Ah. Push it. Push it real good.
I hope you all got that Salt-N-Peppa reference. Good times. And now on to our guest bedroom’s recent mini makeover. Check our our lovely new Wallflowers (courtesy of LaDiff) in all of their 3D glory (btw, have you entered the giveaway yet?).
Aren’t they so fresh and so clean in white? We love the gentle shadows that they cast on the wall and the playful texture that they add to a room that’s already full of fun patterns and prints (although I believe they’d be equally amazing on the white wall of an all-white room, like white on white sculpture).
As soon as we got them home we ripped them out of their boxes all Christmas-morning style and started playing with them. The white flowers are actually magnetic, so it’s no surprise that they ended up on our fridge (so pretty!)…
…and even on our hallway’s air intake vent (it’s so nature-meets-machine):
But how do the magnetic flowers stay in place on a regular old wall if they’re magnetic? Why push pins of course! You just hammer them into place on your wall…
… and the flower is drawn to the pin and stays up like magic:
Planning our pattern was no sweat. We just laid the flowers down on a high-contrast surface (the brown back of our guest bedroom’s patterned quilt) and messed around with them until we found an amorphous blob of blooms that tickled our fancy:
Then we slowly transferred them over to the wall (working our way up from the bottom and studying their relationship with each other as we went). We also found that placing a small piece of paper to mark where the already hung wallflowers used to be really helped us keep the whole picture in mind (and study the proportions that we wanted to duplicate on the wall).
As we went we did decide to slightly alter our layout since we didn’t want our gaggle of flora to be higher than the mirror that’s centered in the room. So we made it a bit thicker and less pokie (that’s a technical term) at the top.
Before we knew it, our bloom blob was really working for us. One of the most fun things was switching the sizes around until we adored everything about our little art installation and didn’t want to change a thing (thanks to the magnetic feature you can trade the flowers around tirelessly and even spin them to face any direction with ease).
So what do you guys think? Are you chomping at the bit to win some of your own? At $37 they’re a total steal even if you don’t snag them on the house (cheaper than most art + frame pairings). Would you choose the white flowers or the black ones – or even those fun stainless dragonflies? Where would you hang yours (framing a doorway? snaking up a staircase? in a nursery? the ceiling above your bed?). The possibilities are endless…
And speaking of Wallflowers in a nursery, check out Dooce’s new nursery with none other than the very same white blooms. It’s a small world (with lots of fabulous wall accessories, apparently).
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UPDATE: After we posted our little burst of blooms, a few people sweetly mentioned that they liked the original layout on the bed a bit more than the wall blob… and we actually agreed. A few minutes of switching things around (and eliminating three blooms, which are now on the fridge) produced our newer pokier shape (that isn’t too tall thanks to the removal of those three flowers). Score.
Gotta love those Wallflowers for allowing such a quick a presto change-o. Thanks for the comments one and all- and good luck on the giveaway!
I’m drooling…someone get me a tissue!
I love the way these look on your wall… I think I may try them in our guest bedroom.
Those look amazing! I have seen them elsewhere — but they look perfect in your guest room! Once I’m done renovating I may have to pick some up for my house as well.
So lovely! These are great. I did enter the giveaway and would love to win those dragonflies!
They add great dimension to the wall – I love them. I admit that I like your original layout a little more but it still looks great!
So glad you posted this “follow-up” to the give away. I already scoped them out on the LeDif website just in case I don’t win, but wasn’t sure how they attached and if I could use them on plaster walls. Thanks for posting this “how to”!
I really enjoy them on your fridge. They don’t so much fancy me on the wall though the concept is really neat. I would definitely go with the white ones. Though, the silver dragonflies would look precious on a black fridge or even a black chalk/magnetic board ! (yes they do exist)
I’m with Amanda. I prefer them on the fridge over the wall. I think they’d be fun on a file cabinet, or even a couple on a lamp base.
I am crazy about these flowers! And also the dragonflies. In fact, I’ll probably head over to La Diff today to get them.
These would look great in my daughter’s room – altough I’d have to put them high up so she doens’t pull the flowers down.
At first I was adverse to these, but after seeing them up on your walls — wowie they are so cute! I am heading over to the giveaway to enter now! And definitely appreciate the how to — wasn’t sure how the magnet thing worked, but it’s such a no-brainer!
