My Favorite Vases for the Home
One of the keys to living beautifully is bringing nature inside your home.
I love having vases on-hand for clippings from the yard or whenever I treat myself to blooms at the market.
But I’ve found that a lot of the vases we all wind up collecting over the years from flower deliveries or hostess gifts are stock-type vases that have no sentimental meaning, and honestly aren’t the best shape or fit for most arrangement types.
So here are 8 types of vases to have on-hand in your own home, types of flowers and foliages to use for each, the best places to display them, and my favorite places to source them. I hope you enjoy and find this helpful!
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1 - THE BUD VASE
First thing’s first! Whenever you find yourself with a bouquet of fresh cut flowers, grab 1-3 of your favorite blooms from the bunch and showcase them in bud vases around the house. Bud vases are ideal for smaller nooks and crannies, as they typically fit anywhere from 1-5 stems and are anywhere from 2-6” in height.
Ingredients: shorter or more delicate blooms, like daffodil, grape hyacinth, sweet pea blooms, or dried flowers
Placement: your bedside table, bathroom vanity, or any little nook or vignette that’s special to you
2 - THE FROGGER VASE
A shallow ikebana-style vessel with fool-proof designated holes or pins that are perfect for a few select blooms or vines. I love how these let the flowers speak for themselves.
Ingredients: the really really special stuff -- like a honeysuckle vine or a hellebores clipping
Placement: kitchen counter, bathroom vanity, dresser, or bookshelf
3 - THE STATEMENT VASE
You know those big, bold arrangements you see in interior design mags, hotels, and restaurants? A hefty, tall vase starting at 14” in height is the foundation for those. Make sure the vase you pick is extra heavy, durable, watertight and won’t topple over!
Ingredients: big blooming branches found in your yard like camellia, cherry blossom, or quince, and arrangements with large sweeping movements
Placement: entryway table, kitchen island, or coffee table
4 - THE CLASSIC BOUQUET VASE
The bouquet vase is a one-stop-drop when little arranging is required, and a good ole glass vase is classic for this. Go for a vase that’s around 8-12”h. Bonus points for anything that is sourced vintage or from Grandma’s house, and has character, like etched or ribbed glass.
Ingredients: an all-sided farmer’s market bouquet or incoming hostess gift
Placement: coffee table, dining room table, or kitchen island
5 - THE PITCHER VASE
This is the best ‘starter’ vase, as you likely already have a pitcher on-hand in your kitchen! This is the closest thing to a one-size-fits-all in my opinion. You can truly plop anything into a pitcher.
Ingredients: tulips, poppies, daisies, dahlias, ranunculus, the list goes on …
Placement: coffee table, dinner table, or kitchen island
6 - THE URN VASE
Anything that’s fluted in shape with a pedestal foot is a classic. While urns can feel more traditional in style, there are a ton of fun and modern ones on the market these days.
Ingredients: big bouquets of hydrangeas, or arrangements with sweeping movement and drapey or viney elements that dance down toward the foot
Placement: dining room table, fireplace mantle, or kitchen island
7 - THE EARTHENWARE JUG
V Studio McGee if that’s your vibe. These are generally heavy and sturdy, stone or ceramic, have a more distressed look, and may come with handles on the sides. Ideally 10-12”+h, but with these it’s more about the width and roundness (10-12”+w).
Ingredients: an oversized bunch of olive, tall berry branches, or tree clippings from the yard -- all of which can last weeks in a vase depending on hardiness
Placement: kitchen island, entry way console table, or coffee table
8 - THE FLOOR VASE
A floor vase is a great way to dress up a corner of a room or add some flare to an unused fireplace. Generally these are at least 24”h. Make sure the vase you pick is extra heavy, durable, watertight and won’t topple over!
Ingredients: larger branches or tall dried grasses like pampas -- both last a long time and can become a semi-permanent decor element
Placement: a corner of a living room or beside a (non-lit) fireplace
SOME MORE OF MY FAVORITES …
Where and when possible, I always recommend first trying your local ceramicist, flea market (cannot wait to get back to Alameda Flea), antique shops, Etsy, or Facebook marketplace to source locally and sustainably. Some of my favorite ceramic shops are D:Ceramics, Sarah Kersten Studio, and Earthen Shop.
In addition to these, here are a few easy online places to source vessels: