Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Another Interior Designer Tip

Joe Nye - Flair

 
I posted an interior designer tip the other day - switching out your lamps' light bulbs with pink light bulbs and lots of you did just that - great job! You can find them here.

Today I am sharing another interior designer secret - using carnations for your flower arranging. They are very budget friendly and they are the troopers of cut flowers - they last for two to three weeks if you keep the water fresh. Carolyne Roehm and Martha Stewart both love them too.


Here is more inspiration and then I will share my tips below.


Joe Nye - Flair


Joe Nye - Flair


House Beautiful


Martha Stewart Living


CARNATION FLOWER ARRANGING TIPS:

1. Use only one color - no mixing.

2. Use them by themselves - not with other flowers.

3. If they come with those ugly filler ferns or baby's breath - pitch those!!!

4. I love them in tiny blue and white Chinese porcelain vases or in silver mint julep cups or massed in large numbers in tall vases. PLEASE - not a few carnations in a tall vase - awful! Ginger jars sans lids make great containers too.

5.  "The popularity of the carnation waxes and wanes. In the French Grand Era, (Louis XIV), the carnation was the favored flower of the royal court. In America today, the carnation is seen as an old fashioned and overused flower. However, it is coming back into favor with both interior and floral designers. Their strong shape can add a touch of modernity to interiors. We find them today not in the pale pastels, but in piquant pink, fiery red and various hectic orange hues. And the way to arrange them has changed too. Gone are the spiky triangles with the lonely carnation heads stranded in mid air; and so have the single blobs of color strewn around bouquets. You can bind them together in bunches with ribbon and lean against vase sides at crazy angles; crowd them together in large numbers in tall glass vases; float in wide bowls or as a collection of small bouquets fringed by attractive round leaves. Carnations can easily tempt you into having a go! The new methods of arranging are based on simplicity and exuberance. Carnations make a vivid contribution to the metamorphosis going on in the style of our homes." (Floral Design Institute)

6. Did you know that the botanical name for carnation is Dianthus?

7. Orange, purple, or burgundy are gorgeous for fall and Thanksgiving. Use red or white for Christmas. Don't feel like putting up a Christmas tree this year? - use beautiful carnation arrangements around the house instead. Carolyne Roehm makes Christmas trees and wreaths using red carnations. 


Carolyne Roehm


Carolyne Roehm


Here are some great choices in vases for mini carnation arrangements. These are great for the dining table or the bedside table.

This set of three little vases on Amazon is perfect and just $20.


Set of 3 Blue and White Chinese Porcelain Vases


And these - 

Set of 3 Blue and White Chinese Porcelain Vases


Or a silver mint julep cup - 


Silver Mint Julep Cup


Four of these monogrammed are on my Christmas wish list.


Monogrammed Silver Mint Julep


Any of these ginger jars would be stunning for the holidays massed with several dozen red carnations. I am doing this for sure! Don't like red in your home? Use white or a bright pink. I am really loving this koi ginger jar for Florida.


Koi Blue and White Ginger Jar


Floral Ginger Jar


Landscape Ginger Jar

I also think a rose bowl filled with carnations would be stunning. The perfect choice would be this Kate Spade one that I love.


Kate Spade Pearl Palace Rose Bowl

I have gotten myself so excited about flower arranging I think I'll stop into Publix today for some fresh flowers. I have a great Publix story. I was there getting some more heirloom pumpkins - they had some of the blue ones I love. When I was picking out some of the heirloom pumpkins, a couple stopped to look at them - the two were covered head to toe in tattoos and piercings. The woman said to the man, "Those are weird looking."

Irony is dead.




15 comments:

  1. Love all the info here, Beth. AND. THAT. PUBLIX. STORY. Proving once again that beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

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  2. That is so funny about your visit to Publix! I received my pink light bulbs and Trapp Vanilla Orange candle yesterday. Love all the recommendations.

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  3. I have loved carnations for a few years. I received a big flower arrangement and the first thing I did was tear it all apart. Roses together, carnations all in one vase, etc. The carnations were the hit and they lasted forever. I am also crazy about zinnias again.

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    1. I love zinnias - so much prettier than chrysanthemums.

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  4. I love carnations, their spicy scent, thrifty price, and long lasting-ness! I think here In the South they got a bad rap as a funeral flower. A florist showed me the trick of gently ruffling a blossom with your fingers to fully open them. Beth, my darling mother-in-law who lived in Sarasota since 1960 passed away last week at the age of 96 here in S.C. At one time she was the topped rank bridge player in FL and in the top 100 in the US. She sat across the table from Omar Sharif and John Wayne back in the day. Bridge is a cut throat business like poker tournaments, and she made a living traveling the world to play. One May she called and said “someone is paying me to spend the entire summer on the French Riviera”. ...like woe is me. I said gee I have to go to Clemson and deal with students every day this summer! I will miss her every day for the rest of my life, just like my own mother.

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  5. I've always love the carnations massed in a ball shape - lime green or orange makes a big impact.

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  6. I actually used carnations as my wedding flowers back in 1975. I loved them!

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    1. Martha Stewart has a great piece on doing an entire wedding with carnations. Very pretty.

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  7. Fasten your seatbelts for the carnation boom ladies and gents. Growers are busy testing out the yummy champagne, blush, and double frill carnations for market. We are ALL using them in wedding and event work. It will take a moment before they are in grocery stores, but trust me, they are spectacular. signed, a fancy florist

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    1. Thanks for this comment - very exciting - more sophisticated colors would be wonderful. Many of the heirloom Dianthus caryophyllus were in wonderful muted colors.

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