

If only I had this steamer with a strap!

The reality was that though I did make flower arrangements, leave the doors open for a breeze, and did some fluffing. I also spent about 3-4 hours steaming 12 foot high linen drapes... yards and yards of drapes! I also hauled ladders, extension cords, furniture, pillows and breakables... hammered, drilled, adjusted shelves...
I thoroughly enjoy my job, but it is not as glamorous as interior design is thought to be. A requisite for the job of interior designer should include strong back along with an understanding of scale, color, anthropometric, fabrics, drapes, drafting, HVAC, wood, carpeting, etc. And as much as I hate to admit... math!  Beside understanding how to choose art for a client there is also doing the math to hang the art, calculating flooring, drapes, upholstery, and furniture placement.