Here is a funny thing... I live in SW Missouri, where fake plastic flowers are all over the cemeteries! It is SO disturbing to me! If I was dead, and someone put that crap on my grave, I would rise up and kick their A$$!!!! Good taste should guide them, and it should be a felony to use fake flowers.

Where I live in California our water allotment has been cut 60 %. All my outdoor flowers are about to become dried....

Sympathy "like", pcmom1 :(

Showering surrounded by buckets. New household mantra, "If its brown, flush it down. If its pee, let it be!" Sorry to be gross, but the truth!

Desperate times call for desperate measures :)

I don't like them. They were very poplar once but not any more.

Look at how much I loved dried flowers!
But.....this photo was taken in 1978 when I was studying at the Academy of Arts in Groningen, Netherlands!
Now I wouldn't want to have any dried flower in my house.
It is really something of the seventies (like the cluttered room, that was really in style then in students homes)!

Dust and musty smell. ick.

Like to breath in the smell of fresh flowers every day. Dried flowers do not bring life into the home. Fresh is best.

For example, I have a collection of silks and I almost always have a large bouquet here in the living room. I have a garden and I do extensive fresh flower arranging in season, in the rest of the house but the size of this bouquet and a spot of color here really helps to pull the room together IMO. Also it's just a relaxing and fun thing to do, to periodically rearrange and change even faux flowers. I could never manage to do this with real flowers on a regular basis.

No! Dust collectors.

Not for me ... however, if you have one, small sprig in a vase & change them out every few months, it could look nice.

Hydrangeas and lavender to avoid the dust I just replace them every year.

Dusty and out dated

What are your thoughts on a dried arrangement like this one?
We are putting our house up for sale soon.I took a western painting out of this spot and put this arrangement in to make our room more generic.

killarneylass- I would take it away and all the little stuff around it too. I would put in a battery operated lantern/light/candle;)

We have a large garden and have lots of fresh things in the house as often as possible, including fresh greens and berries in the winter. But we also make room for a couple of dried things from time to time. Hydrangeas are one of the best, as are special hand-crafted little wreaths made by a friend, or a few dried herbs in the kitchen.

Dried things of course collect dust so should not be kept forever, but they do not attract insects and they rarely have much of an odor (spray them with a light scent if you must).

Aesthetically they can have a (small) place in a successful overall design, and they can also bring beautiful philosophical thoughts like memory into your life. The Elizabethan's had a phrase for this: et in arcadia ego (even in Arcadia I, mortality, am). I think even feng shui has a place for such memory. But this is a very subtle mode, easily overdone, requiring the lightest of touch.

When I was 17 (in 2004), I had a bedroom with a very odd shaped window (it was a very rectangular window that was 2ft high and 6ft long). Because I was young and poor, I could not afford to hang glass pieces in front of the window, so I used dried roses. It actually looked very nice, but the trick to it is to not clutter the flowers together. I hung a single rose three inches from the next rose going down the entire width of the window. I also alternated the colors of the flowers, and hung them at different depths. I do not have any dried flowers in my current home, Mount Saint Helen's Ash globes are what I now prefer to hang in my windows.

Not good feng shui .... Please don't

Feng shui is pseudo science
Still I don't like dried/fake flowers because they are ugly

In one of our previous houses we had a specific plant in our garden which gave off such a beautiful smell, we had this along with Jasmine too. We would put some in a vase to scent our home and even when dry it smelt very nice too. This is the only dried plant I have had, single flowers go between pages in a dairy sometimes.

I still have the very first bouquet of roses my husband gave to me when we were dating. They are on my Italian Provincial cocktail table and look beautiful. For sentimental reasons I would not destroy them for a gazillion dollars. I hope folks are not just being nice to me when they say they wish they had done something like that. Had many, many compliments on them. Sprayed with shellac at first and can softly spray them in the shower to clean. Never had a problem with dust. Guess I'm blessed.

Killar, put in a vase of fresh flowers or a nice green houseplant.

My mantra is "You can get away with almost any 'style' as long as it's clean and dust free." Once ANYTHING becomes dirty and dusty, it's no longer attractive. That can be those expensive window treatments you paid a fortune for or the cheap curtains you bought at Kmart. It can be the designer/decorator high falutin' living room or the put-it-together-myself den. No matter how much or how little you pay for it, it's going to get dirty and collect dust unless you keep it clean and maintain it! Dried flowers is another one of those things. If they just get dusty and cobwebby, then I don't want them. Dried flowers cannot be washed therefore it means replacing them on a regular basis. Silk flowers can be washed and dried and put back together but once they start fading or looking bad, replace them. They don't have to last for 50 yrs. If you can't afford to replace them when they start looking bad then don't buy them. Even living plants can get bedraggled, dusty and yucky.

