Entertainment
The secrets of a celebrity Christmas decorator: From competing neighbours to extravagant £30,000 displays-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro
Warren Bushaway dubs himself ‘the Banksy of flowers’.
Warren Bushaway has revealed what really goes into those extravagant displays (Picture: @londoneventflorist)
Christmas wouldn’t be quite the same without celebrities boasting their over-the-top displays across social media, and no one knows better than Warren Bushaway just how lavish and extravagant these works of art can become.
The self-dubbed ‘Banksy of flowers’ and his team have created incredible works of art for the likes of Simon Cowell and Abbey Clancy, and despite there being a cost-of-living crisis, this year hasn’t actually been any different.
With business booming as ‘people wanting to cheer themselves up’ and an upturn in spending, clients have been demanding even more glamorous displays, can even mean outdoing neighbours.
Warren exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘People are wanting to cheer themselves up, and I thought there may be a bit of a downturn with the way the economic crisis is, massive amounts of money have been wiped off these millionaires’ bank accounts, but actually, I’m not finding that, I’m finding the opposite, so I think there is definitely an upturn in people wanting to spend and the levels that they want to go to to compete with their neighbours, it’s definitely busier this year.’
Speaking of the rivalling neighbours, he continued: ‘There’s two people on one street in particular that I do, and they want to know what the other one is doing and how much the other one is spending so they can spend more and make it bigger.
Warren revealed the most extravagant display he’s done has cost an incredible £30,000 (Picture: @thelondoneventflorist)
Despite the cost-of-living crisis, people are going all out this year (Picture: @thelondoneventflorist)
Some neighbours even try to one-up each other (Picture: @thelondoneventflorist)
‘I find that quite funny. They did it with Halloween and they’ve done it for Christmas. They want to know what other people are having, as that they make sure they don’t look like each other.’
This Christmas, the most expensive display created by Warren’s team – who have previously decorated the homes of Jamie Redknapp and Lizzie Cundy – has cost one client £30,000.
Describing the elements involved, he told us: ‘There’s loads of Christmas trees all through the house, garlands going up the staircase, nothing on the outside, all on the inside.
‘It took two days and they’ve got a weekly refresh as well, so we go in every week and put in new foliage so it all still smells, so part of that budget is the original cost of it and then we change the Christmas trees three times up until Christmas, so the Christmas trees still stay fresh all the way through.’
Warren also shared his top tips for creating your own festive displays (Picture: @londoneventflorist)
One display took 16 hours but on average they can take a day (Picture: @thelondoneventflorist)
Each display is unique and created by Warren (Picture: @thelondoneventflorist)
While this piece in particular took two days, the average takes around one, as he and his team undertake installations all across London, sometimes four in one day.
It’s not all smooth sailing though, and when things go wrong, it can sometimes mean an overnight job.
‘I have [had] problems, stuff doesn’t show up, I have to improvise, or I can have a job planned out in my head but see something on my feed that’s really similar and I have to change it.
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‘I’ve had to do that this year, overnight, because I’ve seen something similar, and the install is about to be put up and I can’t! It looks like I’ve copied, so I just go to the market, rebuy everything and start again. It is stressful.’
He added: ‘I’ve done that before, spent eight hours on something and thought no, it doesn’t look right. I did that with Bocconcino [Mayfair restuarant] – I built that and took it down and started again, I took that from an eight hour install to a 16-hour install and worked through the night because I just wasn’t happy with it. I’m my own worst enemy with those things.’
Warren’s top tips for recreating the celeb Christmas look (at a touch of the price):
By warm white lights, don’t buy horrible blue, ice-white lights – they should be banned! There’s nothing Christmassy about them!
Think about the environment when you’re working, don’t buy plastic, buy things you can compost afterwards, or reuse year after year, don’t be wasteful! Think about the impact that your decorations are going to have on the future; use biodegradable glitter like we do, so what you’re putting on the front of your house isn’t going to affect your children’s children.
Look at nature, look around you, don’t try and make things perfect – some of the best thigs are wild and free, like your garden. Take inspiration from outside, look at how nature decorates and try and decorate in the same way.
Go to the market, like New Covent Garden Market, get inspired by what’s available in the market, go to Richmond Park and look at how nature decorates.
Don’t go around collecting foliage from people’s gardens and parks but by all means use what’s in your garden, anything can be utilised.
Think about what you’re trying to achieve and look for tutorials online, and just have a go – what have you got to lose?
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