***Giveaway winner has been selected! Thank you for entering! :) ***
This post was brought to you in partnership with simplehuman. They gave us one of their new sensor open trash cans for the studio and another one to give away (details below!!)! Thank you for supporting the sponsors that help keep LGN going. :)
Do you have a list of back up jobs? Like, jobs you have in mind just in case your current job ever feels old or stale? I have two back ups, just in case this designer/shop owner thing doesn’t pan out. The first is a Labor and Delivery Nurse (because BABIES!!!) and the second would be a Florist. But given how much I really love interior design, and that I have four kids and that I also do my best to squeeze in as much florist moonlighting as possible around here, it might just be that I have the best of all worlds right now! :)
We make between five and ten arrangements a week for styling our projects. So every Monday morning I go to the flower market and stock up. While our studio kitchen is under construction we set up a makeshift floral station using our beautiful new voice and motion sensor trash can from simplehuman and this standing desk we got in the IKEA as-is section. I didn’t notice until we got it back to the studio that part of the laminate had been torn off (eye roll). But I’ve always wanted to try the marble contact paper and this seemed like the perfect experiment. It was super easy to do and I love this little floral station now! We can just come over and grab whatever we need during the week for print shop shoots or client spaces. And our beautiful new trash can helps us keep the area clean and tidy! It comes in a ton of color and finish options, but I love our sleek white one!
Most of my arrangements end up being loose and more organic with lots of greenery. I thought you might like a little tutorial on my general approach to flower arranging here!
I almost always start with a floral frog or oasis to help keep the stems upright and in place, especially with bigger vessels.
I always start with greenery as my foundation. I like to mix it up sometimes, but I pretty much always just want to use silver dollar eucalyptus. The bluey green color is my absolute favorite and the smell is amazing!! I use shears to cut the stems to size, so they hang a little long and loose. I’m also sure to remove the leaves that would be under water to help the arrangement last longer.
One of my best tips is to keep a tidy work station and clean up as you go. You guys, our new simplehuman trash can opens when you say “OPEN CAN” (!!!!). I mean, we basically live like the Jetsons now!
ANNE STREET print // HYACINTH print // rug
It also opens when you wave your hand near the lid and it will stay open if it senses you are still using it! Crazy right? This trash can has been so handy here at the floral station and I’ve become so obsessed that I got one for my kitchen at home. It’s awesome when the can is just open and ready for you to dump right in those drippy messes (like chicken! :/) that are just a regular part of meal prep. The germaphobe in me absolutely loves the touch-free element. And can we just talk about how gorgeous and sleek the can is? What a beauty!
You can plug in the can or use batteries and there is a built-in liner storage compartment inside the can that I think is just the coolest thing!
The next step for the flower arrangement after the greenery is to place a couple of your biggest flowers. I used blush dahlias as my base flowers here as well as couple of bright pink garden roses.
A good trick for measuring what length you should cut your flowers to is to hold them upright and trim to the height of your vase. Remember that it’s always better to cut a little long and have to maybe come back to trim a little more stem off than to be stuck with a too-short stem and a flower that keeps sinking into your arrangement! (I like to snip the ends right into our new trash can! Here’s a little pro-tip for you though: no need to say “close can.” I was saying that for a while until I realized it closes automatically! Hahahhaha.)
After you establish a general shape with the big foundation flowers, I like to add color and texture and further define the shape of the arrangement with a couple of smaller flowers.
I always like to add a touch of either black or really dark oxblood red to almost every arrangement for a little bit of contrast. These anemones do just the trick here!
Tada!! All done! I would use something large like this for a big coffee table or an entry console. If we change the water every day, arrangements like this one can last for two weeks!
Tell me, what are you favorite floral arrangement tips? I’d love to compare notes! And if you’re not arranging flowers with an touch-free trash can near by, you’re not living!! :)
PS We decided to give one of these gorgeous automatic-open cans to you! YAY! To enter to win, just leave a comment on this post with your dream household invention or your favorite simplehuman product.
Thanks again to simplehuman for sponsoring this post!
A self-cleaning mat to lay around the toilet. It’s just too hard to get that space on the floor behind the toilet!
Some kind of “smart” window glass (like eyeglasses) that darken when the sun shines on them, but don’t remain dark otherwise.
Wish there were an automatic garbage taker-outer. But this can seems pretty amazing!
My 3 year old asks for milk ALL DAY. It would be cool to have a milk dispenser on my fridge, much like a water dispenser!
A robotic puppy to follow my kids around and eat all the crumbs they drop! I wish that we had a real dog to do this…but I have 4 kids and that feels like enough!
Washer/dryer in one. Don’t they have them in Europe?
Food storage containers that turn colors when the food is about to go bad. Or, if I’m really dreaming, they could text a reminder to eat those leftovers!
Btw, a PostPartum nurse gets to hang out with babies even more than Labor and Delivery nurses do! (I know, I am one.)
Thanks for the giveaway, Jenny!
My favorite Simple Human product, is the small trash can in my bathroom. It is made to use grocery bags for trash liners. It also gives the needed privacy required of a bathroom receptacle.
My dream household invention would be a laundry folding machine, and my favorite simplehuman product is our current trash can. A sensor-opening trash can would be a pretty amazing upgrade!
