For those of us who don’t shop at Pier 1 or Crate Barrel with any sort of regularity (if ever), here is a series on decorating with imagination – decorating on an inspired shoestring. Shopping at Salvation Army (or better yet, shopping from your own basement) may not be incredibly glamorous – but it’s incredibly satisfying.
Inspired Shoestrings, Part 2: Nature Lends a Hand
Cut flowers from a nursery are gorgeous but so expensive! Good thing I have a pair of scissors and two legs to take me to the backyard. Think about how many color combinations you can explore with simple things like lilacs, wildflowers…
daisies…
tiger lilies…
hydrangeas…
and other flowers!
Add in genius touches like the parsley that’s gone to seed (thank you, Mom for the idea) or even dandelions floating in water… There are endless possibilities right outside your door.
Flowers are just the beginning! What about shells or rocks from the beach? Fill up a canning jar or vase with those and stick a tea light on top – gorgeous! When my late grandmother found out she had Alzheimer’s, she gave me and my sisters each a basket of shells. It was summertime, and she said she wanted us to remember it. And I’ve never forgotten.
If you don’t have a backyard, you can certainly grow any number of flowers, ivy, herbs or other plants indoors and make your space look healthy, inviting, and fresh.
Plus, if the things you grow are edible, you’ll reap more than visual benefits.
Whether it’s from your garden or a pot on the window sill, herbs bring a kitchen to life.
Can you tell I get a kick out of saving money? It certainly affords me many opportunities for being creative. And if it’s from my imagination, I know it’s going to be satisfying to look at (at least for me). 🙂
The hydrangea-in-a-jar idea was not mine but I love it so much I’m taking one to a friend’s house tonight. Aunt Heather, I got the idea from you at your cookouts. It’s beautiful, just like you!
My little touches are the paper towel and the yarn, wound around the jar at random.
The simple beauty of line never ceases to amaze me.
Hydrangea blossom, tiger lilies, parsley seeds. Do I have a cool family or what? And no moolah was forked over to a big store chain. HA!
Another random idea:
If you have as much trouble growing flowers in your flower boxes as I do, switch to lettuce! It’s frugal, edible, the leaves are always clean because they can’t get rained into the dirt, and people are always taken aback by the simplicity and beauty of it.
How do you use natural beauty in your decorations? Any ideas you can share for other seasons?
Have a wonderful, colorful day.
The Full Vine 
This blog reminded me of a flower arranging class I took in college. We had an assignment to create an arrangement using things we found outside. Because it was fall and most of the fresh wild flowers were gone, I made the arrangement out of dried grasses, seed pods still on stems and the like – all from roadsides and fields. I used a small, very tarnished, sterling silver container as the base. It was so much fun and I got an “A”! And the neat thing was that I had it a long, long time because everything was dried. You are so right. There is SO much around us that we can get creative with.
Boy that sounds like a fun class! Maybe I should challenge myself (and readers?) to create a new arrangement every month of Fall and Winter, just for a diversion… You are SO creative.
Love the lettuce in the window box. No nasty vermin can get at it easily either! 🙂
True! AlthoughI had a squirrel walk across the railing and sniff it out. Pesky suburban monkeys…