Decorating With Flowers For Christmas…Stretching The Budget

 

Most of us love fresh flowers, but they can be costly…so I’m sharing a few tips on stretching the floral budget today. I recently saw something on~line about

how Mariah Carey embellishes a Christmas tree in her home sans the traditional bauble overload, but as a fan of shabby chic style she inserts fresh peonies into the branches and replaces them on pretty much a daily basis. I can’t even begin to image what that costs, and most of us can’t (and would not) be so extravagant…

This is where mixing real fresh cut flowers and faux can come into play. On my table you see a melange of inexpensive fresh flowers and silks that I’ve collected over the years of haunting thrift shops and tag sales…
When I’m out and about doing my daily errands around town I make it a point all week long to stop into places like Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Publix and the local florist shop. Often I’ll find “sale flowers” that are perhaps a day past prime or simply offered at a discount. If the price is right I scoop them up and just keep mixing in with what I have. Taking off most of the leaves and changing the water daily will help to preserve…
In the center of the dining table I use a found vintage fish poacher that I painted white as a centerpiece. I stuffed the bottom with some newspaper and filled with faded pink silk poinsettias that I purchased an entire bag of at a church sale some years back…
The napkin rings are also silks that I found at a tag sale. Keep your eyes open for things like that and you may be surprised at how easy they are to find…
The poinsettias look real enough and I put a couple of pillars (I would not light them, no worries:-) and some blush Christmas balls in as filler…
Winter peonies mixed with $4 for a dozen roses from Trader Joes. Putting the arrangements in tall narrow pitchers means having to use less flowers and they look elegant…
In styling a table…just play, play, play and don’t be afraid to mix and try new ways to use things like my fish poacher and chocolate pots for flowers!…
Varying heights with cake plates and compotes make the table more interesting and balanced…

Have a great evening…I hope to share a bit more of this tomorrow!
xoxo,
Janet

 

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5 Comments

  1. This post is soooo beautiful!!! Your photos are amazing (as always). I love fresh flowers, I can´t live without them! Have a nice day, Janet! xoxo Michaella

  2. It's all so pretty, Janet! Of course I'm loving all the pink and white – and those faux pink poinsettias are gorgeous! 🙂 Like Michaella, I can't live a single week without fresh roses in the house. Wish we had a TJ's around here to buy such cheap flowers! 🙂

    Merry Christmas to you, sweetie!

    xoxo laurie

  3. Michaela Staňková says:

    OMG Janet…I have no words-this is absolutly amazing-loooooove ♥
    xoxo