How To Decorate With Dried Flowers

If you love dried flowers, then I have a few fun decorating tips just for you. Here are some easy tips and display ideas involving how to decorate with dried flowers.

If you are looking for a way to add a natural touch to your home you may just want to consider using dried flowers. Dried flowers come in a variety of colors and styles, so with a little poking around, you can find the perfect match for your decorating needs. You can use dried flowers to create beautiful arrangements and creations, including bouquets, wreaths, and even wall hangings. Or, you can simply place them in and around your home for a simple touch of nature.

We are at the peak of summer here in Georgia, when everything is in full bloom, and I find myself wanting to preserve all of the beauty of this season. Yes, it is hot here during the summer months but it is also vey beautiful because the flowers around us here are in full bloom right now. There is something special about the colors and smells of flowers when they are at their finest, am I right?!

I think that this is the reason why I have always been drawn to dried flowers – they are a great way to recall the sighs and smells of the summer … year round.

I enjoy working with dried flowers too. I loved making this milk bath out of dried clippings from my lavender and I also loved playing around with these dried hydrangea blooms. And now, after a trip to an amazing home and garden store called Terrian , I am reminded that dried flowers really are works of art!

Gathering Your Dried Flowers

When choosing dried flowers for your home, it is important to select ones that will complement your existing décor. If you have a modern home, look for sleek and simple dried flowers to use. For a more traditional space, try a larger bouquet with a variety of stems. Also, be sure to look for flowers that will hold their shape and color well when dried. You can gather your dried florals one of two ways:

HOW TO DRY YOUR OWN FLOWERS

Here is my simple process for drying my own flowers that I have found works well for me!

1. Cut flowers at the stem as close to the base as possible using sharp scissors.
2. Remove any leaves that will be in contact with the flowers.
3. Strip off any excess foliage from the stem that you do not want.
4. Split large groups of flowers into smaller bunches – I try not to have more than six or seven flowers in each bunch.
5. Use string to hang your flowers upside down – attach the string to a hook (or clothes hanger, etc…) and leave them hanging upside down to dry for around about 2 weeks.
6. Check to see if they are dried after about 2 weeks. Look for the petals to be firm and crisp.
7. I sometimes will spray my flowers with hairspray once they are dry to help preserve them.

WHERE TO BUY GREAT DRIED FLOWER

Sometimes I don’t want to take the time to dry my own flowers or perhaps I want a new type of flower that I don’t own. Here are some of my favorite places to find dried flowers:

• Michaels
• Amazon
• Affloral
• Terrain
• Etsy
• Anthropologie
• West Elm
• The Sill

TIP: I like to shop the clearance section of all the craft stores at the end of each season for deals on dried flowers. I have gotten lots of dried florals for super cheap this way and the bonus here is that dried ‘spring and summer’ flowers still look great during the fall and all year round!

Display Ideas Using Dried Flowers

Once your flowers are dry, it’s time to start decorating! Dried flowers are a beautiful and versatile way to decorate almost any room in your home. They can be used to add color and interest and they require very little care. Here are some tips for decorating with dried flowers:

• You can start off very simply by just creating an arrangement. You can use any sort of vessel you want because they will not require water to ‘live.’ There are no limits here either. You can create something small and ‘low profile’ to put on a coffee table or you can create something “Tall and Large” to use as a centerpiece on your kitchen room table. You can create a look across your mantle using several vessels or you can pop a single vessel full of dried flowers onto a shelf!
• Another fun idea is to use your dried flowers to create a wreath. These wreaths can be used during any of the 4 seasons and are timeless and fun to create. Using a simple base like a grapevine wreath creates an opportunity for your creativity to go wild! I am loving the mini wreaths that I am seeing out there. I think I might try that this fall!
• If you like the look of dried flowers hanging then another fun idea is to create a wall hanging using dried flowers. It doesn’t get much simpler than that – all you really need is a long interesting stick, some ribbon or rope, some twine, and your dried flowers!
• If you want to step up your game then you can create a dried floral arrangement inside a glass dome. This allows you to really get thoughtful about your arrangement – because it has to fit under the glass!
  
  

No matter how you decorate with them, the dried flowers will really stand out because they are so beautiful. There’s something special about dried flowers. They have a unique beauty that fresh flowers simply can’t match for some reason. Perhaps it’s the fact that they’re preserved at the peak of their beauty, or maybe it’s the fact that they last much longer than fresh flowers. No matter what the reason, they are a great option to use in and around your home when decorating!

HERE ARE A FEW MORE IDEAS:

Use a unique vessel to add more interest to your dried floral arrangement. For example, here I used an old trophy that I adore. The tarnished silver and the font of the writing help to draw even more attention to these beautiful dried safflowers.

Here I just clipped a bunch of hydrangea blooms from my neighbor yard last fall and (as they were drying out) I used displayed them here in this basket on the back porch – as decor! I loved the way this served a ‘double duty’ – as both a means to dry out the blooms but also as a way to add interest to the back porch for a few weeks!

Sometimes I like to mix both dried and living flowers together. Here I used the dry lavender – sort of like a wall hanging – along with live lavender plants. I am here to tell ya – it smelled SOOOO GOOD in the house that day!

Another way that I like to display my dried flowers (and my dried grasses) is to ‘color coordinate’ them with other pieces in the same area. Here I found this lovely collection of green dried stems last fall and I instantly knew they would pair well with my vintage green bowl collection! I love the idea of getting creative in this way to reinvent spaces that you have in your home!

Here I was able to use the hydrangea blooms last fall (the same ones that I had in the basket) to create a super simple, yet interesting wreath by simply cutting the blooms with a good amount of their stems in place. Once dried, I simply poked each stem into a grapevine wreath until it was full of blooms. It took 5 minutes to make!

Full Circle “Dried Flower” Moment

Last week I found the most beautiful book on Amazon entitled Dried Flowers (you can find it here). I actually ordered it the day before we left for our huge family road trip so I sort of forgot about it. But, while we were driving through Connecticut on that family road trip, we stopped at a store called Terrian. (I mentioned our trip to Terrain above and you can read more about my trip to that store here) and while I was inside Terrain I discovered that they had many, many beautiful dried flower arrangements sprinkled throughout the store. I was really blown away by the beauty of their dried flower creations and I was excited and inspired by them to get creative with some dried flowers …. and then …. I remembered that I had my very own copy of Dried Flowers waiting for me back at home!

When we got back to Georgia, I was happy to see my new book there waiting for me. I ripped open the box and dug into the pages. Inside the book was full of ideas on how to decorate with dried flowers – similar to the ones I mentioned above but what I I was happy to find was a really great flower directory of sorts – full of information about various types of dried flowers. I am now more inspired than ever to try some new dried flower arrangements – so stay tuned!

How To Store Your Dried Flowers

There are probably a million and one great ways to store your delicate dried blooms from season to season but what I have found that works well for me is to place them inside a long Tupperware tote (like this one) and I use tissue paper to separate the flowers. I am sure not to pack them down too much so that I do not crush any of the sweet blooms!

Wrap Up:

Dried flowers can be used in so many ways to decorate your home for any season. They are a great way to add natural beauty and color, and they are very affordable. You can find dried flowers at most craft stores, or you can dry your own flowers using the methods we’ve described. I hope you learned a thing or two above about how to decorate with dried flowers and I hope you can get creative and have some fun using them in and around your home!

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One More Thing: It’s Good To Be Home Blog Hop

This is the first Monday of the month which means that it is time for our monthly blog hop! Please take a moment to check out my friends blog post by clicking on their names below.

Southern Spangled

Robyn’s Southern Nest

My Weathered Home

At Home in the Wildwood