Please share your opinions and expertise since we need all the help we can get!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Centerpiece Filler

Just before Christmas I got a pretty candle pillar from Pier 1 that made up the main piece of a really great holiday table arrangement:

But now with ornaments and evergreen out of season, I still want to use this piece in our dining room. The question is: what do I put in it?

Here it is, looking lonely next to my very limited selection of table runners:
Please, faithful blog readers, suggest some things to fill it with. One good suggestion from my friend was to fill it with water and cranberries. I think I will probably do that before guests come, but because it will spoil eventually, I don't want to waste it for just myself and D. Places like Target and Ikea sell some fillers, usually potpourri, tiny plastic fruit, or pretty little balls made out of natural fibers. But I would love to be able to showcase something I already own or can make with little effort. It seems silly to buy what is basically a dust-collecting pile of junk. I already own lots of junk!

So here are some things lying around the house that I've considered. I don't think they will work here, but maybe they will help you think of more things that haven't occurred to me yet:
  • Tiny balls of yarn (we think it might look cute in a living room arrangement but don't think it would look attractive in the dining room)
  • Skeleton keys (I have a collection, but I don't think they're the right shape to look good piled together in the jar)
  • Postcards (again, they can't really be put in there in a way that looks nice)
  • Paper currency from foreign countries (same problem as postcards)
  • Herbs from our garden (actually, just rosemary right now), but these will spoil over time, just like the cranberries

So please share your suggestions and help make my dining room table look less like a work-in-progress and more like a finished display.

5 comments:

ten said...

Seashells. Hershey Kisses. Buttons. Food-coloring-tinted water. Silk cocoons!

Troll dolls. Matchbox cars. Legos.

But I'd go to Michaels and buy bags of those glass pebbles in all different colors, and change out the colors every month. Have you thought about surrounding the pillar with a wreath of dried flowers? Again, you could have several in different colors.

roe said...

Right now I'd do valentines candy - and then eat it later (or bring to work). How about pinecones? If it were in the kitchen I might say dried pasta or beans.

Mom said...

How about corks?
Or you can take a cutting from an ivy plant that is nice and long. Put it in the centerpiece going in a circular motion if possible, with the stem on the bottom. This way you can put water on the bottom (with or without glass pebbles) and have the plant root. If you change the water once in a while it should live for a very long time.
Or another idea, is a cactus plant. Like the old fashioned terrariums of yesteryear. The top of the centerpiece would act like a hot house.

Zhenka said...

This might sound cheesy, but what if you put little origami cranes, or other origami creations in there and fill it over time? You could just have some small origami papers next to the vase and have visitors make stuff to put in there, the could even write little well-wishes for you on the inside. Just a thought, when we were making 1000 cranes for my friends' baby they looked very nice collecting in a large хохлома bowl. I'll try to think of others :)

J said...

These are all great ideas! Wow! Thanks everyone.

For now, because we didn't get to a craft store or have a chance to gather things in our yard, we stuck some Clementines in there. We just have to remember to eat them before they spoil. Though a moldy science experiment might also make a good centerpiece (just kidding!).