Styling Notes from The Suffolk Nest

This Valentine’s Day, I’ve created a selection of faux flower arrangements featuring irresistibly romantic powder pink blooms. Read on to find out more about this very special seasonal collection No matter whether you’ve found a partner or happily single, Valentine’s Day is a fantastic excuse to treat yourself to an extra-special floral arrangement. Everyone celebrates the day differently, but Chris and I tend to have a quiet celebration, setting aside time for a date night and decorating our space with seasonal flowers. This year, I’ve absolutely loved creating our Valentine’s Day collection; each of our faux flower arrangements will feature blush-tipped eucalyptus stems alongside real-touch roses, ranunculus, and dahlias in the most incredible shade of soft power pink. While we all have our own favourite flowers, I personally don’t gravitate towards traditional red roses at this time of year. Instead, I prefer to choose florals that are in keeping with our home décor and think there’s something inherently romantic about these everlasting faux flowers. Small but perfectly formed If you’re looking to bring a little love into your home this February, I’d recommend our smaller Valentine’s Day arrangement. We have two designs available, and both look amazing displayed on a bedside or dressing table. I think they look particularly good in our Henley vase; the soft grey ribbed design of this piece does a fantastic job of grounding the soft pink blooms without dimming their impact. Place an order online and your Valentine’s arrangement will arrive at your door beautifully present and hand-wrapped by me. Then, it’s time to get creative. When using clusters of the same flowers, I think they look best – and more natural – if you take time to vary each stem’s height. This technique also allows you to show off the intricate rose head from multiple angles. Make sure you regularly take a step back to assess the full arrangement and ensure you’re happy with the result. To help you get started, I’ve prepared a video with all my top tips for creating the perfect arrangement. A grand gesture Whether you’re planning a Valentine’s Day proposal or just keen to go all out, you’ll probably be looking for a show-stopping arrangement. I’ve created two hand tied bouquets designed to make an impression. Each is a 360-degree arrangement featuring an abundance of roses, ranunculus, and dahlias. Not only will these bouquets delight their recipient, but they also make fantastic centrepieces for your dining or coffee table.  None of the faux flowers in this collection are pre-cut, meaning that experimentation is encouraged. When transferring your bouquet into a vase, don’t be afraid to bend the stems. You may even find you want to bend them back on themselves to make sure that they sit in the vase correctly. Spend some time fluffing out each stem; this helps them to look more natural and gives the arrangement a unique personality. Long-lasting love Valentine’s Day is celebrated on 14th February, but your floral arrangements can last much longer with a little attention. Like any good relationship, faux flowers need some tender love and care to look their very best. The good news is that maintaining these blooms couldn’t be easier. Our Valentine’s arrangements feature real-touch flowers that look and feel incredibly realistic. The best way to keep them clean is to invest in a pack of baby wipes. As a Mum of two girls under four, I always have a pack handy, and every so often, I’ll use a wipe to dab each stem and individual petal to remove any dust. I find that each wipe holds just the right amount of moisture and won’t damage the petals, even if you need to apply some pressure to remove stubborn marks. I hope you’d agree that these faux flowers are so stunning that they can be displayed in your home year-round, but if you’d prefer to store them away until next year, simply keep hold of the packaging that they arrive in. This box is the perfect size for storage and will help each flower look fresh until you’re ready to bring them out again. Finally, I’d like to wish you all a very Happy Valentine’s Day from Chris and I.   

