Vintage paint tin arrangement and Sunday musings

The act of simply picking and arranging flowers brings a sense of peace to my chaotic mind. It’s as soothing as getting into fresh bed linen or knowing I have a couple of days with nothing booked in my diary other than coffee with a friend. Flower arranging is the ultimate calm giver. Last evening I needed to settle my racing thoughts, I’m starting to agree with my daughters now that I may have ADHD but I’m still choosing to not diagnose it as for the most part my erratic brain seeks out wonderful adventures. I think this is why I have such grounded and creative businesses- flowers and art/ceramics. Anyway, enough of that. My aim was and still is to mostly use my substack for images and inspiration.

At my last Brocante I picked up this gorgeous paint tin from my fair buddy Eddie And Matilda- we always get stands next to each other at the Dorset Brocante and i love having her as my neighbour but I always end up spending my profits 😂 none the less I had to have this paint tin! Originally I thought I’d plant flowers in it but I couldn’t bring myself to drill holes into it so unless a pot fits inside I’m using it for cut flowers. I’m always searching out wonderful vintage pots/vases anything that will hold water, it doesn’t matter if it’s chipped or damaged so long as it doesn’t leak!

As we’re now in the height of summer the late flowers are really getting going and I’m picking dahlias and cosmos- my favourite combination as I like the way delicate cosmos offsets the big somewhat cumbersome dahlias by dancing above and around them. I always believe arrangements should dance an elegant waltz like they do in the flower beds, not tight and constricted but flowing and natural. Here I’ve used sweet pea tendrils, snipping more off than just the flower stem so I get the wonderful curls, flowers and buds. At this time of the year my sweet pea stems are becoming shorter so this is a good way to pick them.

I’ve gone for two focal flowers to complement each other- the cafe au lait dahlia and a vintage pastel verbascum. The muted colour palette which is my personal choice (although I also appreciate a riot of dahlias) sits beautifully in my old paint tin and will go well in my bedroom where I’ve just decorated in a soft blush pink vintage inspired wallpaper. That was a devil to do I don’t mind telling you but I love the paper so much that I know I will never want to change it- it’s timeless. Maybe I’ll show you in another post, would you like to see my decorating projects in my cottage? Please comment if you would. I live in a little Victorian cottage which is quite tiny. I’m bringing it back to life from some ugly modernisation poor thing.

Enjoy your Sunday,

Emma x