Dried Flowers & the Dining Room Pendant Lights

This sweet little project is brought to you by my love for dried flowers. Being able to extend the life of all the botanical beauties that I’m gifted or from my gardening adventures is so exciting to me. Looking back through history you’ll find that the art of drying flowers and greenery has a long winding past.

There are so many reasons to keep those blooms on display long after their initial vibrant colors have faded. They hold memories, they can represent the delicateness of passing time. They can even be a reminder of redemption. It’s hard not to think of the Victorians when looking at the history of flowers. They took drying flowers to a new level.

(Side note: if you enjoy reading fiction, I read the book The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and really enjoyed it. It’s centered around the meaning behind specific flowers. It even has a little flower dictionary in the back.)

Dried flowers add a sense of charm, romance, and a delicate touch to a space. Anytime I have a corner or spot that feels like it’s missing something I tend to lean on plant life when I can and when I can’t, the next best thing is being able to use some of my dried flower stash.

Our home is a casual home that does not have a completely open floor plan. The kitchen is closed off to the rest of the house but the dining room is open to the living room. We did add a passthrough over the kitchen sink that looks into the living area and feels like it was always meant to be there. If the sink can’t be in front of a window then at the very least you should be able to look out into your home. Anything is better than staring at the wall when you’re doing dishes.

For a while I was itching to open up the kitchen completely and take down walls and all that comes with that. Over time though, I’ve come to love the tucked away placement of the kitchen and no longer have dreams of demoing those dividing walls. Updating the kitchen is still on the list but in the meantime I did a little dining room redesign.

Since our home is so casual I didn’t want a traditional table and chairs. I wanted a softer feel to it and ended up building a built-in bench, custom making the bench and back cushion, moving the lighting over, and refinishing a Facebook Marketplace table. I kept the chairs we had but still have some plans to make them a little different. The images here are of their current state which is just a quarter of the way to the final product so stay tuned for that.

What I’m focusing on today is the light fixture. Lighting is such a big part of making your home feel the way you are intending it to feel. As I said before, my home is casual, on purpose, and I aim for uncomplicated, unfussy, and with naturey bits throughout.

The fixture I put in the dining room was inexpensive, has crisp lines, and is one of the more modern elements in a home where I like to mix the modern and traditional. Once it was in I was very happy with it but still felt like something was missing. (This picture was taken during the Christmas season when I like to put garland across the back rest.)

I tend to lean towards the simple versus the ornate when it comes to my personal spaces but this light seemed to need a little umph.

I moved on from the dining room to other projects but kept that little “problem” on the back burner for a while. This past Christmas season I was making wreaths for gifts and it hit me that maybe the sleek modernness of that fixture would like some warm rustic to keep it company.

To add a touch of rustic greenery to one of your light fixtures you’ll need the following short list of supplies:

adhesive glue runner – I used an AdTech Permanent Glue Runner
Raffia- I chose raffia yarn which is a softer, smoother style of raffia rather than the more unrefined strands but that would look beautiful as well.
Dried flowers and greenery- Everything I chose I personally dried except the bunny tail grass, I bought that one but it was a while back so I can’t remember where.
Scissors

The process is pretty straight forward. Cut a piece of raffia ribbon about 3 feet or so. Use the tape on the end to secure it to the fixture cord and then wrap the ribbon around covering the taped section and slowly working your way up the cord.

Once you get to a spot where you want to start adding in the flowers use the tape to secure the ribbon again and then add the first stem making sure the head lands where it can be seen.

From there you just continue to work your way up, alternating the flowers, and using some adhesive every now and then just to keep things locked in.

It’s such a simple little diy project but even simple things can have a bit of nuance. Here are a few tips to keep in mind, or not, it’s up to you!

First, be prepared for some shoulder and/or neck pain. It’s just one of the things that happens when doing anything that’s hanging from the ceiling. A second person isn’t needed but it may be helpful if someone could hand you things as you go.

Next is just a little reminder not to pull too tight. That raffia ribbon doesn’t have any stretch to it and won’t accept too much pressure before breaking. It happened to me and I just taped the ends and started again a little lower to cover the breakage.

Dried flowers for the dining room pendant

I suggest using 3 to 5 different types of dried materials and consider the colors. Keeping a color palette of sorts makes the final product feel purposeful and designed instead of random. I chose cream, deep purple, and green as my palette. The creams are in the bunny tail grass and gomphrena. The purples are in the mulla and, what I think, is bail. And the extra green is eucalyptus.

As for the order of things, I went with a stagger and layer approach. I wanted to keep it low key to not draw your eye too much but just add some interest. How layered and staggered you go depends on the effect you’re going for. I also chose to not go all the way to the ceiling with it as to keep the weight of this little installation closer to the center of the room.

And there it is! A fun, simple, nature-inspired project to add some rustic detail to a hanging light fixture.