simple dinner party...black, pink, gold, succulents

We celebrated the engagement of dear friends recently with a small dinner party at home.  I wanted the table to look really special.  I am loving pink with succulents right now, and teamed up with black and gold it's a scheme that is chic but not to serious.  I love how it turned out.  Scroll down to see how you can create this setting easily and inexpensively at your house.

I recently bought a set of charcoal dinner plates, I just love how the dark colour shows off the food.  These ones were $37 for a set of 12 pieces at Freedom a few weeks ago. 
I already had the plain black table cloth and gold chargers.  I use these chargers all the time, a really good investment many years ago.
I treated myself to new black linen napkins, only $2.50 each at a $2 store which is also where I found the tablecloth.  My only other purchase was a bunch of pink alstroemeria, any soft pink flower would work just as well.  

To set up I picked some succulent stems from the garden and arranged them with a few of the pink flowers in used black glass candle holders. 
Then it's as easy as laying out the gold chargers with a black plate on each one.  Fold each napkin into a neat rectangle and place one on each plate.  Arrange cutlery on top of the napkin.  To easy.

Soft and pretty but still elegant.  Love how it turned out.  Good food, good company and a little bit of prettiness makes the world a wonderful place.

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just because it's pretty

The lovely thing about doing flowers for a dinner party is you get to have them around the house afterwards.  These ones migrated to my bedroom.
I am just loving succulents and pink flowers together right now, the black glass makes it just a little more grown up.

Hope you all had a fabulous long weekend.

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how to arrange flowers in a wide vase

A neat little trick a picked up off Pinterest a few years ago.  I often want to use low wide vases for flowers, this one is actually a glass salad bowl.  So how do you prevent the flowers all flopping towards the edges and create height in the centre.  Easy, magic tape to the rescue.
Scroll down to see how

Use strips of magic tape to create a rough web across the vase.  

The flowers will hang over the edges and hide the end of the tape.

Now simply arrange the flowers as if they were in a normal vase, using the tape as a support to make flowers in the centre stand up.

Enjoy your gorgeous arrangement.

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how to style a coffee table vignette

This year I am moving things around, trying to do more with what I already have.  I created this tablescape for my outdoor coffee table and thought I would share how it developed.  

I have had the marble tray for years and have never managed to style it up quite how it looked in the store.  This vignette is working much better than the tray on its own, and it was quick and inexpensive to achieve.  I already had the small glass vase and marble flower plate, I only added a larger size glass vase (a steal at $16) and bought the succulent at a street market.   You can see below how it started out and how I built it up.

Two vases, one taller and wider (both from my favourite variety store), and the gorgeous succulent to add colour and texture.  The flower plate has been in my bathroom with a candle on it, but is far prettier here. 

It's still evolving, I think the candle is to pale, perhaps another succulent?  But overall I am really enjoying the effect.  Especially like that the succulent will be happy in the winter sunlight and won't need to be replaced for months.

So pleased that I moved all these things around and tried something new.  Turns out that a change was all that tray needed to go from flat to fantastic.  

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Flower inspiration...an unusual combination

I was given this gorgeous bunch of flowers for my birthday, it was such an unexpected combination I just had to share.  Who knew that a king protea, eucalyptus and flowering gum would go so beautifully together.  

The silver and the dark living room wall really sets them off too, and picks up the green and grays in the painting, a very happy coincidence.

From left: eucalyptus, king protea, red flowering gum.

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flower arranging inspiration...pink and lime

One last look back at 2013, I just have to share the flowers from my Christmas table with you.  I knew I was going to use pomegranates and ended up selecting of pinks and limes, with a few white touches, to go with them.

I was really pleased with how they turned out, many thanks to Antonia from Ruby Slipper Floral Design for her invaluable tips on how to create this type of centrepiece, see her tutorial here.  I would not have had the confidence to tackle these without her guidance.

From left: pomegranate, Christmas flower, green amaranthus, pale pink David Austin rose, lisianthus
Greenery: gardenias and viburnum

Step 1: Start by creating a green frame with the viburnum, gardenias, and Christmas flowers. (see above).
Step 2: Add the pomegranates and roses (for how to arrange with pomegranates see here)
Step 3: Finish with the lisianthus and amaranthus - love how the amaranthus drapes!