In the midst of the pandemic, our wreath kits allowed us to spread joy, transcend distance, and transform The Suffolk Nest into what it is today. From logistical headaches to heartfelt messages, here’s the story of how it all began As autumn rolls in and the countdown to Christmas begins again, now’s the time of year when Chris and I always like to reflect on the item that changed everything: our wreath kits. Wreath making classes had been one of our most popular offerings pre-pandemic, but when restrictions were imposed in 2020, these face-to-face sessions had to be cancelled and we were forced to let a lot of people down. Rather than leave them disappointed, we decided to launch a DIY wreath kit that our customers could enjoy creating from the comfort and safety of their own home. Seasonal wreath kits are still an important part of The Suffolk Nest today. Each season, I redesign the kits with a new colour scheme, materials, and foliage choice. Our loyal customers eagerly await each design drop and I love the fact that the kits can still generate such excitement two years on! An overwhelming response The Suffolk Nest was still in its infancy in the autumn of 2020; we had around 80,000 Instagram followers but no website to facilitate online orders. Instead, our wreath making kits launched on my Instagram stories one morning in mid-October and the response was incredible! I’d have been delighted with just 50 orders but by midday, my Instagram DM inbox was overflowing, and we’d already exceeded 100 orders. While I was excited to see that our seasonal wreath making kits had struck a chord with our audience, I quickly found myself feeling overwhelmed and under-prepared. There were several details that needed ironing out as quickly as possible to ensure we could fulfill orders and deliver people a little piece of joy during a tough time. The logistics of posting out kits was an immediate concern: which containers would be best, where could they be purchased, and could our local postal office handle the quantities we were seeing? It quickly dawned on me that we’d need to employ a reliable courier service. Gathering supplies was also a potential problem; each wreath making kit featured 19 different elements that we needed to source. Finally, there was the issue of space. We were operating from our home and had two children under two to contend with, our youngest daughter was only 5 months old at the time. To say that things were a bit chaotic would be an understatement.   Going live with DIY wreath kits Ever since we started The Suffolk Nest, I’ve wanted to share my passion and make flower arranging accessible to everyone. That meant that each of our wreath kits had to be easy to assemble, and we wanted to support people by providing a real-time video tutorial. Chris was the first person to suggest going live on Instagram. I don’t mind admitting that I was dubious about the idea at first - and extremely nervous! Live was a new feature on the platform that I’d never used before, so the thought of presenting a lengthy DIY wreath tutorial to hundreds of viewers was terrifying. But with Chris by my side; I pressed the button and went for it. Creating the set up in our living room with a lit fire burning in the background meant that I could pretend I was only speaking to Chris instead of the 600 viewers that had immediately started sending questions our way. Thankfully, once I was completely immersed in the creative process, my nerves faded, and I relaxed into the tutorial. Delivering joy nationwide The initial demand for wreath kits didn’t subside. Lockdown was a tough time for us all and we heard from many of our customers that they were planning to use the kits to connect with their loved ones on Skype or over the fence with their neighbours. This instilled a sense of responsibility that drove us forward, despite the logistical challenges we were facing. Every evening – once the girls were in bed and Chris had finished work for the day – we’d spend hours combing my Instagram inbox, responding to enquiries, and taking down orders. We found ourselves staying up until 3am almost every night for three weeks, and even had to pull an all-nighter on one occasion. And then there was the moss. You might not think that just one item could cause such a headache, but mossing wreath bases became one of the most time-consuming parts of the process. I found that I needed to start mossing each base three weeks in advance if I were to have any hope of getting them finished in time! Every spare moment was dominated by moss and bags of it were stored all over the house, in every imaginable nook and cranny. Preparing the first shipment Organised chaos became our norm. The deliveries kept on coming and our home and garden were overtaken by foliage, moss wreath bases, brown paper bags, and cardboard boxes – more than we’d ever thought possible. Luckily, we’d established a production line to keep things moving. We spent days relentlessly packing little brown bags full of decoration goodies, so much so that you could always hear the rustling of bags in the background when Chris was on his work Teams calls! But we had a deadline to meet and thankfully our youngest loved being carried in a sling while we stood for hours making up the bags. Our work from home situation got serious when I received a call that we’d be receiving the Christmas spruce directly from Holland and were asked whether we had a sizeable warehouse available for them to park up and offload the pallets! Needless to say, when we accepted the delivery, our house was turned upside down and the garden became a forest. I could see the fear on Chris’s face when he realised we’d have to store this fresh foliage in the garden we’d just renovated. We spent hours cutting the mountain of spruce down to size (despite some of the pieces being as big as Chris!) We even made it into a competition as we argued over who had the best and fastest cutting technique! Finally, we roped in my parents to help us pack up the wreath kits and keep the girls entertained. We worked tirelessly, with boxes stacked up to the ceiling until the courier came to collect. The final product Once the first shipment was out the door, I went to bed with a huge sigh of relief. That is, until I realised that the deliveries would be arriving the next day! I couldn’t help but worry about potential issues, customer complaints, or any other difficulties that were now out of my control. As it turned out, I could have slept peacefully after all. The morning arrived and all the messages I received were positive – everything had arrived perfectly. I could have cried with relief! Those initial reassurances were followed by photographs of finished wreaths, and we were flooded with heartfelt messages expressing thanks and joy. We were completely blown away by the impact our seasonal wreath making kits had had on our customers’ Christmas. Our kits were able to bring people together at a time when many of us were forcibly separated from our loved ones and local communities. It was an incredible feeling and we felt like we’d created something very special.

