apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have been of the hard and fast "never" school of thinking, but I've seen a couple well done projects over the last few months that is *almost* making me reconsider.

I just saw Nate Berkus on Oprah the other day (I think it was a re-run) saying that you should NEVER use fake flowers, but I don't agree. I say that when money or lighting conditions don't allow for the use of real ones, a nice looking fake arrangement is better than nothing. If it makes you smile - who cares what anyone else says.

This is a great way to use silk flowers. I don't mind beaded, glass, or paper flowers indoors, but obviously those won't work outside. This is super cute.

I have some beautiful hanging baskets that are filled with fake flowers. Last summer, the plants that were in the basket got fried. It's a west/south exposure and the fake flowers were a good solution. No one has yet noticed they were fake. If you get the good ones, they just look beautiful, not imitation.

If it makes you happy then go for it.

However, everyday I drive by a house that has fake flowers in their "garden" and it bugs me. I'm sure it's a lovely house, but I only see it as the house with the planted fake flowers and it just seems weird. I don't like fake flowers in general but to plant them? I guess it's like, "do they really think they are fooling anyone?"

A good garden store should be able to suggest plants that work in low light. I wouldn't give up on the real thing just yet.

I have "planted" artificial flowers in the five second-floor window boxes on my carriage house for the last four years because I don't have the time or the interest in opening windows all the time and watering. I made sure that I selected high-quality fakes that look realistic and arranged them well. The neighbors compliment them and are shocked when they learn that they aren't real. (And I live in a rather snooty neighborhood with beautifully-manicured lawns and gardens and rather "particular" residents.) I probably wouldn't be so bold if the flowers were at eye level, but since they're up so high, no one can tell the difference. I never would have thought to do this since artificial flowers generally disgust me, but one of my interior design clients living in a $5 million dollar home had beautiful geraniums in all her window boxes one summer. I complimented her gardener on his maintenance of nearly 80 window boxes and he let me know that they all were fake! I figure if fakes are good enough for her, they're just fine for little ol' me.

i was considering, very briefly, putting some in our tiny, dark, airless bathroom. i've seen some awesome fakes around... but they are still fake.

The problem with fake flowers is that they get very dusty. I was never able to clean the ones we had in our bathroom and finally threw them out.