Tips for Flower Care and Arranging

I love to have fresh flowers in my home.  Whether it's a floral arrangement for the week or a centerpiece for a dinner party, flowers add a lovely elegance.  Before I get into this post, I need to start by stating that I am in no way a floral expert.  There is definitely an art to arranging flowers and I know I am very far from mastering that art.  The purpose of this post is to simply share some of the tips I have picked up over the years that have really made a difference in the style and longevity of my arrangements.

Certain Flowers Need to be Cut Under Standing Water

• When you take your flowers (specifically roses and hydrangeas) home it is extremely important to cut them under standing water on an angle.  
  • The reason being that when flowers are first cut, the stems immediately take in whatever element the fresh cut is immediately exposed to.  If that element is air, your flower stems will inhale air bubbles and the result will be wilted dead flowers within a few days.  On the other hand, when your flower stem is immediately exposed to water when the stem is cut, it will create a steady stream of hydration throughout the stem that will help the flowers to live for weeks…YES WEEKS!!!

3 Colors Max

• I try to keep my flower arrangements to a maximum of 3 different colors.  Keeping the variety of colors used to a minimum helps to create a cleaner and more professional looking arrangement.

Every other day you should:

• Clean out the vase to keep bacteria from growing (killing your flowers prematurely)
• Replace the vase water (tepid water is recommended for most flowers)
• Cut the ends off of the stems on a diagonal to aid in promoting maximum water absorption 

On the look-out

• Every day you should check and discard any dead or decaying flowers in order to prevent contaminating the other living flowers in the arrangement.
• Make sure all leaves below the waterline have been trimmed away.  Leaves are unable to take in oxygen or light underwater, so they will only provide additional decay to your vase if left.  
• Keep your flowers out of any areas with intense heat (ex. Heating Vents and/or Windows with Intense Sunlight)

Use the leftovers!  

• When arranging hydrangeas, I always save the excess leaves to use on my cheese platters and bud vases.  I also take the broken flowers heads and combine them into a tight arrangement with a rubber band (not very professional I know, but it does work).  The bud vase pictured below is an example of scraps that I have rubber banded together and had on display in my home for well over a week.  The scraps used in the juice glasses on the window sill lived for over two weeks!

Bathroom Countertop Decor

Figuring out what you want to display on your bathroom countertops can be a challenge.  The added task of making a space functional, aesthetically pleasing and cohesive can quickly turn a into an overwhelming and involved project.  In this post I have outlined a few of my favorite tips for how I was able to achieve the balance between function and refinement. 

Add a Tray

One of the easiest ways to tie a look together on your bathroom countertop is by adding a tray.  It not only corrals all of your countertop accessories and containers, but also creates a finished and purposeful look.

The right side of my bathroom countertop has been adorned with Container Store Acrylic Canisters to hold my Q-Tips/Dental Floss Sticks/Oval Facial Pads, a West Elm Carafe to store my mouth wash and the CB2 Bento Tray to corral everything and tie the entire look together.

• Trays dont have to be expensive.  The white "tray" seen pictured above is actually the CB2 Bento Rectangular Platter (a piece of serveware) that honestly has the perfect shape and size for my space and retails for less than $10!  
• Other vanity trays to consider include: the Crate & Barrel Glass Vanity Tray, Target's Threshold Oil Can Bath Coordinates, CB2 Teak Rectangular Stacking Box , West Elm's White Lacquer Bath Tray and West Elm's Slate Bath Tray

Think Monochromatic 

Another tip for a clean countertop look is keeping the number of different colors to a minimum.  I opted for a monochromatic white look and purposefully picked all white personal care items to display in clear vessels.  

• The acrylic canisters used to store all other personal care items displayed can be found at the Container Store.  Other great bathroom canisters include: Restoration Hardware's Faceted Bath Accessories, Crate & Barrel's Glass Canisters, Anthropologie's Monarch Mercury Jars
• If you are looking for a simple, classic and clean look, I would suggest checking out the the Container Store's White Lacquered Bathroom Collection, West Elm's Metallic Lacquered Bath Accessories, Crate & Barrel's Ambrose Bath Accessories and Restoration Hardware's Pharmacy Accessories (Available in Frosted Glass, Metal/Polished Chrome and Clear Glass)

Useful Accessories to Consider

• Mouthwash - You can find a glass carafe like the one used in our photos to store mouthwash from CB2, Williams-Somoma's Monogrammed Glass Carafe, Pottery Barn's Classic Glass Bath Decanter or the Crate & Barrel Bedside Carafe.
• Tissues- If you choose to display tissues (I do), then I would strongly encourage you to invest in a tissue box cover.  Rarely (and I do mean rarely) am I able to find a box of tissues off of the store shelf where the cardboard box decorations align with my bathroom color scheme.  Having the tissue box cover allows me to get whatever tissues are being sold at the best price and/or have the features I am looking for (aloe, super soft, etc…) and not worry about their exterior box design.  A few of my favorite tissue box covers include: West Elm's White Lacquered Tissue Box,  Crate & Barrel's Sedona Tissue Box Cover, Pottery Barn's Linen Hemstitch Cover or Restoration Hardware's Newberry Rectangular Tissue Cover.
• Candle- See my post on Coffee Table Candles for ideas on the different types of candles to display (even though I am talking about coffee table candles, the suggestions in the post can totally apply to your bathroom countertop.  The only caveat being that I would not use the same fragrance candle scents in both my living room and my bathroom.  I prefer the smell of fresh linen or powder when selecting a scented candle for my bathroom.  

