HOW TO MAKE A BRANCH CENTERPIECE
Fall is a great time to walk your yard to rake the leaves and revisit the often ignored side yard. While outside in your yard or patio in the chilly mornings or at the end of the day, cut the dead branches.
But instead of tossing them in the trash use them to make a branch centerpiece. This is one of my favorite one-hour projects.
BRANCH CENTERPIECE
One of my favorite centerpieces is filled with dead branches. I love the organic look of twigs, stems, and branches. It’s like a page out of the Pottery Barn catalog (or a tab on their website).
Sometimes my floral arrangments are a little over the top with florals or snow-covered garland stems. The wood branches tone it down a bit.
ELEMENTS FOR BRANCH CENTERPIECES
- Lanterns
- Twigs, Branches
- Seasonal “sides” like pumpkins, ornaments etc.
- Basket,Urn, glass vase, bucket (you know how much I love buckets).
My focus was to cut back the growth and use the dead branches for the fall and winter months.
BRANCHES
A walk around the backyard was just the thing to find a few shrubs withth sturdy stems with leaves in every Crayola fall-inspired color.
Unfortunately, a few shrubs had more branches than leaves. I grabbed my shears and removed the dead branches.
I grabbed a few branches, with and without leaves.
Tip: dead branches are just as pretty as leafy branches.
The dead branches gave a more earthy feel to my urn. And the best part, a dead branch will not drop its leaves.
BASKET/URN
This metal urn was itching for branches.
I chose something sturdier because the weight of the urn could sit on the sofa table or above my favorite hutch.
Like most ofof my decor ideas have to work around Elliott (our farsighted, barnyard, Bernese Mountain dog rescue.
PUMPKINS
This raffia/wicker pumpkin was perfect for my branch centerpiece in the family room.
The pumpkins added color and texture to a blank wall in the background stay tuned for this blank wall makeover). That’s all wall behind the urn.
Well, I had a few leaves float to the sofa table behind the family room couch.
Sidenote: Do you say couch or sofa? Let me know in the comments!
So this vignette was created in maybe ten minutes I went back and added pumpkins and gourds. a
I made another loop around the yard and grabbed these beautiful gold leafy scrub oak trimmings.
I love to mix branches with faux stems. The combo makes the faux stems pop!
THE SECRET
The secret to decorating with branches is to not overthink it.
That’s it. The yard is filled with twigs, stems, and leaves of all colors. Sometimes the not-so-pretty branches make for the best arrangement.
Remember the enthusiasm for all those “flowers” in your yard (dandelions)?
We all just need to explore our yard or walk like our eight-year-old selves. It’s like a field trip for grownups. Here’s the secret to decorating with branches. Have the mindset of your eight-year-old self and don’t overthink it.
Or, you fake it until you can create it. If these woody stems look familiar they are in my front porch milk can.
I added branches to this vase in my office. Love the earthy feel!
What a fun decor idea that reminds us to use what we have in our homes or yards. Do you decorate with twigs and branches?
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Such fabulous ideas for fall. That white vase is just gorgeous and looks perfect for seasonal branches!
Thank you Christy! Can you believe it’s November! yikes, laura
Love your woven metal ‘urn’, Laura… and the fall colors leaves and branches are lovely. The woven pumpkin is a perfect accent, too!
Thank you Julie! Have a great week!
Laura, what gorgeous golden leaves you found. That vase is so unique. Love the pumpkin, too.
Thanks Carol! I cannot remember where I found that urn/vase. Happy Day friend!
Fantastic spin on the PC challenge Laura! I just love those golden leaves in the white urn and your rustic little pumpkin is adorable. Well done my friend!
Love your branches and your vignette. I especially love your “not over think it” strategy. I over think everything. It takes me 10 minutes to pick out bread and 20 to pick out strawberries. It’s ridiculous. :/ Thanks for joining in. Pinned
You’re too funny, Laura. I think you got back on course pretty well! I love your sticky branches; our leaves will all be down soon, too. If I’m thinking like a kid, I’d love to jump in a big pile of leaves, but I’d probably break something…or be sore for a week;(
I love the vibrant color of your Fall vignette, those branches may be dead, but I love the texture they add! I grew up in western Canada calling it a “chesterfield”, lol! Now we say both sofa and couch 😉
Great ideas! I wish you were my next-door neighbor so you could come over to my house and make my house look pretty. Have a great week.
Laura,
As always your post is full of inspiration! I loved the branches. So fun doing these challenges together!
Laura h I really adore how you have incorporated faux and natural elements into your decor. It looks fabulous!