How To: Potted Orchids Displayed In A Dough Bowl

I've been in the mood to give my living room a fresh update for the spring/summer season {see this instagram picture}.  One of the great advantages to living in Miami is that we have access to gorgeous tropical foliage at an amazing price.  I saw a local farmers stand on the side of the road last week with a sign advertising orchids for sale for $10 each.  Sold!

I love my vintage wooden dough bowl, and often use that as a vessel for displaying seasonal decor around my house.  Armed with my orchids in hand, I decided to try my dough bowl out as a planter, and am SO happy with how it turned out!

Read on to see how it all came together....

Materials that you'll need:

• Wooden dough bowl, or another vessel to pot your orchids in {even an old wooden salad bowl would work for this project!}.

•  2-3 medium sized orchids, depending on the size of your bowl.  I looked for orchids that had plenty of buds that had not yet bloomed, thus ensuring that I would get about a months worth of enjoyment out of this display.

• 2-3 bags of decorative moss {can be purchased at most crafts supplies stores like Michaels}.

• 1 bag of gravel or small rocks.

• 1 medium sized garbage bag.

• Scissors.

Step 1.

Cut the bottom of your garbage bag, about 6 inches from the bottom.  Place the bottom piece inside your bowl, and spread a thin layer of gravel/rocks on the bottom.  This will aid in drainage for the orchids.


Step 2.

Nestle your orchids on top of the layer of gravel, maneuvering them until they will sit upright.  This part is a little tricky since they love to just flop right over so feel free to add more rocks or whatever will help them stay up.  I originally bought 3 orchids for this project, but felt that it looked a little crowded so keep that in mind.


Step 3.

Add moss, and really try to pack it down so that your orchids stay put and move around minimally.  Additionally, arrange the moss so that the plastic container that your orchids are sitting in is well concealed.


Step 4.

Move bowl to a sunny location and enjoy!  For tips on how to care for your orchids, check out this link.

I displayed my orchids on our recycled wood console table behind the couch.  It's flanked by two black lanterns on either side that I filled with sand, shells, and a pillar candle.  The black lanterns really compliment the black stitching detail in my new pillows on the couch.  I'm really happy with how this looks, and it's the perfect refresh that my living room needed!


For more home decor projects that I've worked on in the past, check out these posts:

•  Coffee Table Decor 
•  Spring Entryway Decor 
•  Decorating With Dough Bowls

Hoping this gives you a little inspiration to make small changes around your house to welcome in the new warmer weather seasons! Thanks for reading! xx

Coffee Table Decor

Recently, I gave my coffee table a fresh new update to reflect the summer season.  I like to make small changes in my decor to embrace the changing of the seasons, but do so in a way without breaking the bank :)

Read on for more deets.

Our living room is a pretty tranquil space, and believe it or not, we don't really watch a lot of tv.  For that reason, I like to outfit this space with comfortable furniture + decorative accents that create a welcoming environment to both entertain and relax.  Since we live on the beach, I wanted to bring those elements in and create an endless summer/beachy vibe; something you might experience on a chic island getaway.

Decorating with trays is an easy + cost effective decorative accent.  After your initial investment of the tray, you only need to make small tweaks & changes in the decor to reflect the current season.

I love the natural woven rattan look of this tray, and the metal handles gives it character.  I usually try to decorate with natural elements; in this case the faux coral, sea stars, the beachy driftwood, and sand.  Using candles, small photo frames, and summer vacation mementos & souvenirs also make for great decorative accents.

The small small lantern is a great buy from Pottery Barn {under $25}, and all that I needed to do was walk down to the beach and collect some sand in order to transform it to my beach theme.  Lanterns really can be used all throughout the year; in autumn you could switch out the sand for some pretty red & orange faux leaves.  It would also look beautiful glowing on a front porch with some festive clipped cedar branches or pine cones during the holidays.  

I always decorate our home with coffee table books.  They really have the ability to make a wide variety of spaces look chic.  I have so many of them, and place them all throughout our home, often rotating with the seasons when I make small changes around the casa.  Grouping them together by color makes for a much "cleaner" look.

Another great aspect about using coffee table books is that they make a great platform for displaying smaller trinkets & objects of curiosity.  Here I've displayed a pretty candle with this interesting hand carved bowl that we picked up while in Africa.  I always bring back something for our home whenever we travel to other countries as I prefer authentic decorative accents vs. mass produced box store versions.  I've also picked up the habit of bringing home pretty books of matches from our travels and display them in bowls around the home.

I'm so pleased with how everything came together, and think that this really embodies the beach chic look that I was going for.

I've linked below to most of the items that I used and also included a few budget friendly picks that I found from good old Target.  I can often find extremely similar decorative accents at places like Target or Home Goods :)

Additionally, Restoration Hardware is currently having a sale on coffee table books and two of my books {Vogue Living & In The Spirit Of Capri} are both on sale.  Since they can sometimes be a bit pricey, sales are a great time to start or add to your book collection.  You can view the sale by clicking here.

How do you decorate your coffee table?