How To Make An Impressive Indoor Centerpiece Using Outdoor Decor

Few things make me happier than coming home to a beautiful fresh floral arrangement. Whether it's a bouquet from my hubby, a vase filled with flowers I picked up while at the supermarket or just a simple bunch of fresh clippings from the yard. A fresh floral arrangement brings life and energy to the home and makes any space feel special. 

My favorite place to display fresh flowers is in our dining room. It's the first space you see upon entering the foyer. This week, I created what has to be my favorite fresh floral centerpiece ever for our dining room table. It started with a pair of Outdoor Covered Pillar Candleholders (Pawn Covered Pillar Candleholders from Bombay. I used one large and small. They are sold separately and available at Kolhs). 

These gorgeous candle holders are actually intended for outdoor use, but when I saw them I immediately pictured them inside on our table.  Merchandise that is intended for outdoor use is usually large in scale. When brought inside, pieces like this make a big statement. Especially in a small space like my dining room. They look really cool all on their own, but I decided to use them as vases to create an inexpensive, but quite impressive fresh floral centerpiece. The tops are removable and the inside where the candle is supposed to go can easily be used as a vessel.

I grabbed two bouquets of flowers from the supermarket and a package of wet foam. 

I cut the foam in half, wet it and stuck one half in each statue. 

Then, I trimmed the flowers down and stuck them in the foam one at a time. I made sure they were evenly spaced and coming out at all different angles. 

After placing the flowers in the vase, there were large gaps and empty areas that needed filling. I grabbed my hedge clippers and headed outside to the front yard. I clipped a few stems from my hydrangea and brought them inside.

I used the hydrangea to fill in the areas that looked bare. Then, using a few extra long stems, I gave the arrangements a little height by sticking them in the top. I stuck a few curved stems in the bottom for a cascading effect. 

The round statue tops look really cool sitting on the table next to the arrangement and create a cool vignette style centerpiece. 

Once the flowers die, I can either refresh the arrangement with a new pack of grocery store flowers and more yard clippings, or use them as candle holders, or simply leave the statues empty.  

Either way, I have a large, eye-catching centerpiece that anchors the dining room table. 

The Pawn Candle Holders were designed in Michigan and distributed by a Michigan based family business which has been based here for over 50 years. Since I am smitten with the mitten, it really makes me happy to know they were designed and distributed locally. Here is a link where these candleholders and other Bombay outdoor furnishings and accessories are available at Kohls. 

*I'm now available for new online design projects! Please click here for more info.

*I received the Pawn Candleholders free of charge to facilitate this post.

Antler Evergreen Holiday Centerpiece

This holiday season, if you would like a simple, large scale, fresh evergreen centerpiece that won't cost a fortune...look now further than your own front yard. Using clippings from your landscape, you can create amazing centerpieces and holiday accents without spending a dime. 

Here is an example, I put together this centerpiece in just a few minutes and it brought holiday cheer to my dining table for the entire week. I used a simple white vase I had on hand, naturally shed antlers from my neighbor, faux berries from the craft store, and evergreen clippings from our bushes,

In order to keep the greens fresh for a week, I stuck a small clear vase filled with water inside my large white vase. This vase-inside-a-vase trick will keep the white vase from sweating on my table causing damage to the finish. 

I absolutely adore these faux red berries from the craft store. I use them in many different areas around the house through the holiday season. 

My neighbor and his friends collect naturally shed antlers from all over. This year, I grabbed a handful from him and gave them the glitter treatment. You can read the details in this post; How To Make Glittered Antlers. 

Today is the first day of the 2014 Holiday Housewalk presented by Jen Rizzo. I'm so excited to be a part of this amazing tour of homes for the second year in a row. Jen will be your tour guide all week long. Today, she is kicking off the event with a look into her very own Christmas home, it is absolutely gorgeous!  We'll be sharing my 2014 Christmas Home on Thursday. Happy decorating!

