Home-Made Simple

Vase Variety
An empty glass vase is just waiting for you to fill it with your own personal sense of style and creativity. There are so many shapes and styles of vases to choose from: cylinders, squares, curvy or classic. Whether you have a collection of vases from floral deliveries or have found a few deals at your local home goods store, simple glass vases offer you a budget-friendly opportunity to renew your décor. Use these ten ideas as a starting point and let your imagination transform a vase before your eyes!

1. Fruit Filled: Use real or artificial fruit to add a burst of fresh color to your room. Green apples, clementines, lemons or limes are all good choices because they don’t need to be refrigerated. Layer fruits with different colors and textures in a wide-mouthed vase or use one fruit type for a thoroughly clean, modern look.

2. Lots of Moss: Moss is often used as filler or an accent inside a vase along with other plants or flowers as the focal point. Instead, try filling an entire vase with fuzzy, green texture. For a unified motif, fill vases of different sizes and shapes with layers of moss and place them throughout a room.

3. Pretty PlumesPretty Plumes: Create an arrangement in a cylinder vase using tall, fancy feathers like peacock or ostrich. Choose bright colors or neutrals depending on your overall décor. Use feathers of varying sizes and heights to mimic the look of a floral arrangement.

4. Blooms Only: Trim the blooms from fresh, dried or artificial flowers and layer them inside a vase. The more colorful and dramatic the blossoms the better, but classic white works well too, especially in an otherwise busy room. You can also just float a single bloom at the top of a small glass vase filled with water. Add a few drops of bleach to help preserve it.

5. Child’s Play: Décor in a playroom or family room should be colorful and quirky with a nod to the room’s more casual use. Choose playful objects to layer, such as wood building blocks with letters or numbers, toy cars, board games pieces or even multi-colored bouncy balls.

6. Coffee Color: A vase filled with coffee beans can add a little café atmosphere to your kitchen. Use a square vase shape to juxtapose the rounded shape of the beans. Pair the rich, dark color of the beans with spring-inspired colors like bubblegum pink or robin’s egg blue. Add the color easily with a silky ribbon tied around the vase or by setting flowers or a single candle in the center.

7. Seasonal Sensations: Change up your décor in an instant by filling a vase with signs of the season. For spring, use colorful plastic eggs or marshmallow chicks; bright green palm leaves are perfectly beachy for summer; for fall, try pinecones or gourds and for winter fill a vase with evergreen sprigs or shiny glass ornaments.

8. From the Sea: Create an island oasis with your seaside collection. Fill a tall vase with shells and coral of all shapes and sizes arranged at interesting angles. Put it on display during summer months or anytime you need a little getaway. Check this look out in Your Great Escape.

9. Made for Metallic: Make your vase shine with pretty metal objects. Coin collections, antique keys, mismatched silverware and costume jewels can all make an elegant impression in your space. Try a short slender vase with a wide mouth and fan out silverware around the mouth or create your own special arrangement. Place on a hutch in the dining room or use as a centerpiece for a table.

10. Fabulous Fibers: Yarn comes in all sorts of beautiful colors and soft textures and filling a vase with it is a great way to show off your hobby or just make a room feel warm and cozy. It often comes rolled in fun formations or balls, so try layering your yarn in its unused form or create and arrangement with loose scraps you’ve hung onto. Finish off the look with a pair of simple silver knitting needles poking out at the top. Make sure to display it on a high shelf or mantel if you have little ones around.