How to mix fresh & faux greens in your holiday decor

One of my favorite looks for the holidays is using fresh greens in decor.

There is just something about those beautiful lush greens and the scent that fills the air. But when you decorate early, early like I do- those fresh greens have to be ‘refreshed’ several times during the season.

Fresh outdoors lasts longer than indoors with heating and fires burning in the fireplace- but I love that fresh pine scent and a bit of a wonky look to the greens I use as well. So if you are like me and struggle with the fresh vs the faux debate with wreaths and garlands- this post is perfect for you. Today I thought I would share a couple of my tips for enjoying the best of both worlds- without sacrificing any of what you love about fresh or faux greens for the holidays.

Garlands

I love the look of fresh garland on the mantel. From Eucalyptus to traditional greens- to both together- fresh is such a lush beautiful look.

The way that cedar drapes and hangs is always a favorite look for me.

Side note: Do you remember when I told the story about how I found out that I am allergic to cedar? That was the year that I used loads of fresh cut cedar to create a custom garland on the top of our headboard.

Oh the amount of sniffling, sneezing and itching was insane. Then there was the red rash on my arms and hands from touching it. And the fact that we have about 20 or more old growth cedar trees on our acreage. haha.Though I love fresh cedar garlands and clipping- I learned it was a no go in the bedroom that close to the bed for sure. And side note again: And can we talk about this major toss back photo from when I was first blogging? This was my bedroom then folks. Crazy how it has changed!

Anyway, I love the look of fresh greens like cedar- but what I don’t love is how quickly that fresh will dry out when used on the mantel. And how much of a fire danger it then becomes. So, my tip here is simple. Use faux for real fireplace mantel decor.

Last years mantel was one of my favorites. It had a chunky, snowy garland that was absolutely perfect for my winter wonderland theme. And no worries about it drying out with daily winter fires.

You might notice that I also included a bit of dried foliage- I love to tuck a bit of eucalyptus into greens for the added scent.

Use Fresh

For those areas like faux fireplace mantels indoors- fresh works perfectly. I love to drape a bit of fresh garland on the mantel -or even just simple sprigs of greens for a softer look.

or even use just a branch that is covered in pretty greens.

Simplicity is perfect- and with those clippings or a single branch- you can create a beautiful minimalistic look that is just as festive as a thick garland- and it is easy to simple replace as needed.

Fresh & Faux

What about the best of both worlds? Take your favorite realistic faux greens – and add fresh clippings to it. This is such an easy way to enjoy the best that each type of foliage has to offer. The lasting power of the faux- and the scent and drape of the fresh. When the fresh starts to get a tad crispy and drop the needles- it is simple to just replace those clippings with fresh ‘fresh clippings’ for a new look.

Where to find faux – and fresh clippings

The best faux garlands I have found are from my favorite Balsam Hill. With their realistic foliage- they honestly do look like real pine and fir garland on the mantel and I absolutely love them. You can get them with lights for a more twinkly effect or without lights for a more modern look.

And some of the best places to get clippings of fresh greens? At your local Home Depot and Lowe’s. They trim the bottoms of the fresh cut trees and you can usually just grab what you need to use. We also clip from our yard- so if you have trees that you like the greens on – that is a simple no fuss way to go about adding them to your home.

Think outside the ‘greens’ box

You don’t have to use just pine, cedar, fir and the like for the holidays. Some of my favorites looks incorporate other types of greens.

Like olive garland.

And eucalyptus.

I hope this helps inspire you to mix a bit of fresh and faux in your foliage this year! Happy Decking the Halls everyone!! And stay tuned for our first Workshop 🙂