flowers

The only new things I purchased for the most recent Barn Event were flowers and plants.

These are all pretend flowers, I’m under no illusions that I’m fooling anyone.

But, I do have some secret weapons when it comes to adding flowers to a gathering or event…

girl time

For years I’ve avoided pretend flowers. Normally, if I have a party in my house, I only need one or two big bouquets of flowers, but in 800 square foot Barn with 20 foot ceilings, one or two bouquets get lost–it’s just not enough. And since I’m not decorating for a fancy wedding, but simply trying to make my barn look pretty for 20 women on a random Saturday, I can’t invest in bushels of fresh-cut flowers.

So I used both real and pretend flowers and real and pretend greenery. I save the real stuff for the coffee tables and the places where people will be up close to the flowers…

flower antler

Pretend flowers on the antlers because they sit high above the sofa…

the barn

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real flowers on the table here on the right. Back there in the ceramic boots are dried pussy willows, dried eucalyptus a fake hydrangea and fake greenery. Since it’s out-of-the-way and just needed color, I opted for pretend. In a perfect world where flowers were free, of course I’d line the walls with the real stuff.

decorate for an event

barn

Here you can see some fake greenery in the round vase, real live cut tulips in the pink vase, and in the distance, my other secret weapon…

foxglove how to decorate an event with flowers

foxglove

Potted perennials.

This is Foxglove. I bought four huge foxglove plants because they have a massive impact and, once the event is over, I can plant them outside next to my office and they’ll come back every year. A great use of a $15 plant. Seriously, these four plants transformed the space, when I removed them to water them the day before the event, the Barn looked sad, nekkid and lifeless.

Make sure your event has enough greens. It’s another simple trap we fall into–like the biggest decorating mistake we all make--we can get so caught up in themey decorations that we forget the lush, gorgeous impact that flowers can add to every occasion.

For your next event, or gathering focus on large impact pieces first (one large-scale focal wall, a huge interesting use of twinkle lights more examples here) and then add in your greens–THEN see what else is needed–you might find you need a lot less stuff than you imagined.

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By using a combination of pretend flowers, planted perennials and cut flowers, I had a beautifully decorated space and flowers I can enjoy again.

greens

And don’t forget, if you need more greens (you do) bring in plants from the house–I borrowed this succulent on the far right from my office just to add in even more natural color.

Related:

How to Decorate for any Party (here I used weeds to decorate an event)

Using Plants in Your Home (a 5 part series)

decorating an event with flowers