Please tell us where you purchased the white frames with rounded corners? This the second size frame you have this way. I really want to purchase one.
I second the washer and dryer in one! Even better if the Achebe could pick out what needed to be line dried and did it for me.
Agh! And by Achebe (what is that, even?) I mean machine.
I have a discrete simple human under cabinet paper towel holder that I love. I can’t even think of more things to invent. I’m so glad simple human does it for me! Great style.
I would adore a bed that automatically removes soiled bedding for cleaning and then automatically replaces it with fresh linens! My back would be so thankful for not needing to climb all over my son’s bunk bed to do this.
A sink that washes the dishes on its own :)
My dream invention was the Roomba. It changed my life.
I usually just lovingly admire those who do floral arrangment. The blooms & colors you’ve put together in this post are just magnificent! I will say I’ve found the most lovely arrangements at Costco in their floral section; the prices make me really happy!
I love my simplehuman trash can that has 2 bins, one trash, one recycling.
A robot that could make our beds daily
a self-making bed …. I hate making the bed LOL
I have a Simplehuman waste can I purchased probably 10 yrs. and it still works perfectly. I’d love to a voice activated one tho’.
Love your shirt! Where is it from?
My favorite Simplehuman product would be their dish rack. It fits perfectly in the sink and keeps the dishes neat.
My least favorite chore is dusting, so something that could do that for me!
Amazing and gorgeous!
Hands down, I would invent some sort of self-cleaning/drying shower stall so I wouldn’t have to deal with scrubbing the dang thing all the time! What a fun giveaway, and I love all the floral arranging tips!
An automatic highchair washer-kind of like a carwash. Least.Favorite.Job.Ever. Such a cool trashcan-thanks for sharing:)
I could go for some self-cleaning floors! Although the voice activated trash can is pretty cool too :)
Definitely self cleaning floors. Or shower!
I really want a Simplehuman Sensor Soap Pump for my birthday. This trash can would be a great Christmas gift!
Something that puts away the laundry!
An automatic compost bin.
I would love to have an automatic sensor/waterer for my inside and outdoor plants. I love greenery (in all shades…with white, silver or bluish/lavender-ish plants as highlights, and I used to remember to water. I’m so bad at it now that I seem to being killing everything not faux from IKEA!
A automatic opening garbage can seems like something out of the the Jetsons! I would love to own one.
My favorite SimpleHuman product hands down is their kitchen trash can. I purchased it ten years ago and it is the most hard-working item (not to good looking) in our kitchen…so much so that this beautiful upgrade would be magical!
The Simple Human sensor soap pump for sure! I love to cook and bake and my hands are usually contaminated with eggs or raw meat, love that I don’t have to put my family at risk. Love be that the can opens without having to touch it, genius!
I have a simple human trash can now that I love but this new one I may NEED. Looks good and the “open can” option is so cool!
I’d love something like a roomba that mops the floors.
My fave simple human product is the shower dispenser! My last shower had no shelves (what?!) and I hated all the bottles on the floor. The triple dispenser solves it!
It sounds weird to be obsessed with a trash can, but I have been drooling over this SimpleHuman trash can since I first read about it! I can’t stand to have to touch the cabinet door to put food scraps in the garbage–especially when I am handling chicken! Would love to have one!
Woohoo, I’d love that trashcan! Actually my favorite product from them so far is a really nice dish rack. Not too big, but really stylish and effective.
Also, I absolutely love using frogs in arrangements, but I always forget to use them! Thanks for the reminder. In a pinch, I use tape that I make into a grid along the opening of a vase, which also really helps the arrangement stay perky.
Self-cleaning fridge!!!
Great tips! I’m always wondering if I should invest in some frogs. What do you do about clear vases? Do you still use the frog?
Oh, man. If I could just have a sink that does my dishes for me, dries them, and puts them away, that would be greeeeat. So many projects in the kitchen rely on having an empty sink and I’m just not great at keeping that thing empty. I cook a lot and can in the summer, and feel like I’m constantly doing dishes. (Especially all those hand-wash/oversized dishes…)
A Laundry folder-er machine. The kids help, but we just can’t keep up!
So Beautiful, can you share the source for that amazing table?
Love the way you arrange flowers! That’s something I’ve never been good at but always try to do anyway!! Thanks for the tips!
I’d invent a washer and dryer that did all of the cleaning and folding for me!!
your arrangement is stunning. one tip that i use often is to include something from the veggie department for color. in place of the usual greens, i love the pinks and purples of beet greens and the messiness of other organic leaf veggies. you can purchase a large assortment for not much cash and fill in with whatever blooms suit your tastes.
we are huge fans of the simple human line. my fav is the hand soap dispenser. we fill it with liquid dish soap for washing pots and pans.
I want an LED screen calendar that syncs up with my google calendar and has an attractive frame. I’d hang it on the wall in my kitchen and we would be so organized all the time.
I love my Simple Human mini trash cans for the bathrooms – a tap with my toe and the lid pops open – and closes by itself !
These suggestions are so fun. We have several simple human products and I love them all. So simple and so well designed.
would love this!!! i am so picky about trash cans and how dirty they get on the lid. esp for tweenagers!!!! This is a dream!!