About a month or two ago, I was working out at the gym perusing someone’s left-behind copy of Better Homes & Gardens. I turned the page to find a photo of a farm-house sink styled with all kinds of colorful vintage vases brimming with different kinds of flowers. (Out of guilt, I didn’t nab that tattered BHG and now I can’t find the photo anywhere … let me know if you’ve seen it so I can post it here!) It dawned on me that literally every single vase that I own is clear glass (well, with the exception of my the egg-shaped vases that I used in my collection post). So I resolved to add some color to my vase collection and on my last flea market run, I scored this:

Besides just being a great thing to have on hand for when my hubby brings home flowers (which the smart guy does with regularity), I was hoping to find something that was just the right size to brighten up the telephone nook in our hallway.  And, I think it definitely does.

I was so pumped up to see that the blue in the vase totally picks up on the blue in that occasional chair that we got hand-me-down from Will’s mom and freshened up with a bit of new fabric. But, I still felt like the space was lacking some pizazz. My good friend Rebecca who blogs right here told me about an awesome website that you’ve got to check out.  You see, Rebecca knows that I had fake flowers and plants. You will never find silk botanicals in my home ever. But the real thing, when dried, is a totally different story. So for weeks I’ve been obsessing over Nettleton Hollow. Check out some of their cool offerings:

6 dried artichokes are $16.50 and 10 lotus pods are $8.50. Either would look awesome in a bowl or tray on a coffee table. The dried artichokes would be especially cute in a dish nestled in on some shelves with your cookbooks.

This manzanita branch is 24″ tall and $18.50. If you aren’t convinced that you should spend nearly $20 on a branch, take a look at Nettleton Hollow’s blog where manzanita branches are the star of the show and are used in a million different creative ways.

So I spent weeks surfing around the site. At first I was going to go the safe route and just get some grasses to fill my vintage vase. But then I decided, what the heck, let’s get funky with the dried botanicals. I found this photo on the Nettleton Hollow website and decided that was the ticket:

So here’s my little telephone nook now:

These botanicals are almost pre-historic looking. I’m into it! And while I was at it, I put some of that boring, dried rice on top of my bar to give it a little extra height. Maybe that crystal vase will get replaced with something colorful sometime soon. And for sure I’ll put an actual photo in that Pottery Barn frame instead of the birch trees that have been in it since Christmas.

Funky, dried botanicals r us! What do you think? Comments make me feel loved!