Les Fleurs: DIY Floral Arrangement Tips

From I am obsessed with flowers! I always bring some home from my weekly farmers market trips. I love keeping them in my home because they are the easiest way to add beauty and loveliness to any room. They also make amazing gifts!

Floral arrangements are great to give and receive but can be expensive. The good news is, they’re easy to DIY (do it yourself)! It may seem like it’s difficult or costly to create your own floral arrangement but I assure you that many of the tools you need are probably already in your home. So grab some flowers and use the six tips below to create an arrangement that looks like a pro florist made it!

1. Get inspired

There are so many different styles of arrangements you can create with flowers. Visit your local flower shop or check out Pinterest to see what style you’d like to create. There are also books like The Flower Chef by Carly Cylinder that can provide amazing inspiration and tips. I’ve learned that I’m really drawn to asymmetrical style arrangements. You’ll notice there is a similarity in the arrangements you like.

2. Choose your flowers 

From daisies to peonies there’s so many flowers to choose from! You can even incorporate unusal things like artichokes or fruit into your arrangements. For my personal arrangements, I usually pick pastels or white. If it’s for someone else, I try to include their favorite colors or if they’re ha in an event I’ll select colors matching their theme. I think selecting three colors plus some greenery is a great number when you first start doing DIY arrangements.

3. Choose your vase

You can use almost anything as a vase for your arrangement. Tin cans, hollowed pineapples, a head of lettuce, a watering can, the options are endless! If you’re more of a traditional person like me, vases or bottles are perfect! Don’t feel like you have to spend a lot of money to find the perfect vase. Some of my favorite vases are from my local dollar store. Luna Bazzar also has some fantastic choices at a great price.

4. Gather the tools 

You already own most of the tools you need to make your own floral arrangement. A pair of scissors or a sharp knife are good for cutting the flowers. Tape is awesome for creating a grid on top of the vase to hold the flowers in place (see photo below). If you purchase flowers from the grocery store they should come with flower food. If not, mixing some vinegar and sugar in the water will work just fine. Once you’re creating flower arrangements more frequently, it smart to invest in some great floral sheers, a rose stripper and florists tape.

5. Learn about your flowers

Different flowers need different things to thrive. Most flowers will be fine with some water, flower food and sunlight. Others are more high maintaince. For example, hydrangeas drink water through their petals and not the stems so you need to put water on the petals before you add them to your arrangement. The Flower Chef is a great resource full of tips for maintaining your floral arrangements.

6. Create your arrangement

Yay! You’re ready to start creating your arrangement! Fill your vase with water and add flower food or vinegar and sugar. Make a grid on the top of your vase with the tape so your flowers stay in place once you start designing your arrangement. Trim your flowers to fit in the vase and be sure to cut the bottom of the stems at a diaganal so they can absorb enough water. Trim off any leaves that may touch the water so they don’t cause mold to grow and ruin your arrangement. Add varying heights to your arrangement to make it visually appealing. Grouping similar flowers together is an easy way to create a stunning arrangement.

I’ve created the arrangement in this post using three different type of pastel flowers. As I mentioned, I like asymmetrical styles, so I used one hydrangea and one bunch of greenery to create that asymmetric look.

What are your favorite types of arrangements? Have you made your own #DIYFloralArrangement before? Let me know in the comments below.