The fresh lime of the amaranthus and soft pink lisianthus looked wonderful together, next time I may use these on their own.

It looked wonderful with the gold polka dot table cloth, and the whole house was filled with the gorgeous scent of David Austin roses and gardenias.

Antonia and I are planning to work together again this year, if you have any arrangements you would like to know how to make let me know.

{Arrangements, flower selection and all photos by Eva of Build House Home}

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flower delights by amy osaba

Sharing some floral candy by Amy Osaba floral design today.  I love the loose arrangements that look as if they have been gathered straight out of the fields.  Their design epitomises the casual luxe aesthetic I am aiming for.

Love these fresh colours, and ranunculas are always a favourite.  All these flowers are by Amy Osaba via: Style me Pretty (photographed by Rylee Hitchner above) & Amy Osaba (photos by Heidi Geldhauser) below.

 I am looking for Christmas table inspiration, I am planning a rustic wooden trough down the center with lots of greenery and pomegranates.  Very inspired by the amazing centrepiece below (photos by Heidi Geldhauser).  I found a great tutorial from the Amy Osaba team on how to create their look here, worth going to just to look at the pretty pictures. 
Photo below from the same Parisian wedding, via Style me Pretty photographed by Rylee Hitchner.

Love the fantasy of this washi tape flower wall, I wonder how long it would last.  Don't think I could really bear to let the gorgeous blooms die.  From a truly amazing shoot featured in Magnolia Rouge (photos by Ali Harper), well worth looking at the whole feature the images are so lovely. 

Doesn't the day just feel better for looking at such gorgeous colours?  Imagine how lovely they would smell.  If you haven't had quite enough stop by the Amy Osaba website for more.

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how to create a rustic spring bouquet

I am delighted to share some tips and tricks I learned at a floral workshop presented by Antonia Georgas of Ruby Slipper Floral Design.  To celebrate the start of spring, and all the lovely flowers available, Antonia taught us "straussing" - the art of making a bunch of flowers in your hand.  I am delighted with how mine turned out and will definitely be using this technique again!  Skip down if you want to find out how or just enjoy the pictures of my lovely bunch on my kitchen bench top.

How to make your own rustic spring bouquet.

Selecting your flowers:
Antonia recommends using 1 primary flower, 2 supporting flowers, and a filler.
In our bunches she selected ranunculas (primary), jonquils and Japanese anenome (supporting), and pieris (filler).
Getting ready:

• Strip stems of leaves, twigs and older blooms. 
• Lay the stripped flowers in bunches by type on the table.
• They need to be ready to use and easy to get to as you will only have one hand free once you begin.

The Straussing technique:

• Start with a stem of your primary flower and lay it across the palm of your left hand (swap hands if you are left handed).
• Next select a supporting flower and lay that across the first stem with the flower slightly to the left of the first stem so that its stem crosses the first one from left to right.
• Continue adding flower stems, alternating the varieties as you go, but make sure each stem is added across the bunch at a slight diagonal from left to right.  This achieves the diagonal stem effect you can see in my photos.
• Vary the height of the flowers to create a looser look.  It looks a little strange in the beginning but will make sense as the bunch grows.  I raised every 5th or 6th stem I added so that the flower was higher than the previous one.
• Turn the bouquet in your hand slightly as you go.  Holding all the flowers in one hand feels awkward at first but gets easier as you go.
• Once you are satisfied with your bunch tie the stems securely with twine and trim the stems to an equal length.
• I snipped the twine once I had put my bouquet in a vase and made the arrangement slightly looser, personal preference really.

There is really no wrong way, with such a lovely combination of flowers your bunch is sure to turn out just lovely.

If my description doesn't make sense why not do your own workshop with Antonia at her store in Paddington.   I will be back for more, next time I want to learn how to use succulents.  

Top Tip

• Keep water in vases clean by adding a spoon of sugar to the vase before filling with water.

I have tried to show my bunch from every side so you can see how lovely it looks from every angle.  I think it is one of the prettiest bunches I have ever arranged myself and I will definitely use this technique again.  

Thanks Antonia, it was a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning.  

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