Faux plants are back! Yay or nay?

September 26, 2019

I've noticed a trend over the past year or so and I'm kind of loving it! 

It seems faux plants are BACK! Were they ever even gone? I think so, for awhile. Trends come and go, and a trend a years back in the design world was a general disdain for any kind of faux plant in decor. 

I've always said to each their own -- if it's not trendy and you love it, do it! I actually appreciate decor that isn't on trend even more. Although I have to admit I pulled back on the faux a little bit over the years. 

But they are definitely back! Flowers, greenery...I've seen it all lately. I've always had some in our decor, but I've been adding a little more in over the past few months. 

I'm especially in love with the faux olive stems I found: 
Olive stems in fall centerpiece

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I found them at Michael's and almost passed on them. They have a lighter shade on the underside of each leaf that looked a little too fake to me at first. But then I thought about how the olive trees shimmered in the wind on our trip to Italy and realized that's how they look in real life. 

I grabbed some (40 percent off) for our kitchen table: 


Fall table arrangement with olive stems

And for the entry table: 
Faux olive stems in glass vase

They are SO lovely for fall! I'll probably use them year-round but I especially love them this season. I can't find them on the Michael's site but these are very similar

I shared my absolute favorite place for faux plants here -- I use them all over! They are the most realistic I've found. I love them for spots like our powder room that don't get a ton of natural light: 
The best faux plants I've found

They're also great for areas where you just completely forget you have a real plant and NEVER water them. That may have happened in the bathroom. ;) 

There are three variations in that size and I use each one in our decor. They are full, real looking and super cheap!: 
Dark green shelves decor

I also love these little pots with faux greenery I found at At Home: 
Decorating bookcases with faux plants

You can see more examples of how I use them under glass like that cloche above in this post!

Our bathroom is another spot that gets decent light, but I ALWAYS forget to water real plants in there. Instead I added a few faux plants to the two-toned cabinet
Painted two tone Ikea cabinet in bathroom

I don't use a ton of fake florals, but I found these faux cherry blossoms on Amazon and they are so realistic looking. I was quite impressed with them: 
Faux cherry blossoms in basket

I also found this simple peony arrangement at HomeGoods and I LOVE it!:
The faux flower trend is back!

It's light and fluffy and the pretty hobnail glass vase makes it look even better! 

I'm lucky to have a green thumb and am able to grow (most) real plants easily, but it's nice to have other options that will always look good! Here are a few tips to making your faux plants and flowers look more realistic:
  • Don't be afraid to mix with real flowers -- this is a great trick and definitely helps to fool the eye.
  • "Replant" them in real planters/baskets/decorative containers. 
  • I find the smaller the leaf, the more realistic it the plant looks. Succulents and air plants are GREAT options. 
  • For florals, the leaves always seem to be a giveaway. Don't be afraid to trim them off so they look even better!
  • Arrangements in water or fake water like my peonies above tend to look more realistic as well. 
  • Don't forget to clean them occasionally! (But this goes for real plants as well.) 
Are you on the faux flower or plant train? Have you always been?


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Comments

  1. I have a very hard time remembering to water plants inside and so I am all about faux plants. But I only buy ones that look extremely real. I have a metal window box full of faux ferns in my front window. It has taken awhile to fill it up cause I only buy the faux plants that speak to me.

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  2. Since I kill most plants, I like to use faux in a few spots in my home. I love your examples and might have to pick up some of those cute olive branches!
    Shelley

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  3. Love the olive branches! I used to live in a house with perfect lighting for real plants, not now. Have been keeping an eye out for faux that I like.

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  4. I personally love faux plants! I hate having responsibility, so they're perfect for me. Except the cleaning – but I guess it's marginally better than having to keep something alive haha! 🍃🙂

    Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
    http://charmainenyw.com

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  5. I don't mind faux plants at all as long as they look so real what's the big deal? I used to only do live plants but I didn't like the bugs they attract in the house, my dog would get into the dirt sometimes and when he was a puppy thought it was great that I brought a tree into the house for him. After that, it was faux all the way! They have come a long way with faux plants from the days of plastic ones.

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  6. I love that glass vase on your entry table with the olive branches. Where did the vase come from? So pretty!

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  7. I like both, but lately I am all about faux plants for being able to use them virtually anywhere in the house. I bought a fiddle leaf fig tree from PB for a steal and love it so much. I can never kill it. (:

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  8. Thanks for the list to make them more realistic. They're just so practical!

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  9. Nay for me. Live plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. There are so many easy care succulents available, and they produce cute little offspring.

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  10. Mostly nay because they are such dust magnets. How do you clean them?

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