simple flower arranging

I love working with grocery store flowers in different ways. Here are two arrangements from a recent photo shoot. Simple orange spray roses in a small bouquet and some lovely purple agapanthus mixed with nandina berries from the yard.

 

Easy casual flowers bring life to a room for under $6!

Bright flowers work great in neutral spaces. Big flower heads like these agapanthus make a big impact and can be cost effective with the addition of some yard greenery like the azalea greens and nandina berries.

Work in progress - the downtown condo

One of my current projects is a downtown condo. We are turning it into a jewel box of a contemporary boho space. The new sofa came today and looks great with the turquoise FLOR flooring, lighting, contemporary coffee table and the clients artwork.

The white sofa was necessary to support the heavily patterned carpet, bold artwork and the soon to be re-upholstered stools. The stools will each be a different fabric in pink, orange or pink and orange. A wonderfully bold color palette on a backdrop of contemporary white!

Additionally we are creating an ethnic patterned chalkboard wall in fuchsia and orange!!!! I am so excited about the wall. And, rare would you find the designer who spackles your wall while waiting for the sofa to arrive. I am a full service designer after all!

I felt very Kitty Barthomolew, whom I have always admired, while I was spackling and maintaining my manicure at the same time! She was one of the last Home Design-type show hosts who really knew what they were doing. Hopefully they will continue the path a technically savvy designer on TV.

Below are shots of my top fabric pics in situ and the fabrics choosen for the project. As always, if you are interested in design services or any of these fabrics, please let me know!

Fabrics selected for the project.

 Fabrics in situ as stools stored under the coffee table.

Easy flower arranging- from the grocery store

Pre-made "bouquets" are an easy and inexpensive way to get an assortment of flowers. Combining them with simple greenery from your yard and finding a little help in the produce section, can take pre-made to...  if not professional, at least pro-sumer. (pro-sumer is my new favorite word. I found it when I bought a new camera and I've been waiting to use it in a sentence!)

For a photo shoot this week with Marianne Strong Interiors, I picked up two "bouquets", a bag of peppers, some sunflowers, and spray roses from the grocery store and used the some yard shrubbery for four mix-and match-arrangements.

The 5 keys to flower arranging for me...

1. don't be afraid to cut the stems and don't be afraid to re-cut.
2. pick the height and the width and add two flowers to mark the size
3. group small flowers in three's to make a bigger impact.
4. use a cascading flower or greenery to cover the rim of the vase.
5. vary the greenery... and save money by picking it from the yard!

As seem in my drawing below for building a planter, the same principles work for flowers. The tall piece, the side piece for width and a cascader to cover the vase edges.

Here are my results~


The peppers were added to an all white and green arrangement to change it up a bit and make it more "kitchen-y".

White and green bouquet from the grocer was divided into two arrangements this one is more green and features a pink tinged ornamental cabbage. The other is a simple green and white- both for nursery flowers.

This is the largest arrangement. It incorporates the greenery from the bouquets, spray roses, sunflowers and the mini peppers. The peppers are on bamboo skewers. The flowers are held upright with a crisscross on tape over the vase before the flowers were added.

Velvet Ikat - the new love in my life

I have a new love, velvet ikat. As if ikat could not get any better, now it is uber touchable! Best of all they are handmade, which supposed my HOLA (Handmade, organic, local, or artisan) initiative.

Here are some great Etsy finds for Velvet Ikat Lumbar Pillows!



Black and palest taupe 14"x20" pillow


Hot pink and beige 16" x 22" pillow


Mustard yellow and cream, Chevron, 16"x 24" lumbar pillow



Red and cream Stylize cross, 16" x 24" lumbar pillow


Brown and cream, ironwork style, 8" x 16" mini lumbar pillow

Popular on Pinterest this week

This was my most popular pin this week!

I'm not a food pinner, but this was too cute!  Enjoy my new favorite heels! These are the cutest cupcakes!

The color loft- lighting

I am so excited about my current loft project! When a client says things like, "think contemporary bohemian" and "I have decided pink is an empowering color" I am in heaven. My current design focus is on a contemporary loft space with a focus on contemporary white with bohemian pink, orange and turquoise! The accents are designed to support the contemporary attitude without creating a cold space. I am achieving this through line and pattern. Here are of the lighting ideas I am considering!

Eco-Chic at Home- The Boy's Nursery

Boy's are all about being on the move. So, today I am looking at decorating a nursery for a boy with the concept of movement. Layering on the component of green design, we will be looking at buying local, handmade and recycled. Maybe people think about being green as simply recycling, however when you think about green in a holistic way you see that it is about the conservation of thing. Buying items that have a longer "shelf-life"maybe as a conversion item, buying items that do not cost a lot in fuel to get to you, and buying items that come from something that can be grown again easily or that used to be something else are all ways to look at the concept of green. So, antiques are green, and so are items made by local artisans! Here are a few great designs that follow some of these ideas!

All items can be found of Etsy! The first items in the list is from a member of one of the Etsy teams I am a part of and called Alabama Accents. This team is doing a promotions drive and featuring one team member a day

BronstarDesigns on Etsy brings us this great growth chart all about easy modes of transportation! I love the clear color palette of blue and red!

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Movement can also be about the air and unseen forces! This Modern Mobile- The Supernova in Deep Red by The Wonderland Studio is a great contemporary design that adds color and movement into the nursery.

What a great vintage scooter from LilAndLou! Not only would this be a great early mode of transportation, but it also brings some history to the nursery. Because of the narrow profile, under 6 inches, it would also make a great wall piece. So, you have a recycled piece that is wall art and functional once your little mover gets moving! What a great way to celebrate green design.

These fun little bicycle pillow can add repetition into a space. Repetition is a great way to add pattern without creating visual clutter. Soft artwork is great for little hand and chewing mouths! These organic bicycle pillows comes from BirdMafia on Etsy.

I love mixing moderns with vintage, especially when the larger piece can grow with the child. This Bamboo storage cabinet would be great for storing books and toys now and a TV later. Because the piece is made of bamboo plywood the piece is strong and from renewable materials! This piece is from MaddoxStreetStudios and the only problem with getting this piece home if that you might want to keep it for yourself!

Tribal chic lumbar pillows- ikats, suzanis and more

Etsy is a great source for pillows of all kinds- decorator fabrics, leather, pleather, hand printed, screen printed- and all hand made!  I am in love with the new tribal prints. It is a trend I predicted in 2008 and it is finally making it way into the mainstream. Here is a selection of great tribal prints pillows that will bring a one of a kind look to your home. Best part of a lumbar pillow is that it is easy to use and does not hide you other awesome pillows. These are more functional that square pillows!

Suzani print pillow from Trina Turk fabrics from PillowChix on etsy.

Fantastic tribal chic pillow created with various patterned fabrics from SisterBatik on Etsy.

I love a rich salmon and red ikat! This one is from PlayPurdys on etsy.

Grey has a way of freshening any tired space. This is a great option from ChicDecorPillows on etsy.

Great orange and cream ikat from WillaSkyeHome on etsy.

Tribal, check, recycled, check. Eco-chic, absolutely!
Funky vintage tribal needlepoint reclaimed by PlanetDaisyWorld on etsy.

Delicious embroidered suzani pillow from BertieWoodhouse on etsy.

Ultimate desk

I found this desk on One King's Lane and it had so much function and style, I just had to show it. It has all the function of a Hoosier Cabinet from the 1920's and 30's with the sixe for the modern laptop type office. I love the pull out desk feature- another very Hoosier feature. See other small office solutions on my pinterest page! Need help with you small office, let me know about it!


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