Tablescape – mallard & MAGNOLIA

Happy Wednesday!

How was your Valentine’s Day?! Did you do anything special? Since Valentine’s Day fell on Ash Wednesday, I decided to celebrate the occasion with a festive breakfast since we had plans to attend the Ash Wednesday service at church that evening.

In my 18 in 18 post, I resolved to celebrate the small holidays this year – even if it’s in a small way. I decided to set a fun table and serve an easy breakfast. I put together my tablescape with some new red buffalo check placemats I picked up in Athens two weekends ago. I shopped my house for the table decor, using old books to add height to my flowers and vintage Valentine postcards that I found at a local antique shop. I have postcards for different holidays and think they are a cute and whimsical way to add a festive touch to a holiday vignette. When setting a table, don’t be afraid to think outside of the box – my red monogrammed “napkins” under the plates are actually hand towels. We weren’t using them as napkins so it’s didn’t matter – I just wanted to add some personality.

Setting a nice table elevates even the most simple meals. Since we had to hurry to school and work, I made heart-shaped toast, eggs, fruit and set out sparkling pink lemonade – much to my daughter’s delight. I think I could have served cereal and my kids still would have loved it.

Now onward to the post itself – tips for easy floral arranging! This weekend, I was asked to put together a few flower arrangments for an open-house event. The home is transitional in style with traditional bones, contemporary touches and tons of personality. I decided to put together simple arrangments that would complement the decor without competing for attention.

Take inventory

I started with a walkthrough of the home. I jotted down a list of spots that needed flowers and gathered containers they had on hand. My list consisted of the foyer, living room side table, kitchen counter, breakfast table and a few small arrangements I could tuck places like a bathroom or accent table. They had two beautiful silver vases for the foyer, a mirrored container for the accent table and three small glass vases – the rest was up to me to purchase.

Shop

I decided on my color scheme – pink and white, which would pop off the neutral walls and feel like spring which is right around the corner. I also decided to do a mix of fresh and potted flowers. I think the potted flowers give a more casual feel plus they can be enjoyed for a long time! I headed to my local nursery which specializes in potted plants but they also carry fresh. Since I was shopping post-Valentine’s Day, I scored some deals on the fresh flowers. I recommend bringing your containers with you while shopping so you can judge the quantity and scale properly. I like to arrange in odd numbers and fill my containers with a thriller, a filler and a spiller. The thriller usually makes a statement and adds height, the filler is just that – smaller flowers and/or greener to fill in the gaps and something to spill over the sides and keeps your eye moving around the arrangement.

I picked up a potted plant in a simple woven basket for the breakfast table. For the living room side table, I decided on elegant orchids with a mix of greenery. The kitchen counter needed something big and tall, so I decided on daffodils and hyacinth for height and ferns for filler. The foyer containers were extremely narrow and need a statement arrangement. I decided to do something a bit more structural and picked pink roses to line up in the vase and grabbed a tall grass to add height and my spiller. For the small accent arrangments, I stuck with white roses and snapdragons.

The only container I needed to shop for was the kitchen counter arrangement. I wanted a large, shallow white bowl and easily found a variety of white serving bowls at TJ Maxx. For other great places to find containers try thrift shops and Goodwill. I’ve scored some seriously beautiful brass planters and blue and white flower vases and planters at these places for pennies. I also like to repurpose items by thinking outside of the box. Teacups, serving ware and baskets all make great containers for indoor arrangements. Also, even if you are purchasing an arrangement from a professional florist, you can save some serious money by providing your own container.

Prep

Once you get your fresh flowers home, trim the ends of each stem by about an inch, stick them in a bucket of fresh, cold water and let them sit for about 30 minutes to an hour. This refreshes, hydrates and opens your blooms.

Arrange

Once you are ready to arrange your fresh flowers, trim your ends again and remove leaves that would be submerged in the water. I hold my flowers up to my container to judge the height and trim and de-leaf accordingly. For my smaller arrangments, I started with my tallest flowers (my thrillers) and cut about 2-3 per arrangement. From there, I stuck in white roses to fill in the gaps. Again, I like to work in odd numbers but this is not the be all and end all. Last, I finished it off with some greenery to spill over the sides of the arrangements. This type of arrangement takes no time at all and are easy to keep around the house and change out on a weekly basis.

My pink rose arrangement required a bit more structure. To be honest, I would reserve an arrangement of this nature for an event. I filled the silver vases with water and an acrylic vase filler which keeps the stems in place. Another method to give your arrangement structure is to create a grid with floral tape across the top of the vase but my container was too narrow for this. I started by trimming my pink roses and lining them up in a row across the container. After this, I added some tall green grass in the back of the arrangement to give it height. In the front, I stuck in my greenery to spill over the front and side of the vase. Once my spiller was in place, I realized there was a weird gap in the arrangement and I decided to fill it in with the second row of roses. I trimmed these slightly shorter than the top row and stuck in 3-4 to fill in space. Once the flowers were in place, I readjusted all the other elements as needed.

The last set of arrangements were my potted flowers. Start with the container of your choice and take flowers out of pots one at a time. I started with my statement “thriller” which was the daffodils. I broke up the root system at the bottom (I broke and reduced mine up by about half) and placed the flowers in the center of my container. From there, I filled in with my other flowers, packing them in tightly next to each other. Last, I added the small white blooms to spill over the sides of the bowl. Once your flowers are all in place, fill in gaps with extra potting soil and wipe the side of the container clean. I finish off all my indoor arrangements with dried Spanish moss which can easily be found at any craft store.