The left side of my bathroom countertop includes the West Elm White Lacquer Tissue Box Cover, a Pottery Barn Hurricane with a White Pottery Barn Pillar Candle, and the Crate & Barrel Pure Oval Soap Dish paired with a fragrant bar soap from Anthropologie. 

Arranging your bathroom countertop space doesn't have to cost a lot to look great and be very functional.  Just remember to keep your space clean, minimize the number of colors used and make sure the items you choose to display have purpose.    

Home Tip: Save your Sample Paint Cans

I first started painting rooms in my home when I was in graduate school.  Yes, it was a rental but I felt like adding a splash of color to the walls really helped to make my space feel cozier and more put together.  It was also great exposure to the world of painting and all of the steps involved in properly painting a room.  

By the time I moved to my next home, I knew that I wanted to paint almost every room (which I did) with the exception of my bedroom.  The bedroom had been painted in an earthy tan/green color, which doesn't sound very attractive, but for some reason worked really well with my bedroom furniture and bedding.  The only problem was that the paint job in the bedroom felt like it had been a little rushed and there were a few wall areas where I wished that I had that paint color to touch it up.

As time went on in this house (I ended up living at this house for 5 years), my now husband moved in, we got a dog, bought new furniture, got rid of old furniture, got married and so forth.  All of these life changes over time would more often than not, cause little knicks, chips, scrapes and/or scuffs on the walls.  While I love using Mr. Clean Magic Wall erasers for all imperfections on my white walls, I didn't know what to do about the imperfections acquired on my walls painted with color.  

The Solution?  

During the paint color selection process, I would find myself buying sample cans of the various colors I was debating between (a paper paint chip/swatch and paint on the wall look totally different).  With each mini can costing between $4-$6, I could never bring myself to throw them out at the end of my painting projects and so I acquired quite a few sample cans.  This actually ended up working in my favor because I realized that I could just use a bit of paint from the sample cans to fix those various imperfections on my walls that accumulated over time.  **BONUS- The size of the sample cans is very apartment storage friendly.**  These sample cans came in handy many times over and before I moved out of my apartment, I left labeled sample paint cans for the landlord and next tenant so that they would know exactly what was used on the walls (something I wish I had had for the bedroom). 

In my current home, I have a painting supplies basket that is filled with the following:

• Sample paint cans for the color used in each room (Room is labeled on the can)
• Set of Touch-up brushes (Crayola makes a great set found at Target)
• A Quart of white trim paint
• A Quart of Ceiling Paint
• Drydex (instant drywall for the more aggressive blemishes on your walls)
• Goof Off (paint remover)
• Sandpaper - to smooth out freshly drydex-ed surfaces before applying any paint
• A roll of painters tape - to help achieve those crisp clean lines when painting edges and corners. 

Budget Friendly Florals and Greenery

I really enjoy having fresh flowers in my home.  There is something about flowers that can totally brighten a space and make it feel more inviting.  While I consider fresh flowers in my house to be an indulgence and not a necessity, I am totally addicted to the look of fresh flowers in my house (so I obviously choose to indulge).  As a result of my admitted flower addiction I had to have an honest moment with myself and set a few boundaries.  I have been on a mission to find florals that would have the least amount of impact on my wallet (which meant both in price and longevity).  My findings?  There are actually quite a few flowers and/or greenery that fit the bill!  

Favorites include:

1. Hydrangeas-  With a cost of $5.99/3 stems at Trader Joes.  These flowers must be taken home and cut under standing water immediately and then placed in a vase with the base of the stem exposed to a minimal amount of oxygen.  Following this technique you can expect to have these flowers live for about 3 weeks!   They are full in body and gorgeous in appearance.  A classic for sure!
2. Carnations-  This might just be the most underrated flower.  I used to consider the carnation to be the classic filler flower in an arrangement.  It was the flower that we used to receive in elementary school from our Valentines so I never really gave it much thought beyond that until recently.  I was in my favorite local flower wholesale store and saw the most gorgeous bouquet of deep pink pom-poms and realized quickly that they were in fact, Carnations!  The bouquet of about 12 stems cost $5.99 and ended up lasting 3 weeks in my living room with maybe only 1 or 2 water changes!  Needless to say, I no longer consider them to be just a filler flower.  They are a fabulous budget friendly floral option. 
3. Myrtle- I had never heard of myrtle before spotting it in my local flower wholesale store.  Myrtle comes in a pretty sizable bunch at a cost of $3.99.  This is a very fragrant variety of greenery with wonderful height.  The best part?  I have had the same bunch of greenery sitting in the windowsill of my bedroom for a month and a half and it is still thriving!  Have I changed the water? Nope!!  Myrtle can last roughly 2-3 months and is a great accent for carnations in a bud vase or simply used by itself in bud vases!  Love love love Myrtle!
4. Queen Anne's Lace (aka "Baby's Breath") - Again, another former "Filler Flower" that I have now grown to love and adore.  I recently used this flower to create a winter white themed centerpiece.  It was lovely!  At a cost of $4.99 for a sizable bunch, it was the perfect addition to my table decor.  In keeping with the theme of this article, this is another flower with a long lifespan (approx. 3 weeks!).  

These budget friendly flower options are certainly regulars in my weekly floral repertoire (as you can see above in the extensive….excessive flower slide show).  Of course I still indulge on occasion, but keeping these 4 budget friendly floral options in regular rotation has really been the reason why I can maintain this weekly luxury.