Whether you’re a complete beginner or a seasoned floral enthusiast, our step-by-step guide will help you create beautiful faux flower arrangements that will enhance any space
Step 1 – Start with a theme
No matter whether you’re creating an arrangement for your dining table, entrance hall, or fireplace, the space available will affect your faux flower arrangement.
Identify your ideal placement location and take note of the scale, colour, light, and mood that it demands. Does it need something small and simple, or would a large, show-stopping display better suit the space? Perhaps a wild and interesting arrangement would be the best choice to complement an otherwise pared-down backdrop?
The theme you choose will impact the overall look of your display, so be sure to take some time to think it through before moving on to selecting your flowers.
Step 2 – Select a vase
When you’re arranging faux flowers for the first time, the sheer number of different vases available can be overwhelming. Not only are there different types of vase to choose from, but you may also be deciding between vases, bowls, jugs, and pots.
At The Suffolk Nest, we’ve worked to keep our vase collection as simple and effective as possible. Each piece has been carefully designed to elevate your floral displays – and we’ve paid special attention to the scale and proportions on offer.
When starting out, you may wish to use an opaque piece but, if you decide to use a glass vase, I recommend using some wire cutters to trim the artificial stems down to size and enhance their authenticity.
Step 3: Choose your flowers
How to choose flowers for an arrangement is one of my most frequently asked questions; to help guide you through my thought-process, I like to organise faux stems into four categories:
1. Focal flowers
These are the large, show-stopping blooms that can’t help but command attention within your designs. I find they work best when grouped in odd numbers.
Examples of focal flowers include peonies, hydrangea, roses, dahlias, and lilac.
2. Supporting flowers
These flowers occupy the perfect middle ground – not too big and not too small – and include the tall, straight stems that add height and shape to your arrangements and support the larger focal flowers.
Examples of supporting flowers include blossom branches, viburnum, scabiosa, and ranunculus.
3. Filler flowers
This group of flowers includes the delicate blooms that pull an arrangement together, fill in any gaps, conceal the mechanics, and give your design that final flourish. While focal flowers serve to draw the eye to your arrangement, filler flowers often bring the design to life by adding movement, depth, and texture.
Examples of filler flowers include waxflower, limonium, and sweet pea.
4. Foliage
Foliage is essential to creating structure and shape within an arrangement. It can also provide a neutral background to help your focal flowers stand out even more. Choose faux foliage to add colour, texture, and ensure balance in your display.
Examples of foliage include olive, eucalyptus, populus, eucalyptus gunni, wild grass, and fern.
When I start a faux flower arrangement, I often aim to include stems from each of these categories. Not only does this make my displays more visually intriguing, but it also ensures the piece has texture and depth.
Of course, there are circumstances when you’d rather focus on just one or two of these categories. When it comes to floristry, don’t be afraid to break any traditional ‘rules’ or set formulas – I’d encourage you to get creative and experiment. However, I hope breaking down the different types of faux stems in this way will help you start to visualise the part they could play in your designs when you’re out shopping.
Step 4: Adjust your stems
For me, arranging with faux flowers is no different to creating a display with fresh florals. Nature’s beautiful imperfection provides endless inspiration; consider how real flowers grow in varying heights and directions and try to mirror this in your own design.
I find that my faux stems look more realistic if I spend time adjusting and bending them into a lifelike shape. Each stem features a concealed wire that you can gently bend to enhance the overall look of your arrangement.
When you first get them home your faux flower stems will likely be too long for your vase, so you’ll need to bend or cut them to size. The best thing about bending is that you can use them again in different displays at different heights. A good rule of thumb is to measure them against your vase and aim for the arrangement to be one and a half times that height.
Step 5: Start arranging
Now, you’re ready to get started. I suggest beginning with foliage as these stems can form the overall shape and structure of your arrangement. Follow these with your focal flowers, evenly distributed to produce a natural and balanced look.
Next, add the slightly smaller supporting flowers. Try to avoid creating any obvious lines and make sure to bend the stems so that they’re the ideal height. Finally, nestle the filler flowers into the gaps to add texture, depth, and movement.
When you think you’re finished, take a step back and make any final adjustments. One of the things I love most about faux flowers is that you can practice arranging with them again and again until you’re completely happy.
Step 6: Care for your arrangement
One of the most wonderful aspects of our artificial flowers and foliage is that that they are everlasting – and extremely low maintenance!
Now that your arrangement is complete, I recommend keeping it out of direct sunlight and away from moisture to keep the flowers looking their very best. Find out more in our full guide to caring for faux flowers here.
I hope that this step-by-step guide has been useful and given you the confidence to try arranging with faux flowers in your own home. I think it’s the perfect way to reflect the beauty of the seasons year-round. If you’d like further inspiration, visit our YouTube channel to find our tutorials where I take you through some of our own curated arrangements in real-time.
