ALL IS SIMPLE, ALL IS NATURAL

Photography David Chow

From left to right: European recycled glass jar; beach stone vase; recycled glass bud vase; rustic grey clay pot; small recycled glass cloche

Editorial stylist, Bloomist collaborator, and compulsive rearranger Hilary Robertson shows us how to create a calm, peaceful retreat away from the tinsel and noise with these 5 ways of bringing nature indoors.

Holiday decorating with nature couldn’t be simpler. It’s extremely quick, it looks really pretty, and you don’t need any floristry skills to do it. You’re doing something that takes no more than five minutes. It’s really just about choosing the ingredients.

1. MIX YOUR GREENS

Here, we’ve used eucalyptus — which started fresh and then dried — some air plants, some clay pots stuffed with reindeer moss and berries, and white tapered candles topped off with Spanish moss for a soft edge, as well as amaryllis bulbs on the table. If you just keep to different shades of green, you can’t go wrong


Hand thrown, naturally aged clay pots with saucers; planted with moss (foreground) and paper white narcissus in both the pot and European recycled glass jar (rear).

2. ADD TEXTURE AND CONTRAST WITH GLASS, CLAY, AND STONE

The idea is that you can really mix it up. It’s nice to mix the texture of glass and clay and stones — you can use bell jars, cloches, or any sort of recycled glass. You want to use different sizes of things as well so you can really mix up the heights. Don’t use more than three tall things on a table when you’re seating people across from each other because they won’t be able see each other.


From left to right: Yuko Sato curvy rustic bud vase under recycled glass cloche; large beach stone vase with dried silver brunia; Yuko Sato rustic cup with glazed interior.

3. SPRAY BRANCHES WHITE

The branch in the photo is literally just something I picked up, and it’s been sprayed white. Florist shops do sell spray paint especially for flowers, but you could just use normal spray paint, too. I’ve thrown some Spanish moss on it, to keep it soft. With Spanish moss, you can soak it very occasionally — every couple weeks or when you feel it’s going dry, or the color goes a bit brown — to keep it alive.


From left to right: Tracie Hervy slim white stoneware cylinder vase; recycled glass bulb vase; handmade honeycomb dish and Battuto bud vase by DBO home; Tracie Hervy tall white stoneware vase and tumbler.

“NATURE IS THE ANTIDOTE TO TOO MUCH TINSEL.”

4. MINGLE ALL THE WAY

I’ve used some eucalyptus in there, with the greens and the dark reds. Those little round things, scabiosa stellata — I buy them fresh, and they dry almost instantly. They’re really fun and delicate. It’s just about having a nice mixture of something that’s more solid and something more airy. Those are all available right now


From left to right: Large beach stone vase; Yuko Sato rustic cup with glazed interior; ceramic bark planter by Studiology; recycled glass bulb vase; wood flower by La Casa

5. JOY FOR MINIMALISTS

I love these simple hand blown glass vases for their simple, minimal shapes. Display a collection of vessels in different heights and add a vine. You’ll want to use something trailing, like stemona (seen here), ivy or jasmine. Wind the vine around the collection, and just make sure the end is in the water.


Hand blown glass bottles inspired by lab vessels.

“HOLIDAY DECORATING WITH NATURE COULDN'T BE SIMPLER."