When you have made a space feel light and airy and somewhat minimalist, the simple addition of a plain vase and a large branch of foliage can make an incredible difference. It’s also a design trick used in almost any catalog you get in the mail these days: the single dramatic branch in a vase, backed by the most naturally beautiful lighting you could imagine, and just enough visual crack to make you buy everything on the page. In the end, all you are looking for is that single stupid branch, so save yourself the time and trouble of trying to recreate every exact element of a show-room and focus on what you can do to the living space you already have.
In the case of our attic loft room, the white walls and clear space left some prime spots for a bit of outdoor natural wonder. A spray of coral bark Japanese maple foliage and a dramatic blooming branch of the Wolf’s Eye Chinese dogwood liven up their respective corners.
For another corner, I chopped off a trio of oak branches, which was a bit of an experiment as I wasn’t sure they would take well to water. It’s going on day three without showing signs of wilt, so it may be a new happy design element. For all of these ‘bouquets’, I made a long angled cut, then crushed the end of the branch to allow for maximum intake of water. Cut first thing in the morning, they were placed in this cool room with some soft light, and left to put on their show.
There are so many possibilities with what many of us have right in our own backyards that it’s worth an experiment, especially when you want to bring in a bit of the outdoors into a space with a small (or no) window that would otherwise not support houseplants.
If they take well to the water treatment, most of these will last far longer than a typical bouquet of flowers, while looking just as elegant. In simplicity there is beauty and peace.
