May Martha Stewart roll over in her gardening bed (have you seen her lately? The lady looks incredible). Most stylists are pretty anti-faux plants, flowers, and branches simply because the real stuff is so much prettier, more organic/nuanced/special-looking, etc. Then there is the whole plastic issue with fake flowers, which isn’t awesome, and of course, the dust, hearkening to the 90s era general badness of styling and decor. Martha does not approve, to say the least.
So, Why The Change? Why Now?
Well, a few weeks after I styled/shot my brother’s house for the big reveal (coming so soon!) I went over to their house, and all the real pretty summer branches were either dead or the vases were empty. The once pretty vignettes looked sad, and then I got sad. But I know my brother and Katie and knew that they needed my help: Not only do they not want the pressure to make sure everything looks perfect per their sister’s request, but they aren’t sure what to clip, what to buy, what looks good in what type of vase, etc. And frankly, a bad real flower arrangement is worse than no flower arrangement at all (really showing my snobbery for flowers here).
My general ethos as a designer is to create homes that reduce people’s stress, not add to it, so I offered to pick out and buy them faux flowers/branches. They said yes (with relief). What we found blew us away (it’s not the 90s anymore).
And listen, while this isn’t my thing at my house, I recognize that I’m privileged enough to live on a property with a ton of real flowers and trees right outside my door, and furthermore, I genuinely love clipping and arranging flowers and branches around my house. It comes very easy to me (lol… after like 20 years of experience – women need to stop saying that things are easy when really we are just skilled from decades of hard work). But not everyone is in my position, and you can’t have sad, dead branches, empty vases, random flower arrangements from the grocery store, or even worse – really ugly fake flowers. My brother’s new faux summer branches that we bought and arranged looked incredibly real… until fall came and the “Queen Anne’s lace” and “cherry blossoms” became glaringly fake (to me) because those flowers can’t exist in September (this is key to the faux branch program – non-seasonal flowers look extra fake). So, in the name of making sure their house, that I worked so hard on for 4 years, looks beautiful year-round, in every season, I offered again to switch the summer “branches” out for fall, and once again, after shopping A TON, we found some that look FANTASTIC. I think I just put the final nail in my career coffin of ever working for Martha, but here we go.
Faux Oversized Eucalyptus Branch | Faux Japanese Maple Stem | Faux Black Plum Leaf | Faux Sedum Stem | Faux Seeded Eucalyptus Stem | Faux Turning Aspen Branch | Faux Blue Sea Holly Stem | Faux Burgundy Cosmo Stem | Faux Meadow Sedge Stem (similar) | Faux Siberian Elm Branch | Faux Autumn Leaves Branch
These were the absolute best of the best (we bought a lot more). The key to why these work is in the tone of the flower/leaf (i.e., not bright green and not shiny) and the shape of the stem (I arranged all the stems to be really organic and “random” like a real plant would be). I tried to hide the underside of some of the green leaves (that give it away). It also doesn’t hurt that all the vases are pretty dang good.
My Favorite Faux Flowers – What Started This Whole Thing
See those pretty flowers poking in on the coffee table? Those sparked it all. They look incredibly real and made me rethink the entire category (and my snobbery). We didn’t take a full shot (we came back for portraits weeks after we shot the reveal, but I never reshot the coffee table with the fake stuff).
Faux Burgundy Cosmo Stem | Vase
But here they are – and the way they flop and style really help them look even more real. The deep, dark color is really pretty and subtle, with some color variation but not too much. I actually think these are appropriate for all four seasons, and they style so easily in a vase.
Faux Autumn Leaves Branch | Vase (unavailable)
These were so pretty (and large) and flopped perfectly to look so real and dramatic. Great for an entry table or somewhere that you need the height and volume.
Faux Autumn Leaves Branch | Vase (unavailable)
We shopped at Target, World Market, Crate and Barrel, West Elm, and CB2, and Crate had the best (but are the most expensive, of course).
Faux Turning Aspen Branch | Vase
We put these in their mudroom (didn’t take a photo, sorry), and they looked pretty real. Green with a hint of “turning” to red.
Faux Seeded Eucalyptus Stem | Vase
These look really real right now, they are everywhere outside, and since eucalyptus dries really well, you can get away with them in a pretty vase like that for months while looking real.
Faux Sedum Stem | Vase (similar)
In their powder bathroom, we put these sweet little dark red sedums. The powder bath is the only bathroom I consistently make sure has fresh sprigs since people actually see it, so not going to lie that I feel a bit tempted to do this.
Faux Siberian Elm Branch | Vase
These more spindly branches work so well in here – it picks up on the gold and burgundy of the painting (ooh!!! sneak peek of the dining room styling!!!). These were oddly expensive, and they need a big bulbous vase to offset the spindly-ness (i.e., not a tall skinny vase).
Faux Black Plum Leaf | Vase (similar)
These guys, from Target, are excellent (shout out to Joanna Gaines). By far the most budget-friendly and also excellent of the group (10/10). The color is perfect, and nothing about them looks fake, even up close.
Faux Small Golden Leaf Branch | Vase
Another fantastic fall branch that looks so real. I think that branches are easier to execute than flowers in the faux department, FYI. These work so well in most rooms.
Faux Japanese Maple Stem | Vase (similar)
These wild Japanese maples were really well executed. Again with the color variation in the leaves and the organic shape of the stems.
Faux Blue Sea Holly Stem | Vase
Now, I feel like I could have styled these a little better (we were in a huge hurry, TBH) and these are too straight up and out, but I still think they are great and they are living there forever 🙂
Faux Oversized Eucalyptus Branch | Vase
These are HUGE oversized eucalyptus that we thought could work in the house, but they need either a huge entry table or a credenza against a wall (too big for a dining table). But they were very real-looking with a nice tone.
So there you have it – never say never 🙂 Always learning, right? So again, if clipping outside or shopping for seasonal greens brings you joy, let’s stick to the real deal. But you aren’t alone if having a really good faux version makes you love your home more and makes your life easier. I hope some of these help 🙂
*Photos by Kaitlin Green
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