West Elm Floral Class

Everyone has been wishing for spring, so here’s a little post about flower arrangements to brighten your day.

Have you seen West Elm’s paper flowers? They are really beautiful. Plus they don’t die which is a huge bonus for me. Anyway everyone’s favorite home store west elm hosted a spring floral class with Alicia and Adam from bows + arrows. (The same amazing florist that I took my class from.) There was so much win in this combination it would have been ridiculous to miss.

The class was about general how to’s for arranging flowers with the added bonus of styling with paper flowers. The majority of this small arrangement is white paper flowers, but Alicia pealed the “leaves” off and twisted them to make the shape more interesting. The real greens added makes this feel more sophisticated than a bunch of fake flowers. Plus the greens are so hardy, this arrangement will last forever.

Isn’t the color combination of these flowers just beautiful? I mean those garden roses with the snapdragons and delicate hydrangea just work so well together.

Here’s the deal with hydrangeas. They love water…hence the “hydra” part of their name.

• Rip their leaves off. (I know they have beautiful leaves, but they just suck too much water away from the flower.)
• Cut their stem in half a few inches from the bottom. You want to see the white part of the stem. This helps them get water.
• Change the water daily and spray the petals with water since they can drink water this way as well.
• When you are buying hydrangeas, you want them to be firm. If they feel soft, they are older and won’t last as long.

I loved this tablescape with the larger arrangement in the center flanked with 2 smaller arrangements. Then those little succulents scatter around the table.

It’s also a perfect example of scale. You want your arrangement height to be about as tall as your vase. So if your vase is 5 inches, cut your flower to 10 inches. You don’t want to cut your flowers too short and choke them with your vase. You don’t want them to cut them too long and tower out of your vase either. Cutting your flowers’ height to be as tall as your vase gives them the correct scale and room to breath.

Here’s another good example of scale. The flower height is balanced with the height of the vase. I’m generally not a fan of purple, but I love how this looks with the gold, dark wood, and neutral chair.

Who said fake flowers can’t look good? Alicia made an all paper arrangement that was gorgeous. I’d hate to dust it, but it definitely whimsical and fun. Add in the fact that it won’t die, but minus a little for the dusting…still a winner.

Unlike the class I took, we didn’t make our own arrangements at west elm. However we could buy whatever Alicia whipped up. I bought this because it was beautiful and works with my house. I felt bad breaking up the tablescape for it but not bad enough to restrain myself. It was $55. Basically I paid for the vase and the 9 paper flowers. I wanted the vase anyway, and the arrangement was just a bonus (the real ones were free too).

I’ve had it almost a month. The only causalities are the Dusty Miller greens. The real flowers (sorry don’t know their name) are alive and kicking. I have only changed the water once too, so it appears I’m trying to legitimately kill them.

What do you think about mixing real and fake? Why is west elm so awesome? How can I be as skilled as the people at bows + arrows? These and all your other musing in the comments to follow!