Those are adorable! I think they would look great going down a hallway.
Love them! I can totally picture these on our bathroom wall over our bathtub. I’ve been trying to find the perfect thing for this area and I think you helped me find it!
Pretty! I love the white blooms. I have several different areas where they’d work!
These little guys are cute cute cute!
Super cute! I love how you arranged them.
Love it! I was skeptical at first thinking they’d look cheesy or something, but seeing them in a real room really makes all the difference. I need them now!
I saw a box of these at my Bed bath and beyond the other day and almost bought them except I couldn’t figure out how they attached to the wall…and here you are, explaining it. My heroes…
Anyway, they look awesome and I have a spot picked out for them if…I mean WHEN I win! I’m going for positive thinking around here.
Those are so sweet-a! I agree with a few peeps that I somewhat prefer your original layout, even if it did go above the mirror (which is totally okay, from a design standpoint!).
Hey Chelsea,
Sorry we didn’t share more of that wall in the pictures! Ordinarily we’d love the idea of blooms climbing higher than the mirror, but since the mirror is in the center of the room and the art on the other side of the mirror is a lot lower, we didn’t want the room to feel too off-balance thanks to something tall and pointy on one side. Hope it helps to explain why we did what we did!
xo,
Sherry
I love these. I have an empty spot that I was wondering what to put there, and wow, I find the solution on your blog.
I love them Sherry!
I bought some butterflies from the Umbra collection for target, I put them above my guest bedroom wall.
They look so cool :) I was just browsing the web and found them in pink and kiwi on another website!
Love these! I’m surprised they stick to the stainless steel refrigerator, though. My sister got a stainless frige not too long ago and was so disappointed that her magnets would not stick! I guess it depends on the brand.
Love that they’re able to stick on the fridge! I might buy myself some just for that simple fact! :-)
They look great! I do not have a creative streak in my body, because I would never think to do the things you guys do. Your blog is truly inspirational for us more right brain/analytical folks.
Were you just playing with them on the fridge and air vent or did some stay there?
I entered to win (want the dragonflies for my bathroom) so here’s hoping!
Thanks, Jill! We were just playing around with them on the fridge and air vent (we tried just about every magnetic surface in our house for kicks). But all 25 of the flowers ended up as part of our wall collage.
And Erin, we’ve heard the same about some stainless refridgerators. We actually always forget whether ours is magnet or not because we don’t keep anything on it. So we were pleasantly surprised to be reminded that it would hold the wallflowers just fine!
-John
Oh, and just a reminder to everyone: to enter the giveaway you must enter on the giveaway post. Entry comments on this post won’t make it into the drawing pool, so don’t let yours get lost over here!
-John
Just one question…how did you get the magnet to work on your stainless fridge? Nothing sticks to the front of mine! I have all these cool magnets from various places I’ve visited and all are sadly attached to the side of the fridge cause the won’t stick to the stainless steel part. It’s real stainless, not the look a like material.
Hey Brent,
If you scroll up a bit you’ll see that we’ve actually been chatting about the fact that some stainless refrigerators are magnetic and apparently some are not. Ours is a Frigidaire and it happens to be magnetic. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I’m with some of the other commenters – I think these look better in a more sweeping area rather than a blob. But they still look great, and I can imagine what you mean about balancing the room.
I would normally prefer the white ones, but I have this idea for a photo collage – when I have my housewarming party, I’m going to ask guests to bring a black picture frame of any size or style, and then I’ll fill them with all my pictures and arrange them randomly on the wall, starting in the middle with a bigger picture. Since I’m doing black frames for that, I think the black flowers would look so cool randomly interspersed with the pictures! What do you think? Can you imagine what I mean? The housewarming party is in August, so hopefully I’ll be on the ball and get the pictures hung by the end of summer.
Would a picture of a picture collage be a meta-picture?
Hey Heather S, Chelsea, and Meredith,
We updated the layout of our wallflowers to be a bit pokier like the original plan on the bed (you can check out the updated pics at the bottom of the post) and love the outcome. Thanks so much for pushing us over the edge to make the final adjustment. We love it!
xo,
s
p.s. Meredith, your frame project sounds cool! Definitely send us the pics if you go for it- we’d love to see how it turns out!
I love the new arrangement – it just makes more of a statement if they aren’t in a big blob! I’m glad you listened to us. :)
These are adorable! I have to say, the 2nd take is my fav. Maybe I’ll have some soon!!
