Multi-purposing Ombre Barware: Transitioning Flowers from Morning to Night!

Vintage barware can be so much more than meets the eye – you just have to see it with a different eye! Here I take an everyday floral bouquet, and present it in a bouquet of vintage ombre vessels showing you how to multi-purpose the barware, and transition flowers from morning to night!

These are the ombre vessels I started with…

From L-R, a 1950-60s Vitreon Queens Lustreware carafe, Libbey carafe and Vitreon Queens cocktail pitcher.

I also selected an embossed ombre roly poly (below). This roly has a lot of its ombre worn off around the embossed pattern, so it’s become a spare in the Audrey collection – not for sale, but too pretty to ignore. The everyday bouquet you see is a simple mix of flowers in deep reds and white. To honour this coming Saint Patrick’s Day I picked up a pot of Irish Moss and some extra filler in bright pops of green!

I’ve put my own spin on a current and popular  trend to group different but similar vases together with the same type of flower. See more of the latest trends over at ProFlowers blog here! Instead of staying with the same flower, it’s the mercury fade (ombre) that I’m highlighting as the common theme. My twist is taking the every day bouquet from a daytime setting to an evening presentation!

These mini brandy snifters are more seconds in Audrey’s mix, but I refuse to say, all is lost. I opted to incorporate candles into this theme and decided to use them for tealight holders instead! Pairing candlelight with the ombre’s reflective surface was simply a natural fit.

By planting the Irish Moss in the roly poly, I was able to camouflage the worn ombre, and give this vintage glass new life.

The flicker of candlelight made the embossed pattern come alive.

To reinforce the silver reflective theme, I’ve set the roly on a 1960s Park Sherman crystal coaster with a silver plated rim, and the tealights on Kimiko mercury glass coasters.

And to pull everything together the arrangement of flowers, candles and coasters have been set out on a vintage Canadian ‘Silhouette Quality’ tin tray with a leaf pattern that reinforces the cut stems and greenery.

I’ve set the tray on layered linen tea towels to warm and soften the feel of the cool, reflective surfaces, to define the overall presentation, and to pull together the colour scheme. The tea towels are what make this presentation work by day, giving it a cheery, relaxed feel.

I’ve kept the floral presentation more casual by adding Bear Grass, allowing it to whisp freely and umbrella the tray.

It’s the deep coloured flowers, the candles and reflective surfaces of the sleek, elegant ombre that make this presentation work by night!

Do you notice how the linen tea towels blend and almost fade away? If you really want to change the feel for the evening, just lift the tray and remove the tea towels – it’s that simple!

A recap of tips:

• utilize vessels beyond their intended purpose – here it was vintage barware
• pick your common theme and run with it – in this case, vintage pieces with reflective surfaces, candlelight, and deep red flowers
• draw the eye into the whole scene – I did this by using similar but not identical pieces positioned at varying heights
• integrate layering and texture – I layered the main vessels onto the tray and coasters, and brought the whole presentation together by placing it on the layered tea towels
• group and run the odds – the larger vessels are grouped together, the candles and coasters placed out front, and I’ve used odd numbers of like things
• think subtle reinforcements – here, the connection of colour in the flowers to the tea towels, reflective surfaces of the pieces to the flickering of candlelight, leaf pattern on the tray to cut stems and greenery – all work together to reinforce the overall presentation.

At this time of year you can lighten things up with pretty pinks and yellows, purples and whites, but I like the drama of deep red against the silver tones in these vintage barware pieces… even though I know Audrey Would ‘think pink’!

What floral presentations are you noticing and loving these days? What items have you seen multi-purposed to stand in for vases instead?

Thanks for stopping by!

Photographs by Sheila Zeller. Please credit and link if you choose to use! 🙂