Is that for real??

photo: Martha Stewart Living

I love fresh flowers. You can't do any better to brighten up a room or someone's day than throwing some fresh flowers into the mix. Whether it be a hand-picked fistful of daisies from your child, a beautiful bouquet from the florists, or cuttings from your own garden, a pretty bunch of flowers perched on your table just takes center stage in the room. An added bonus is the lovely aroma that wafts from them and announces their presence in your home. It doesn't have to be a full bouquet either. I prefer a single, perfect peony to a bouquet of generic roses any day!!

real!

For those of us who cannot enjoy such a treat on a regular basis, "stealing" from nature is another great option to bring natural beauty into our homes (and no, I'm not recommending we pick our neighbours flowers or pluck some from the town flower beds). Simply taking a walk in the woods to gather branches of fall leaves, fallen pinecones, acorns, and crab apples can harvest a great yield of natural fall trimmings for your home, both inside and out. I love to dress my window boxes with rose hips, branches with colorful dried leaves, mini gourds, Indian corn, and wheat stalks. The fuller the better... no wimpy window boxes!!

real ...cute!!!

Another option for city dwellers or those of us without access to nature's bounty: fakes!! Don't you just hate that word?? It conjures up such negative images, doesn't it?? We've all seen enough fake sunflowers and blue blossomed flowers in our lifetimes to recoil at the suggestion of bringing in artificial flowers and foliage. When I'm in staging mode, I positively cringe when other stagers drape fake ivy and plants on top of cabinets and pianos to make a home look lived in! It's like we are supposed to be tricked into believing that a caring homeowner took such good care of their plants that they shine like plastic and never need watering!! It's a bit of an industry standard, but I just can't do the fake trees and plants! Blecch!!!!

not real!

What I do think is acceptable, are the new "faux" (isn't that nicer?) flowers and foliage that are designed with imperfection in mind. The kind that have to be touched to determine their authenticity. Those are the kind of artificial nature that can work and work well. I prefer to mix them in with real flowers and greenery. I even go as far as to put some great faux flowers in the water with my real ones when they are in their final days of life. It makes the whole bouquet, both dead and dying, seem more alive.

both!

So, go fresh when you can, but don't be quick to assume all faux flowers are beneath you. Fake has come a long way...and you can incorporate it when needed. In fact, a great faux flower beats a cheap carnation in my book. Go ahead. Reach out and touch one...in fact go by that rule. If you need to feel it to be certain it's real, then it's good enough to stand pride of place in your home!!!

both!