Decorating with branches

My dad once thought of the brilliant idea to decorate the livingroom with a “flying” branch. I know that sounds odd, but it’s such a simple way of decorating in a creative way. What he did was; he chopped off a nice looking (quite small) branch from one of the trees in our garden, he cleaned it off and let it dry, and then hung it up in the ceiling above the coffee table using a see-through fishing line which gives the illusion of it flying. For every season my mum decorates the flying branch with different items from that season – ie, orange decorations for autumn, feathers for Easter, and red baubles for Christmas. This along with some glass lanterns in which she puts tea lights. It’s all very pretty. I haven’t got a picture of their flying branch, but it looks something like this one below:

Using branches to decorate gives a really charming and playful impression. It also gives your room a sense of creativity and a little bit of a countryside feeling. Below are a few other ways of decorating with branches.

 Why splash out on a fancy wall decor, when you can make one yourself out of nature's own recources?

 A really charming table decoration – branches and paper roses.

 Using a branch in the kitchen instead of wall hooks - what a brilliant idea!

 This ones takes a bit more skills to make, but the result is definitely worth the hard work - so pretty!

I must say this branch decoration is my favourite. I’ve got a thing for picture frames, and I think it’s so creative to use a frame this way. Branches are naturally beautiful, so why not just use them to display? Imagine if it had been an antique, swirly frame… I think this one needs testing out! I can think of a lot of empty wall spaces in my house where one of these would go just perfectly!

A memory on a canvas

When it comes to decorating a room I personally love to hang up pictures and photos. It's either my own paintings on canvases, or photos of family and friends in pretty frames. One alternative to this is to mix these two and print a photo on a canvas - something that looks very stylish in a home. 

The lovely people over at Hello Canvas were kind enough to send me a canvas with a print of my choice - something I was thrilled about! After a difficult decision I chose one of my favourite family photos - me, my parents and my sisters - a photo taken on a day worth remembering. 

What you have to think about when ordering a printed canvas is that the photo you choose needs to be of exceptionally good quality. It needs to be a photo taken with a normal camera rather than a mobile phone camera. After all, you don't want the picture to look blurry.

I expected the canvas to be big, but perhaps not that big! It's absolutely massive - 20*28" (50*70 cm). I love it though - it's a perfect size! The canvas is of really good quality, and I would really recommend you to invest in one whether it's for yourself or as a present for someone else.

Decorating with alternative materials

I came across this image on Pinterest the other day, and I fell in love straight away! I’ve got a kind of obsession for antique looking wall clocks, and this – combined with a birdcage – is such an unusual design. It made me start thinking about decorating your home with metal… it’s not a very common material to use indoors. I have looked around a bit and I’ve found a couple more ideas that I really like.

This hanging crown-like lantern in rusty metal can be used both for candles, or in this case – for plants. Such a simple idea with such an exquisite result. It gives a feeling of country living, and creativity.

This metal tray on simple foldable legs is a bit of a north African/Arab style I would say. Add a few patterns and it would look very authentic. But as it is now it’s more of a western take on the oriental/African style. Together with the stacked metal chests and the massive metal lanterns, this is a room that screams minimalistic alternative style. I would say it’s very daring to decorate a room solely with such a cold material as metal – but this just proves that it’s completely doable, and the outcome is stunning.