Simple, But Fantastic Last Minute Thanksgiving Tricks and Ideas

Today I'd like to share some of my favorite Thanksgiving ideas that there is still time to pull off.   Recently, I was a guest at Fox 2 Detroit for a live segment where I shared a few show-stopping fall centerpieces that I put together with items from the super market. 

For this live TV presentation, I wanted a bold, graphic table runner that would make my simple fall centerpieces pop. I couldn't find a table runner or table cloth that had a pattern scale that was large enough for my liking, so I went to the window treatment aisle at Walmart. I bought an inexpensive, black and white trellis print drapery panel and folded it in thirds to use as a runner. This trick could easily be used on your Thanksgiving day table. 

While on air, I demonstrated how easy centerpieces can be to put together by challenging the news anchor, Kam Carman to make one. She did a fabulous job! Following my simple tutorial, in just a few minutes, she created a beautiful, eye-catching arrangement that is sure to get attention on any table.

It was the "Centerpiece in a Tote" that Kam and I assembled and I wrote a blog post with a tutorial. If you would like to make one, please click here to view. 

Another example from this round up was the Vanilla Coffee Bean Centerpiece. Using fresh coffee beans and a scented candle from the grocery store I filled three of my glass kitchen canisters to create a centerpiece trio. This little project will have your house smelling absolutely divine. 

Another simple idea that looks like it took hours to assemble, is to use a pre-made wreath to create a colorful, large scale Thanksgiving centerpiece, the tutorial for this one can be found here.

If your out and about today gathering supplies for your table, stop in at your local thrift store. This is a great way to add to your table setting. Whether you need a few extra place settings for extra guests, bar ware, additional serving pieces, or you would like to mix and match some "new" pieces in with your old to create a new look, the thrift store makes it fun and affordable. This post shows how I created a Thanksgiving table setting using thrift shore pieces. 

One Thanksgiving I decided to flip flop our dining room furniture with our living room furniture for the  big meal. This allowed me to place the dining table in front of the fireplace for a cozy atmosphere. I wrote a blog post all about it, here. You can also see I used the coffee bean and scented candle trio centerpiece that year, only I used lanterns instead of my kitchen canisters. 

I also made some very simple, but very cute place cards by sticking chalkboard labels (from the office supply store) into fresh artichokes. These looked cute on the table and tasted great the next day. 

This is one of my favorite no-sew projects ever. A yard of his tapestry weight fabric from Hobby Lobby (still available) makes the perfect Thanksgiving and Christmas table runner. One side has a gorgeous autumnal color palette, while the reverse is a stunning combination of gray, black, red and white which is perfect for Christmas. Click here to see how I made this runner in just minutes, Two Seasons, One No-Sew Table Runner.

If you are prepping for guests and you are running short on space for your serving pieces, this post is for you. Here, I emptied a bookcase and used it as a make-shift butlers pantry for the holidays. It looks festive and it is extremely helpful allowing me to prepare for parties in advance. 

Ok, this is a fun one. This idea is really simple. I love to do this over the kids table. By now, all the stores have their Christmas decor out. While your out today, grab a package of autumnal colored Christmas ornaments and some pretty ribbon to decorate your chandy. Here is a post I wrote on this idea. 

The last, last-minute Thanksgiving Day idea I'd like to share is the simplest yet. This centerpiece was made with dried hydrangea cut from the front yard and a bouquet of grocery store sunflowers. If you are running short on time, just grab a package of flowers on your way to the eggnog aisle and you can have a stunning centerpiece that will wow your guests.  Please click here for the tutorial. 

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your family/home time. 

Sarah

Pre-Made Wreath Becomes A Gorgeous, Large Scale Centerpiece

If you are hosting a holiday dinner this year and want to set a beautiful, impressive table, but your short on time, this post is for you.  This is the easiest centerpiece ever, and it gets a lot of attention.  It's large in scale, colorful, smells delicious and sets a festive mood.  The other major benefit to this centerpiece is that it will last the entire season and can be used year after year.  I have shared this project in the past, but it makes an appearance every fall.  This is a great alternative to the fresh flower centerpiece I shared the other day.  

