Don’t you just love decorating your home with fresh flowers?  Me too, but buying fresh flowers can be expensive especially when you like lush arrangements like I do.

Earlier this week I was feeling a bit guilty for what I was spending on fresh flowers so I decided to jump on the faux flower trend.

If you follow interior designers and design bloggers on social media, you’ve been seeing more and more faux flower arrangements in their room designs.  The faux flower trend is no longer taboo they are being used right alongside fresh flowers.

One of the main reasons faux flower decor is making a comeback is because the quality of has gotten so good.  In many cases it can be hard to tell a faux stem from the real thing.

 On Tuesday I created this arrangement mixing faux and real stems and I am over the moon with how it turned out.

The beautiful chinoiserie foot bath was a lucky find at an estate sale and I love using it on my dining room sideboard.  Because the piece is large, keeping it filled with fresh flowers is not budget friendly so the mix of real and faux is a perfect solution.

Can you tell which flowers in my arrangement are real and which are fake?  Keep reading to find out!

Today, I’m giving you tips and tricks on how to style real + faux flowers and where to buy faux stems.

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Where To Buy Faux Flower Stems

You can find quality silk flowers at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby but for the most realistic looking faux stems I like to shop online.

Petals.com has a large selection of stems as well as pre-made flower arrangements.  Their peony and cherry blossom stems are my favorite.

At Afloral you can shop flowers by color or variety which makes it easy to create a unique floral arrangement.  They also have a great selection of bouquets that can be dropped into a vase for a quick and easy centerpiece.  The peony & ranunculus bouquet is one of my top picks.

Balsam Hill recently introduced a line of silk flowers designed by blogger Courtney of French Country Cottage and they are just beautiful.  They also sell a high quality (and a tad more expensive) collection of flower stems.  My favorites are the set of 7 dahlia stems are set of 4 hydrangea.

Pottery Barn is another place where I buy faux flower stems.  Even though the selection is small, their prices are good.  If you’re looking for a good quality faux eucalyptus stem they have one  currently on sale for $19.

What Look For In Faux Flower Stems

• Material–the best faux flowers are made silk or polyester that have a soft, velvety life-like feel to them.  Avoid stems that look and feel like plastic.
• Details–look for stems that are bendable, have realistic stems and texture in the petals and leaves.
• Color–when you look at a real flower you’ll see that it is not all one color.   Real flowers have color variations throughout the petals.  These are the same color details you should look for in faux stems.

Now that you know where to buy faux flowers and what to look for, here are my tips of styling a beautiful flower arrangement.

 

Ok, now its time to real the real vs faux stems in my arrangement…

 

Today’s design tip:  Don’t Be Afraid To Fake It:)

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.