Home Sweet Home: Floral Grapevine Wreath Tutorial

One of my FAVORITE rooms in our house is our master bathroom!  It's nice and big (the only room in our house with ceilings higher than 8 feet, except the two-story foyer), has a double vanity and a ginormous tub.  But it has been pretty plain up until now - the only decor I'd done was to toss two curtains from our old house over a rod (doubled over instead of with the rod through the pocket, so it didn't hang in the tub).  I love the curtains, and wanted to use them as the palette/inspiration for the rest of the bathroom.

Our tub sits in a corner, with the window on one wall, and a big empty space on the other.  That blank wall has been driving.me.CRAZY!  So I made a wreath.  

This was a super-easy project, and very budget-friendly.  If I had paid full price for all of my supplies, it would have cost me $22.92... but of course with sales and coupons at craft stores, I didn't pay quite that much.  I think the total came to between $15 and $16 :-)  Not bad for a 24-inch wreath that matches my decor perfectly!

If you want to customize your own grapevine wreath, grab these supplies: 

• A grapevine wreath in whatever size you desire.  Mine is a 24-inch, from Old Time Pottery.  It only cost $6.99, which I think is the lowest price I've ever seen for one this big.

• Some flowers - I prefer fake, because I worry about colors from dried flowers running down my wall, especially in a humid room like the bathroom.

• Twine - darker to more closely match the wreath would be great, but it's not going to be all that visible.  Mine is considerably lighter than my wreath, and you can't really tell.

• Scissors

• Wire cutters

• Optional: Ribbon, other fun additions.  Fake bird? Sea shells?  Whatever!  You may need to grab a glue gun too, depending on what optional stuff you add. :-) 

Start by laying your flowers and other items on your wreath to figure out how you want it laid out.  Once you're satisfied with the layout, it would be a good idea to snap a picture with your phone so you can refer to it later.  I wish I'd done that ;-)

Set aside the flowers, except for the back-most bunch.  Eyeball where on the wreath the thick part of the stem sits (you know, where it goes from looking like it could possibly be real to obviously being a clump of plastic-covered wire!).  Ease that stem as horizontally as you can between the cords of grapevine.  If you can curve it to stay inside the wreath, that's awesome.  If it's just easier to let it poke out a ways down the curve, totally fine :-)

Do the same with the rest of the stems of flowers on the wreath or in that cluster.  Once they're in place, arrange the smaller branches of the stems and make sure you like the placement and that there won't be any weird gaps.  Grab your twine and cut a piece a few feet long.  Weave it up through the wreath from the bottom, wrap it around the floral stem and pass it back down through the wreath, making sure that part of the stem is secured where you want it to stay.  

Tie a knot in the twine behind the wreath.  If you leave one tail of the knot long, you should be able to secure a few pieces of the stems with one piece of twine.  Don't tie every single bit of the flowers down, or the wreath will look flat and fake-y.  Just use enough that the flowers subtly go the direction you want, and don't fall off the wreath :-)  Also, use the wire inside most of these stems to gently curve some of the pieces in the direction of the wreath - or against it for a more haphazard look - whatever floats your boat!

Once all of your flowers are secured, clip any stems, wires, or twine tails that are poking out of the wreath.  Add your ribbons, bows, etc.  There was already a huge hook in the wall over our tub from the previous owners, and it was perfect for hanging the wreath.  :-)

Edited to add:  We got a cute little storage bench for our foyer, and I made two new wreaths to go over that bench.  One for year-round, and one for Easter.  I'll make more seasonal ones as new holidays approach :-)