Great reworking of the arrangement. Did you know that two of your updated pics aren’t showing? (they have the dreaded red cross at the top left) – just thought you’d like to know….
Hey Amy,
Hmm, that’s odd. John the tech man is looking into it. Anyone else having an issue seeing the two updated photos? We’ve received a few comments about them so it’s clear that they’re loading for some people. So strange…
xo,
s
I like the new layout much better!
I really like the look of these and I had been considering doing something similar on our nursery wall. I had not seen this product before, so I was going to make them out of card stock and just use sticky foam circles to add them to the wall. Now, I think I will check these out first.
Thanks for the “How To”!
Erika
I love the wallflowers, you two did a great job of them in your spare bedroom. A local store has those and they stacked the smaller flowers inside the larger ones… they look really neat that way, you should try a few and see if you like it. :)
Hey Monica,
That’s so funny because John was playing around with them and doing that. They did look cool layered on top of each other! Too bad we didn’t snap a pic to share. It’s just another way to have fun with these lovely little blooms. So many possibilities…
xo,
s
When you changed the arrangement, did you have to fill and paint over the holes from the original push-pins?
Hey MaryB,
Did we or should we? Tee hee. We didn’t yet but for a totally flawless wall we should. Someday soon…
xoxo,
s
I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned this or not but I got some of these (same concept–magnetic 3D butterflies, different company) from Target. I hung them in my daughters’ room above their bed. I’d actually just found them their the day before I saw your post. They were $20 there. The flowers look great in your guest room!
I love these things so much! If I don’t win the giveaway I might just have to buy these for our sunroom! But isn’t it hard to rearrange them because of the holes the thumbtacks make on the wall? That’s the only thing I’m worried about.
They look amazing! I really love the pointier design. The wallflowers add a really nice & interesting touch to the room.
^^^ Oops! Just saw your answer above! I’m just worried because the wall I want to put them on is wood… any ideas to prevent damage?
Hey OMG
They do make little marks so I wouldn’t put them into solid wood unless you plan to leave them there forever. You’d have no problem planning out your arrangement without making extra holes (you could even plan it on paper and trace it on the wall so it’s exact) but once you remove them you’ll probably be left with tiny pinholes. The solution: just keep them there forever! Or poke them into a framed canvas and hang that on the wooden wall. Or put them in another room. Or put them on your fridge. The possibilities are endless!
xoxo,
s
They just used these things on tonight’s episode of “The Stagers” on HGTV. I saw the designer talking about how “fab” they were and laughed because you guys soooo beat him to that conclusion.
They look fantastic! Nice job guys, I love them!
So, don’t shoot me, but I love the flowers on the wall, and in fact–I’m partial to the “blob.” I like the free-form amoeba as opposed to the more tailored teardrop. You all are so crisp and neat everywhere that the contrast of something that seems free-handed is actually a nice juxtaposition…just a thought.
Hey Ruth,
We were waiting for someone to say that! Too funny. Maybe we’ll just rotate between the two layouts. Or have a “summer look” and a “winter look” – or maybe one for every season (the teardrop represents rainy spring, maybe a snowflake design in the winter…).
One thing is certain, these babies are a whole lotta fun.
xo,
s
Thanks, guys! Sounds good to me. They’re definitely going on my birthday wish list!
I just saw these on “The Stagers”. They look very cute in your house. :)
If anyone wants the dragonflies they are the “delight” deal at delight.com today: http://www.delight.com/Make-Your-Wall-Aflutter.
They also have the flowers (in white, black, pink and yellow). Happy Shopping!
Love your “Push It, Push it Real Good” reference! Too funny. You guys crack me up.
I love this idea!! We’re trying to find some kind of fun artsy thing to go in the powder room and I think this just stole the cake!! looks beautiful!!
I love these little guys. I must have them now. Wonder if you could get away with putting them in a bathroom???
SAB,
Oh yeah they can totally work in a bathroom. In fact our first thought was to add them to our striped bathroom but we opted to spice up the guest room with ’em. They’re so versatile!
xo,
s
i love the revised arrangement! It looks more breezy instead of blobby! Great change. PLUS, now you have some fun new fridge art :)
What a coincidence, I just saw these on an episode of “The Stagers”. How cool to come to your blog and find a link to them.