How to: modernize a standard floral arrangement

By Elizabeth

Sooooo, let's see if I can figure out how to put this without sounding rude-ish. 

Yesterday was my birthday. Go me! I received this lovely floral arrangement from my family, which was so nice of them. I absolutely love getting flowers.

Unfortunately, unless you spend a gazillion dollars or have your own personal floral designer, a lot of delivered floral arrangements can be pretty old school generic -- not quite in line with my own personal style. The flowers themselves are gorgeous, they're just displayed in a way that reads a little frumpy sometimes -- white wicker baskets aren't really my bag. 

But never fear! In just a few minutes you can transform a somewhat lackluster mishmash of flowers into lovely modern arrangements. Best of all, when you start with a large basketful like this you'll end up with enough vases of flowers to scatter them in every room of your house. 

Step One:
Admire bouquet one final time, feel guilty that you are about to demolish a gift hours after you received it. 

Step Two: 

Assemble containers and vases - I didn't use all these, but it's good to have an assortment so you can try out different sizes. If you don't have vases, jars or tin cans also work well for these sorts of informal arrangements. 

Step Three:  Gently pull the flowers out of the arrangement one type at a time and see what vase works best for each sort of flower. 

The lilies in my arrangement had the longest stems so they went in my tallest vase and are in the middle of my dining room table. 

The irises sat best in a wider-mouth jar, because they have fat stems. I put them in the living room because I liked how the yellow at their throat matches my lamp.  

I think carnations are always best massed in a very short, puffy arrangement. These are on my desk. 

A few of the daisies are sitting in a tiny garage sale pitcher on the window ledge in my entryway, and there are a few more in a bud vase on a windowsill. 

Step Five:

Enjoy a house full of flowers and write a thank-you note. 

Comments

[rebecca]

gorgeous.

my husband stopped buying me pre-arranged bouquets, because i always end up doing this anyways. He just buys them in bunches now. and now i need some carnations. :)

[Kristie]

I never thought to do this. Next time I'm taking apart flowers I get.

[Shoe Lush]

My fave is the lily, followed by the carnations which surprises me; I've never liked carnations!

(is that a print from Black Apple on Etsy in the background?)

[La Petite Chic]

I love this idea! I usually end up breaking a bouquet up only after some of the flowers start to die, but I will definitely start doing it right away.

[barbetti]

That's it, you're moving in with me. You can paint and organize my house and sort my flowers. I am so ill-equipped to be a stay at home mom!

[Swistle]

OMG! You are such a genius. I like the way standard arrangements look ALSO, but even SO, this idea would be great for when the bouquet starts to go downhill and certain types of flowers fade out while others are still going strong.

[JennyL]

I do this too! Such a treat having flowers in multiple rooms in the house - some on the bedside table is great too.