Brighten up your space in 5 minutes for free…

 

I  love to have fresh flowers in my house at all times, but I can’t always make that a reality.  I grew up in house where my mother always had vases of fresh flowers everywhere and of course I would love the same for my family.  Prior to the recession I probably spent $25 a week on flowers from Trader Joe’s but once I started cutting things out of the budget, flowers were at the top of the chopping block.  I love my flowers and plants so I decided to plant stuff  in my garden that I could bring inside to cheer me up. 

As a result I have some Dahilia’s, Rose’s, Camilla’s and lots of herbs everywhere.  The herbs look great, smell great and pretty much grow even if you ignore them.  During this time of year when everything in my garden is looking pretty dismal, I can still find some happy rosemary, sage and mint to bring inside.  Today, I was needing a little “pick me up” and every time I looked at my bare dining room table with only the napkin holder I felt depressed.  So I grabbed my plate and scissors and went out to my herbs and cut away.  Within 5 minutes I had my little arrangement set up and was feeling much better.  Clearly, this arrangement isn’t some spectacular Martha invention but it does the job and makes me smile.  It is the little things that make all the difference when you are trying to make your house feel like a home. n

I also wanted to share with you my little trick for using small arrangements.  The 2 vases above flanking the center vase are actually vintage salt and pepper shakers with the tops removed.  I love to use groupings of small vases for dinner parties or the coffee table because they are easy to look over and it is usually easy to find a few flowers in the garden that look great individually but crappy as a bouquet.  If you use the little vases you can mix a bunch of different varieties of foliage and flowers and they look super cute.  If you are doing a long table without a bigger centerpiece always use an odd number of vases.  You can also alternate votive candle, small vase, votive candle, small vase, you get the idea.  A great place to find colored glass votive’s is IKEA.  Every season they come out with newest colors and they are ridiculously cheap for a set.  I haven’t bought them in years because I already own, blue, purple, red, gold and green but I think they were like $4.00 for a set of 6.

My last little tip for the day is to use a vintage ice bucket or the one you received for a wedding present and never use, as a napkin holder.  I really hate getting up from the table to grab extra napkins for Tiara during dinner, so a few years back I discovered that ice buckets are the perfect size for napkins and they look cute.  I have never found a cute napkin folder so this is a great alternative.  It is also works great for a party you are serving buffet style.  I put the forks in a vase lined with a paper napkin, the knives in a different one and slap down the napkin holder and I am ready to go.  Super easy and really cute.

 

 

Have a wonderful Thursday!!!

xoxo tiffani