Now that the Christmas decorations have gone and past, I wanted to decorate the living room with a winter theme. I exchanged red pillow cases in favor of some white and gray ones as well as took down my red and white curtains and put up white and gray ones. I dug out blue candles and placed them around for some accent pieces so I wouldn’t be stuck with dreary gray and white.
The Henry living room is already pretty colorful. When we first moved in, I wanted a modern, minimalist look. But since we love plants and wood, our home has been bordering on bohemian. Which hey! I love.
This new winter piece we recently hung up finally pushed us over into the bohemian look. I wanted to use oranges since they’re a winter fruit. The branch it’s hanging off of is a branch husband and I found while on a hike. Overall, I think this decor cost us less than $2. We bought a bunch of oranges while they were on sale. Score 🙂
Without further ado, here’s how I made our winter mantel accent piece: a Bohemian Orange Garland.
Materials:
- Oranges, about 6 navel oranges
- Branch or a thick sturdy stick
- Fishing wire
- Scissors
- Knife
Step one:
Slice your oranges into thin slices (about 1/4 inch). If you have a mandoline, that will come in useful for this step. I did’t have one handy so I just used a sharp ceramic knife which also gets the job down.
After slicing the oranges, lay them out on a cooking tray. Pat away any excess moisture with a dish towel.
Step two:
Bake the slices at 250 degrees Fahrenheit, for about 3 hours. At about 1.5 hours, flip the orange slices so that they will dry evenly.
Step 3:
Once they are finished drying, take them out of the oven. Take scissors that have a sharp point (you can also use a knife) and poke holes at the top of each dried orange slice.
Step 4:
String fishing wire through the hole and tie a knot to keep the slice stationary. When you cut off fishing wire, make sure you leave an end piece long enough to tie around your stick/branch. I strung about 7 slices on one fishing wire strand. If you want to make it longer/shorter, add/decrease the number of orange slices.
Depending on how long your branch or stick is may also determine how many sets of dried orange strands you have. I made 6 sets of orange strands and spaced them out on the branch. I tied the end of each fishing wire around the branch. You can also hammer tiny nails into the branch and tie the wire onto there.
Side Note: I used fishing wire because I wanted the oranges to look like they’re floating. You can also use twine or yarn.
And you’re done! It’s a fairly easy project but the end result is gorgeous. I like this piece since it puts a different twist to you typical orange garland. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!