NO, NO, NO !!!!! Dusty, dingy, dirty, drab, dreadful, dated and dead. Oh, by the way, did I say NO!

judygilpin- could you be a bit more specific? ;)))

Drying herbs in the kitchen is nice, or maybe lavender.

I hung bunches of rosemary, oregano, thyme and lavender from strings to dry in my kitchen one fall. A month later they went on the compost pile, dry but dusty. The biggest problem was the dropping leaves, which never seemed to stop. The next batch got hung from a garage rafter (no cars in garage), which the mice enjoyed, until the cats wanted a snack. Tossed on compost pile because they smelled like mouse pee.

As for using silk flowers during the off-season, I'd rather not. The first batch of fresh flowers, even dandelions, brought into the house each spring brightens the house, marking the change of seasons, giving a sense of accomplishment (we survived another winter) and hope (we have another chance to thrive). If all you're doing is exchanging one set of flowers for another, it loses it's emotional impact, in my opinion. But don't take my word for it, I got a "D" in psych. Do whatever cheers you up, no matter what is in fashion.

killarnylass: in my neighborhood the western painting would sell better, but if you're in a more modern setting or a city, your more elegant display would have wider appeal.

No no no!

Killarnylass, I would take them out. A real plant perhaps would be better. I also noticed that, although I think they are beautiful, there are peacock feathers amongst your display. I was brought up to believe in superstition ( my country born mother) and they are unlucky to have in the house.

Unlucky for the peacock maybe.

I use peacock feathers as well as other feathers in many colors. I love them.

I didn't like this idea of decor. I think using the artificial flowers are better than using these dried flowers. See the attractive artificial flowers which look as if they are real. Look here http://www.justartifacts.net/12-pink-white-chrysanthemum-artificial-silk-flowers-bouqu12.html

They are bad feng shui. Anything that is dead and catches dust like dried flowers can not be good.

In the 90's I had a dried eucalyptus wreath, that smelled great! I kept it in the powder room. But haven't had anything else since then. They are awful to catch dust.

Drying herbs yes. That"s drying and ready to use, not dried. Herbs are very interesting, healthy and some even give off a garden smell. Replacing them suggests use. Lavender, garlic braids, bay leaf branch are just the beginnings. Look at it like a 3D organic wall paper. Oh and it is happening so don't let the magazine decorators tell you its the 70's thing.

Don't mind a good silk green plant too much. Hate silk flowers.

They compliment some homes. Our home is 150 yrs old. The decor is much like what you see in Gettysburg, PA. A few dried flowers in my kitchen is appropriate. But I agree with the dust. I only keep them a season and in the trash they go. Anything long term is silk and washable.

I immediately think dust grabbers, dirty and little things falling out of the flowers into....everything. Not a good idea.

I forgot to mention the flowers/plants I use are medicinal/aromatic. They bring health to my family. Feng Shui or not, that's what they remind me of and I feel good about that.

Not in fashion anymore.

personally i LIKE dried flowers/branches/leaves. i'm hoping for a comeback to Nature in the house. i just despise plastic or silk or paper plant and flower replicas. i cringe when i see lots of fake things though….that's just me. ( HATE fake 'oriental' rugs more than anything else)

in the winter i'll use feathers and branches as an arrangement, but not for long….just tire of decorative items so quickly.

in years past, when Fall came, we used to dry all of the remaining summer herbs in the kitchen, but we bought a dehydrator a few years ago and now we do them that way. Here are a couple of pics of our first blooms of the year:

In keeping with the principles of feng shui, fresh flowers are auspicious and enhance oxygen in a space. Consider the art of Ikebana. This is a very simplistic design approach that can easily be achieved with a few freshly cut flowers. You would place an odd numbers of flowers i.e. 3-5-7 of varying heights, arranged and anchored with a small comb-like tool called a frog. The arrangement is set in a low Ikebana vase half filled with water which lends a peaceful illusion to the design. There you have it. You will enjoy the simplicity of Ikebana as it will harmonize with any design theme. With frequent change of water, Ikebana will last up to 2-3 weeks and can be invited into your decor for daily lifespace revitalization, seasonal change and other special occasions.

I prefer no dried flowers, but then again, I never liked the ordinary dozen red roses. I always wanted the Spring flowers, colorful, airy and pretty. Drove DH crazy, lol.

Its signifies death meaning no life everyuthing around me must alive

dried lavender hanging in the kitchen... bound in twine... easy access to pick to add to my fruit salads, cooked rhubarb, espresso and cafe latte.. and looks french country. "Strawflowers" are meant to last forever and hold their color. Any other flower that fades and just catches dust are a no-no

I only like them in the fall. They look great in harvest theme displays.

Apparently my dried flower/peacock feather display wasn't too repellant.Our house sold in 5 days!