The biggest plus, is that anyone can put this together in less than 5 seconds.  Even those of us who don't consider ourselves crafty, this project is (for lack of a better term) 100% fool proof.  Actually, I hate to even refer to it as a "project" because all it required were three simple things…

A beautiful, large scale fall pre-made wreath... 

A clear glass canister from the kitchen...

And a yummy fall scented candle (unscented works too)…

All you need to do is lay the wreath on the table, place the jar inside the hole in the wreath and stick the candle inside the jar.  Voila...

Okay, I lied.  There were actually four things used in this project.  After I initially assembled the centerpiece I decided I wanted my candle to stand up higher so I set the jar on top of a can of tuna. 

This particular wreath is from Sams Club.  I like to shop there for pre-made holiday decor items because they are typically larger in scale.  Since Sams Club sells commercial grade products, they are usually bigger than decor items made for residential use.  I have also found some beautiful pre-made wreaths this year at Michael's and Hobby Lobby if you don't have a Sams Club nearby.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Back to work!

For information on my affordable online design service please click here.

All photos credit to Sarah Macklem of The Yellow Cape Cod. 

High Impact, 5 Minute Fall Centerpiece In a Tote~Tutorial

Now that things have settled down (a little) I'm excited to share some of the fun "projects" I've been working on. To start, I spent a weekend in Davisburg, Michigan for The Makers and Doers Festival (formally called A Weekend In The Country).  I held a series of live workshops, including one dedicated to creating simple, budget friendly, fall centerpieces.  Each centerpiece was made of produce/flowers from the grocery store, clippings from the yard and things most of us already have laying around the house. 

Photo courtesy of Maceday Photography 

My "Five Minute Fall Centerpiece-in-a-Tote", was the most popular among the attendees. It's very easy to put together and makes a big statement.  Especially if you make two.  Using grocery store flowers and a basket or tote you already have around the house makes it inexpensive enough that even making a pair is still easy on the wallet. Since it was such a hit at the festival, I thought I'd share the tutorial here as well.  

Photo courtesy of Maceday Photography

What you will need:

-A small, inexpensive vase

-An attractive storage tote or basket (my striped storage tote came from Hobby Lobby)

 -A dinner plate 

-A large bouquet (or two small bouquets) of grocery store flowers 

-Curly willow branches or branches from your backyard

-A handful of plastic grocery bags

The simple steps:

1. The first step is to place the dinner plate in the bottom of the basket or tote.  This provides a nice sturdy, level base for the centerpiece and will also catch any incidental water drips.

2.  Next, fill your vase with water (and any vitamins included in your flower bouquet).  Then place inside the tote, resting it on top of the dinner plate.  

3. To help keep the vase from tipping over and to keep the tote looking full and plump, plastic grocery bags tucked in around the vase will do the trick. 

4. The next step is to add your flowers.  I simply unwrap the flowers, trim them to the height of my vase and set them into the vase.  If you would like to take the bouquet and re-arrange the flowers, you could, but most of the time I find it's not necessary.  Sometimes, if the bouquet is on the small side I will use two bouquets.   

5.  The last step is to add a little height to the arrangement.  I used curly willow branches that I found in my grocery store floral dept.  These can be used over and over again.  If you can't find curly willow branches at your grocery store, branches from a tree or bush in your backyard could work also.  

What makes this arrangement such a high impact element is the size and height of the arrangement, the eye-catching, black and white stripes and the interesting texture of the canvas tote.  If you don't have a canvas tote, you could use woven basket (like I did with this centerpiece).  Baskets are also a great way to create an eye-catching piece, and most of us have one available. 

Taking advantage of the grocery store floral department is a convenient and budget friendly way to incorporate fresh flowers in your home. Whether your entertaining, decorating for the seasons or just need a little visual pick-me-up.  Last year, I made a large fall centerpiece using a similar approach with flowers from the front yard (click here for details).  

Better get back to the design studio.  Thanks for stopping by!

For information on my affordable online design service please click here.

All photos credit to Sarah Macklem of The Yellow Cape Cod, unless otherwise marked.