Helping you celebrate every day colorfully. My mission? To make party-throwing a piece of cake!
Published on June 29, 2016 | Last Updated on December 1, 2021
UPDATE 4/18/18
I get a lot of questions about this post and how much it cost to make your own boxwood backdrop. Overall the project was about $400 including all the silk flowers. Keep in mind silk flowers are more expensive than real ones! Here’s the more affordable option. This will save about $100 and if you don’t plan to add flowers, you’ll save another $75-100 as well! Dollar General is a great source for affordable silk flowers if you do want to add them.
Last spring I created a live greenery and flower wall for the HOUSTON Magazine’s 10th anniversary party and since then I’ve wanted to make something similar. So when my friend, Ailee sent me a similar photo as inspiration for her daughter’s party, I knew it was the perfect excuse to finally make one!
The boxwood backdrop made its debut at Isla’s Tea for Two party, then at our Aces of Taste High Tea and a Sugar & Cloth shoot that will go live soon. Needless to say in a few short weeks I’ve become a crazy traveling backdrop lady! I’m not looking to get into the event rental business by any means so I wanted to share the basic steps if you’d like to recreate something similar for an upcoming party! Personally I’d like to have it be a permanent fixture on our patio but Trent disagrees.. ha!
This project is definitely an investment because of it’s size but I think a smaller version would make the perfect backdrop for a food or drink display at a springtime shower, wedding, etc!
Four artificial boxwood panels (40×40 inches each)
3-pack of brass hinges
1/4 inch plywood cut into two pieces 40×80 inches
Electric screwdriver
Staple gun
Assorted flowers (real or artificial)
I had the wood cut at the hardware store to match the boxwood panels but if you want to customize the size, you can cut down the boxwood panels and adjust the size of the plywood accordingly. I had two pieces of wood cut both 6.5 feet by 4 feet so all together the wall is 6.5 feet by 8 feet wide.
Secure the boxwood panels to the plywood by stapling the border every 6-8 inches. Two boxwood panels will fit on each wood piece.
Once the boxwood panels are attached, lay both plywood pieces boxwood side down about 1/4 inch a part. Secure the three hinges using the included screws evenly along the top, middle and bottom. Now that the two pieces are connected, it will fold in half to easily transport and store.
You’ll need someone to help flip your boxwood backdrop over, boxwood facing up to attach the flowers. I used artificial but you could use real or paper flowers! I cut down the stems to 2-3 inches and stuck them into the backing of the boxwood then stapled the stem in place.
Top two and bottom photos by Ailee Petrovic and the rest by my #instagramhusband! 😉
OMG! I don’t think I could love this backdrop any more!!! I need an excuse to make it!!! Thank you for the instructions.
Beautiful!! How did you get it to stand safely?
May want to cut the plywood a bit small than the greenery. The greenery I ordered was not exactly 40×40 and left me with edges exposed.
Where did you get the greenery????
Amazon! It’s linked above!
How did you get it to stand up?
It’s leaning against the wall 🙂
Hay so I would love to make this but when I click on link it’s pieces at $122 for each 40×40 is that current?
About how many flowers did you use?
Hey I just made it and I used 160 flowers in total
How much greenery did you purchase for this?
help currently ordering
Just made it, mine is a little bigger is 4 feet by 8 feet and I was 25 20×20 panels
How does it stand up?
It’s leaning against a wall! 🙂
If I wanted to stand free and not against the wall with some legs, is the board sturdy enough?
Hi Suzanne,
This board is cut into two pieces so it will fold for easy transportation. If you want to have it be more permanent, you could do one piece of plywood at least an inch thick and build legs! Hope that helps!
These flowers would only last an hour.
Hi Alex! They are actually artificial flowers so they’ll stay bright and colorful! 🙂
Hello how can you hang this with out the board. I want to be able to travel with it to and from party
Thank you
What did this end up costing you?
Hi Courtnay – it was about $400 but we got a TON of use out of it so it paid for itself. 🙂 It would have been cheaper without the flowers!
There wasn’t any concern about this falling over? I want to do this, but I’m nervous about having it leaning against the wall. I wouldn’t want to crush any toddlers. :/ What was your experience?
Hi Danielle! We didn’t have any issues! It was leaning enough to where it would take quite a bit to pull it over. It was pretty sturdy! Another option would be to use bungee cords across the front of it that would be hidden in the boxwoods and secure the cords to something on either side of the wall for added protection and peace of mind! 🙂
I love your website! If we’re creating a 6×8 wall, what would be the size of the plywood pieces? 3×8?
This is so awesome! I am making a smaller version to fit on a tabletop, using 20" boxwood panels instead. I’m going to make it with pegboard so I can reuse it and stick different items through instead of stapling!
What SIZE hinge and screws did you use to secure it on such a thin plywood?
When applying the hinges, did you have the wood sides or the greenery folding to the inside?
how much did u spend for this? Are there any cheaper alternatives
Hi Robert! It was around $350-400 total but I reused it quite a few times so it was worth it! You can buy the flowers from the dollar store to save some money!
I bought my boxwood panels through dhgate for a discounted price. Cost around $250-$300 for everything but the flowers.
Hi Kristina. Can you share the link to panels on dhgate please?
Did you actually make this? She said the size is 6.5 ft tall (78inches) by 8 ft wide (96 inches) how did you use the 40×40 squares? Sorry but the math isn’t making sense just wondering if someone could help me out or if I am missing something ?
What did you secure the hinges with? it’s going through the plywood but still looose. there’s nothing for it to grab on the other side.
Where did you get the fake flowers from? This is beautiful. You did such a great job!!
The dollar store for most of them and Michael’s! 🙂 Thank you!
Hey Doll first of all great job! I need to make something similar to this. Is the greenery actually LIVE greenery? if not where would one buy the greenery for the flowers to go on?
HA never mind I saw the link that you put!
They plywood pieces just stand against the wall???
Hi Meredith
The more affordable option link takes you to a 12pc boxwood option which is too much.
The link in your list for the boxwood is unavailable on Amazon.
Can you recommend any other sites to get the four pieces at a reasonable price?
Also how can we change flowers often without stapling as this might damage the boxwood from constantly putting and removing flowers.
Thanks.
Hi. This is so awesome. I was wondering How do you make the panel stand up straight? Or do you have the panels leaning against the wall? If it’s leaning against the wall how do you make sure it doesn’t slide? Thanks so much
Did you actually make this? She said the size is 6.5 ft tall (78inches) by 8 ft wide (96 inches) how did you use the 40×40 squares? Sorry but the math isn’t making sense just wondering if someone could help me out or if I am missing something
you’re right.. her math is wrong on the total size. This project calls for 1/4 inch plywood cut into two pieces 40×80 inches. When the two pieces are together the whole thing will be 80"x 80" or 6’8"x 6’8" – Not 6.5ft x 8ft . So the (4) 40"x40" boxwood panels will work.
I have just always leaned it up against the wall. It has always seemed sturdy enough for me?! I think you could also attach bungee cords to something around it to help secure it a little more.
Such lovely boxwood backdrop. And this wreath <a href="https://www.dearlives.com/">DIY tutorial</a> is so clear to follow.
Is this free standing? How portable do you feel this would be? In the planning stages myself! Love it!!
If i were to use only 3 boxes how big would that be?