As a young girl I lived in Hawaii. It was only for a few years but memories of making hopscotch lines with jade plant leaves and stringing leis with my cousin from the plumeria tree in the front yard are some of my favorite memories. As a young adult I worked part-time in a florist shop on the Air Force base outside of Denver, Colorado. I worked with some lovely women there that were eager to share their knowledge with me. If I had been a smarter 18 year old I would have paid better attention when they were trying to teach me about composition. I did learn to make a mean boutonniere, though! Because of instances such as these I have an affinity toward fresh flowers. I will walk into my local florist shop in the winter just to renew that scent of life into my smell memory. Nothing beats the smell of a florist shop, especially in the dead of winter.
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| Sometimes fake flowers work, too. |
Sometimes I walk around my home and feel, well,... blah. It's not that I don't love my home or the work that Mister and I have done here but sometimes I just need a little umph. My solution is usually a simple one- fresh flowers!
They can be as inexpensive as a grocery store bunch or as elaborate as one's imagination can fathom from a fancy florist shop. They can be living flowers in the form of a potted plant or a cut arrangement. During the summer and early fall I like to find my flowers at local farm stands.
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| Grocery store bunch. |
Many, many years ago I had heard a professional decorator say that you need to add life to a room. No matter how well put together the room is it doesn't come to life until you add something living. She said you could use silk/fake flowers and at the time that was the answer I had been waiting for. I tend to kill living plants. I forget to water and feed them. I have often told people that the only reason my children are still alive is because they learned to feed themselves. Not true, but kinda.
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| Bittersweet in my dining room-2014 |
I am blessed to have an abundance of flowers in my gardens. Forsythia, tulips and lilacs bloom in the spring followed by peonies and iris. Summer brings day lilies and roses, black-eyed susan and hydrangea. Hydrangea transitions beautifully to autumn as the blue flowers give way to ones that present in eggplant and dark green colors-perfect for dried arrangements.
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| Sunflowers and tomatoes from the garden. Summer 2014 |
I always struggle with cutting my flowers to bring them in or let them stay beautiful on the plant. That is why I buy flowers in spite of having gardens. If you struggle with the same thing or don't have gardens to scavenge you could just pop over to
flower delivery by BloomNation. Have you heard about them? I hadn't until a few weeks ago. BloomNation is a marketplace that works with local florists in your area to showcase their talent. It's a win/win situation; the florist gets exposure it may not have had otherwise and you get gorgeous arrangements for your home. There is a wide selection of options to choose from. I found lovely arrangements for as little as $35 in my area! I got lost for way too much time perusing through the pages of beautiful work. I started daydreaming about where I would put all the beautiful things I was seeing.
Flowers by the bedside have always seemed so quaint and romantic and old fashioned to me.
My kitchen island is a good place for a happy bouquet or a low pot of peonies.
The counter top welcomes a tall arrangement that fills up the corner. Sunflowers make me smile! I have used them many times there.
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| My kitchen-Summer 2014 |
We eat at our dining table almost every night. The room is bold with it's stenciled walls so a bold arrangement full of color is right at home there.
Flowers make wonderful gifts, too. Who doesn't get all happy when the local florist pulls into the driveway with special delivery! After seeing some of the stunning options maybe you can think of places in your home that could use a little freshening up. Happy daydreaming!
*I was not compensated in any way for this article.
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