Thursday Flowers......Boho Style

It all began with a big bucket of flowers that inspired a whole room change.
I was passing by my local florist store and decided to stop in and buy my daughter a bunch of flowers for her birthday......

My daughter (as mentioned in Mondays post HERE) isn't a shabby chic girl at all. She prefers a more Boho look and loves  Indian textiles and raw timber surfaces.  Combining her look with my look in our home has often proved to be quite the challenge.  
I have in the past snuck a frilly cushion or a rose inspired print into her room, but as soon as she locks eyes on it is is back out of her room as quick as a flash.

When buying her flowers, roses and violets and other delicates are just not her thing.

So on my venture into the florist on the day of her birthday, I stood there scratching my head about what I would create for her.

It didn't take long to be inspired. Buckets and buckets of flowers sat before me and I was straight away drawn to a big bucket of fushia coloured  Dahlias. These pretty blooms didn't know it yet but they had inspired a whole new room change.
I used reds and creamy white Alstromeria to compliment the Dahlias. I needed some smaller blooms to soften the hues and the florist didn't have a lot in stock because it was straight after Christmas.  Hesitantly I reached for a bunch of Babies Breath. Babies Breath wasn't quite the look that I was after but I knew that it would help to fill the space.
I found nice tall native blooms in the shade of mauve. (I have no idea what they are called as the assistant who served me wasn't sure).  I didn't use these blooms in my arrangement but I knew that they would look big and dramatic in a new tall cylinder tin that I had been recently given as a gift.

I began with a couple of floral foam florist balls.  I soaked them for a few minutes until they were completely absorbed with water.
I then cut the heads off my flowers and began to fill my foam ball with them. I left a short stem of about 5cm on the end of each flower head and poked it into the ball.  I evenly spaced the larger blooms Dahlias all around the ball and then followed with a different shade and variety of Dahlias.  Then I began to fill in the gaps with creamy white Alstromerias and Babys Breath.
By the end of the process I realised that I had not bought nearly enough blooms for 2 balls.
I guess it is a learning curve and next time I will buy more !
I had wondered about hanging my ball up but in the end I decided to sit it on top of a round glass vase filled halfway with water and used the fallen petals to float in the vase.

and my arrangement is complete !

If you decide to try this at home, don't throw away the tighly closed buds because they add texture and interest to your design. Nothing from your bunches should be wasted unless the flowers are damaged or discoloured.

My daughter adored her flowers when she came home and saw them bursting with colour in her bedroom.  The smile and hug that she gave me made it all worth it.  Somehow I had managed to please her teenage eye with something that she may have selected for herself.  Dahlias are such a pretty old fashioned flower but in her eyes they were Bohemian, fresh and very hip !