Faux flowers are a fantastic, low maintenance alternative to fresh and it’s easier than you might think to keep them looking their best for longer by following a few simple steps. Here are my top tips for caring for artificial flowers If you love having flowers in your home but sometimes struggle to keep them looking fresh, faux flowers and plants can offer a fantastic alternative – and there’s no watering required! Faux flowers can enhance your space and need little to no maintenance. Even so, there are a few simple steps that you can take to get the best out of your blooms and help them stand the test of time. Read on for my quick guide to how to care for your faux flowers: Displaying faux flowers One of my favourite things about faux flower arrangements is that they can add life, texture, and an organic touch to any room. Whether you choose to make them the centrepiece of your dining table, the focal point of a disused fireplace, or a beautiful addition to your bookcase, the best way to care for artificial flowers is to love them just as much as you would the real thing. If possible, it’s best to avoid displaying your faux floral arrangements in direct sunlight. While a ray of light can make your blooms look even brighter, it can take its toll over time as UV causes discolouration and fading. If you can’t keep your flowers out of the sun completely, try to rotate them regularly to avoid one side becoming more faded than the other. When creating an arrangement of faux flowers in a glass vase, cutting the stems rather than bending them can help your artificial blooms appear more authentic. I recommend using strong wire cutters to create a clean break. You may also wish to complement your faux arrangements with fresh flowers, which will need to be placed in water. Before adding water to your vase, double-check that you are working with plastic stems as unfortunately paper-covered alternatives aren’t suitable to be submerged in water. If you’ve chosen to cut the faux stems, this often exposes the wire, which can become rusty over time. The best way to avoid this is to simply seal the end with a light coat of clear nail varnish or super glue. How to clean faux flowers Dusting is the best way to keep your florals looking fresh, especially if you have white or light-coloured blooms. Use a standard duster or a dry microfibre cloth to carefully dust the petals, leaves, and stems. You can swap your cloth out for a soft-bristled paintbrush if you want to really get into all the small nooks and crannies. An even quicker method of cleaning your faux flowers is to take them outside and gently shake them to free any dust. If the weather isn’t on your side, you can replicate this effect by using a hairdryer on the cool setting to blast cool air at the stems and loosen any stubborn dust particles. If an accident does happen and your artificial flowers get stained, don’t head straight to the sink – water can easily damage delicate silk and other fabrics. Try removing them gently with a baby wipe first, but stubborn stains might mean bringing out the big guns and investing in either a specialist silk flower wash or making a diluted mix of laundry detergent and warm water. If you do go down this route, pour the liquid into a spray bottle so that you can control how wet the fabric gets and use a clean microfibre cloth to rub the detergent in. How to store faux flowers If you’re someone who likes to swap out your décor seasonally, storing your faux flowers carefully can keep them looking fresh year after year. When storing faux flowers, I recommend keeping the box that your faux flowers arrived in. The Suffolk Nest’s shipping boxes are all 100% recyclable and have been carefully selected to ensure they are the best fit for the stems you’ve chosen. No matter the size of the arrangement, our boxes allow you to store your artificial flowers and plants safely, securely, and neatly. If you’ve purchased faux flowers elsewhere, follow these easy storage steps: Make sure that you clean the flowers thoroughly first Pick a place that’s not too hot and is out of direct sunlight, like a wardrobe or cupboard Choose a container that is durable and airtight but also provides enough space between each bloom to avoid them bending out of shape If you’re storing long stem flowers, use a wrapping paper box and pack each flower head in an opposite direction Add a cedar block to keep everything fresh