Keep a winter decorating theme in your home using the cozy color of natural twigs, pine cones, boughs and colorful berries. Use fresh cut flowers and foliage for a winter floral arrangement and learn what plants to grow that produce the berries you can use year after year.
Before and after the holidays, I like to decorate my house in a fresh new way sometimes. I bring out my favorite cobalt blue and aqua glass combination and if it’s wintery and cold, I lay the furry sheepskin over the back of the couch. For more on the use of teal or aqua in or out of the garden see ‘A Touch of Teal‘ This year I’m using the insulators that I found last spring at a yard sale and bringing the garden inside by mixing them with a new color,.. red!
Bowl of berries
These Pyracantha coccinea or Firethorn berries are a bright spot on the steep bank to the south of the house. Why not bring some inside, I thought? I put on gloves and gathered a few sprigs along with some cedar and a bit of blue to match the Rainbow pattern California pottery bowl used as a low vase. I also spotted some myrtle berries I could try and some rosemary blooming this month!
The painting here was done by my grandmother. It goes, doesn’t it?
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Down the center of the redwood table over a plaid blanket, I placed an old barn board to hold the insulators, each with a small light inside from a string of battery powered lights not used last month. The light string has 16 lights and I placed the insulators over every other one. The cedar branches and the berries were arranged between and this color pleases me next to the lit aqua glass. Simple and refreshing!
The myrtle berries fill a cobalt blue vase of my Grandmother’s, perfect for a small corner somewhere. The myrtle, M. communis ‘Compacta’ is evergreen here and just now big enough to produce berries for the first time.
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Then I spied my large glass canister which had held terrarium plants until recently. Filled with the berries displayed like a fine work of art, it will jazz up the windowsill this month. The brass deer and the tapestry pillow add richness.
Christmas berry or Toyon
Nandina
Holly
Redberry
Rose hips
Madrone
Snowberry
Cotoneaster
It is said that every room should have a bit of red in it and I agree! ~~ Sue
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Oh Sue, this is so-o-o warm & cozy that I could just 'cuddle up' @your home w/a good gardening book & a hot chocolate! Such lovely sprigs of berries & branches to bring into your home ~~looks like you have a generous variety! That color of your CA pottery bowl is 'perfect' w/the lovely Winter painting & the added gifts of nature. Always love to see your aqua insulators indoors or out & your table is very warm & inviting. TFS your gardening indoors.
I love the winter berry decorating ideas. Your grandmother's painting behind the Firethorn berries in the blue bowl is stunning...such a peaceful snowy scene with the red building in the distance. The myrtle berries in the blue vase are beautiful as well. I so enjoy Flea Market Gardening. I've discovered so many wonderful ideas from all the creative people around the country. I check the website several times a day in search of new ideas.
I adore the natural, somewhat rustic decorating. Once the Christmas decorations are taken down, my home looks so drab, but this would be just the ticket. If only I had access to red berries!
It always seems like after the "hoolah" of the holidays are over, with the crisp and bright colors it magically brings to our homes each year, our living spaces then become void of the vibrancy, and it sometimes begins to feel drab and lifeless. This "freshness" that you have incorporated in your home definitely brings back new life and interest... Now I am going on a "house hunt" of things long put away to go with new ideas of berries and branches in jars and such!!!! Thank you for the inspiration Sue!!!!!
Beautiful ideas, especially the terrarium. I can't wait to try it out!