With each season comes a gentle nudge to bring the outdoors, in. There’s an innate desire to lean into nature and welcome in flowers through our front door and onto a mantel, table, kitchen counter, or any surface fit to hold a vessel.
While they can be overlooked or perhaps thought to be outdated, faux arrangements can be a timeless way to do this, dressing home in nature’s best. Here, we’re walking through what makes our collection extra special and how to get that from-the-garden feeling without the upkeep.
The History Behind Our Florals
When Jo first opened Magnolia Market in 2003, fresh flowers were a shop staple. She loved the idea of people leaving the store with an armful of wild blooms bundled in kraft paper. As time went on, customers began to show more interest in the long haul—something that would continually flourish throughout every season, rain or shine, and wouldn’t require switching each week.
This inspired the origin of our faux florals.
As close to fresh as faux can get, each of these stems have Jo’s seal of approval and are hardly distinguishable from real-life varieties you’d find in nature.
What Makes Our Collection Unique
Real-touch petals: Many of our petals, branches, and stems have a texture that feels as real as they look. This unique real-touch composition can bring life to a variety of styling moments and naturally complement existing decor, just like fresh blooms.
Trimmable stems: Vases come in many shapes and sizes, and our trimmable stems were made with that in mind. Simply snip with wire cutters to create a clean cut and fit in the vessel of your choice. If you don’t have wire cutters (or don’t want to permanently trim stems), try folding the base to shorten them instead.
Made from real flower molds: Our Dutchess Roses were crafted from flower molds that were originally made from real garden roses. Plus, the petals are soft to the touch and reminiscent of their fresh counterparts.
Styling Advice
Taking note of the natural flow and movement of real wildflowers—which are typically undone and intertwined—can help spark inspiration for convincing faux arrangements. Before styling stems, consider strolling through a garden or observing a vase brimming with fresh-cut blooms to get ideas.
Then... trim, bend, and twist away! By fluffing and customizing faux florals, you’re helping them to act organically in a space and appear natural from every angle. If your arrangement is looking too loose, try layering in a block of floral foam or small piece of chicken wire for the stems to hold their shape. Feel the freedom to adjust to your liking; our stems are sturdy and made to withstand the wear and tear of customization.
Once you have an idea for an arrangement style, it’s time to choose a vessel to house them in. Look around your home—repurposed jam jars, pitchers, baskets, or classic vases are all great places to start.
Tip from Jo: Sometimes less is more. Instead of creating a varied arrangement, stick with one color or type of stem for a simple, lovely look.
For the coffee table:
When styling a room that might have a lot of accents and decor, it’s helpful to create a natural focal point with florals—catching and holding the eye for a moment of pause.
In this room, we topped a coffee table with moody-hued sprays for wispy grandeur. We cut the stems to a variety of heights, leaving a few full-length for a more organic disposition.
For an accent:
A floral arrangement doesn’t have to be a grand endeavor, smaller hits of greenery or a single-stemmed flower can bring just as much life to a space. Consider grouping a few bud vases of varying shapes, sizes, and colors together for a multi-vase arrangement filled with small sprigs.
For the mantel:
A dramatic, yet fresh pairing works well on a shelf or smaller surface to catch the eye while adding contrast. To highlight these grand-scale roses, we opted for a stout vase and cut each stem to different lengths to naturally layer just above the opening.
Tip: With more top-heavy blooms (like these), try placing a block of floral foam inside the vase to help hold shape.
For the entryway:
Faux florals can be a welcome addition in an entryway, too. Consider filling an oversized vase with tall stems to add dimension or place atop a book (or a few) to add grounding layers.
Since this vase was transparent, we kept the stems at their natural length (i.e. no shortening or adding floral foam), but we did trim a few leaves and flowers near the bottom to keep the interior looking minimal. We then bent the top-half of the stems every which way to create tall, wild shapes.
For the table:
When using a floral arrangement to center a dining table, we recommend choosing a vessel with a lower profile to avoid obstructing any views.
In this scene, we love the monochrome look of the green vase paired with eucalyptus stems. Since this vase had a smaller spout, we clipped leaves from the bottom of each stem to fit better. Then, we bent each one in different directions for an organic, rounded look that mirrored the bulb-shaped vessel.
For the nightstand:
In places with limited surface space, like nightstands or end tables, we prefer arrangements that go up rather than out. Taller stems are ideal for a minimal, yet dramatic look and are heightened enough they don’t interfere with bed-side table space.
With lengthy stems like the above, two or three is all you need for a natural look. We also positioned these with a slight lean to create a canopy toward the bed.
For the windowsill:
One of the greatest advantages to choosing faux florals is that they’ll thrive wherever placed, sun or shade. Putting an arrangement in a windowsill invites light to peer through each wispy bloom and create shadow play on the ledge.
A rounded concrete vase kept this neutral arrangement grounded and balanced. We bent longer leaves downward for a sense of shape and clipped off any extra greenery that was feeling too busy.
To bring more lasting life home, round out your faux florals collection with our selection of indoor and outdoor wreaths.
