You have bought a decorative bowl, put it on the table, and now it is sitting there empty, looking slightly like a mistake. This is the awkward stage. An empty bowl reads as unfinished; the wrong contents read as a junk drawer with ambitions.
Here is a straight answer to what to put in a decorative bowl, split into what works, what works only in the right room or the right shape of bowl, and what will quietly ruin a paper one.
The short answer
The best things to put in a decorative bowl are dry, in one category, and roughly one size. In practice that means:
- Whole fruit: apples, oranges, lemons, bananas
- Decorative balls in rattan, wood, felt or faux moss
- Potpourri or dried petals
- Pine cones, acorns, conkers, dried seed heads
- Keys, sunglasses and post, by the front door
- Wound balls of twine, wool or ribbon
- Nothing at all, if the bowl is sculptural enough to hold its own
Everything below is the reasoning, plus the things that catch people out.
What are bowl fillers?
Bowl fillers are the things that go in a decorative bowl mainly to be looked at: rattan balls, potpourri, dried stems, pine cones. Not all of them come from a shop. An autumn walk turns up pine cones, conkers and seed heads for nothing, and a few lemons from the kitchen count too.
For a paper mâché bowl the test is short. If a filler is dry and light, it is a good one. If it is wet, heavy, hot or sharp, it belongs somewhere else.
The three rules that do most of the work
One category, in quantity
A bowl of six lemons looks deliberate. A bowl holding two lemons, a corkscrew and a phone charger looks like a surface that gave up. The eye reads repetition as a decision and variety as an accident. Pick one thing and commit to it.
This is also the cheapest styling trick there is. Five pine cones from a walk will do more for a room than most things you can buy.
Fill to just below the rim
Overfill a bowl and it stops being a bowl: you lose the inside curve, which is the part that gives the object its shape. Underfill it and it looks like something has been taken out. Aim for contents sitting a little below the rim, so you can see the line of it from standing height.
Match the contents to the size
Small objects in a big bowl look lost and pool at the bottom. Large objects in a small bowl look wedged in. A big bowl needs either bigger things or more of them: a dozen pine cones, five or six oranges, or decorative balls in two sizes. If filling it to just below the rim would take more than you want to buy, lift the contents on a bed of something cheap and light, such as dried leaves or faux moss, so only the top shows.
What to put in a deep or shallow decorative bowl
A deep bowl
Steep sides hold loose things in place, so a deep bowl is the one for potpourri and dried petals, which blow about in a low bowl whenever a door opens, and for conkers and acorns, which roll over a low rim. A deep bowl also takes a lot to fill, which is where the bed of dried leaves or faux moss earns its place.
A shallow bowl
A shallow bowl is seen mostly from above, so it suits things that lie side by side, one deep: whole fruit, a ring of pine cones, keys and post, rings and earrings. Nothing can hide at the bottom, which makes it a good catch-all on a bedside table or a desk. Or give it one object with presence, such as a single large pine cone or a wound ball of twine.
A pair in two sizes
A pair lets you split the job. In our paper mâché bowl set of two in a natural mud finish, the large bowl is about 14 cm tall and 28 cm wide. Each one is made by hand, so sizes vary slightly. Put pine cones or whole fruit in the large bowl, and keys or potpourri in the small one beside it.
Decorative balls, orbs and moss balls
A bowl of decorative balls is one of the easiest looks to get right, because every piece is the same shape and the repetition does the styling for you. Use one material in two or three sizes, with an odd number of the larger ones.
- Rattan, wicker and twine balls. Light and textured, and the most natural partner for paper mâché.
- Wooden balls. Choose light woods. A bowlful of dense hardwood gets heavy quickly.
- Felt and wool balls. Soft colour and almost no weight. Good in a small bowl on a bedside table or a desk.
- Moss balls. Faux or preserved moss only. Live moss needs misting to stay green, and a paper bowl cannot take the water. If a preserved moss ball ever feels damp, take it out.
- Marble, stone, glass and ceramic orbs. Heavy and hard. They look right in a ceramic or wooden bowl; in a paper one, leave them out.
Small balls can look like toys to a toddler or a dog, so if you have either, keep the bowl up high.
By room
Living room
The coffee table bowl should be the calmest thing on the table, because everything around it moves. Dried botanicals, pine cones, decorative balls or potpourri all work and all survive being nudged. Avoid anything that has to be arranged, because it will be knocked within a day and then it just looks wrong. For the rest of the table, see how to style a coffee table with a decorative bowl.
On a sideboard or console, where things stay put, you can be more sculptural: a single piece of driftwood, a cluster of dried alliums, a few large seed pods.
Hallway
This is where a decorative bowl becomes genuinely useful. Keys, sunglasses, the odd letter: a bowl by the door means those things have one home instead of six. It also means you can tip the whole bowl out once a fortnight and start again, which is more than can be said for most hall tables.
Keep it clear of the umbrella stand and dripping coats, because our bowls are not waterproof.
Kitchen
Whole fruit is the obvious answer and it is the right one. Keep it to one or two kinds rather than a full fruit basket; a bowl of lemons is a colour choice, a bowl of mixed everything is grocery storage. Stand the bowl at the end of the worktop or island furthest from the sink, the kettle and the hob, because splashes, steam and heat are exactly what paper mâché does not like, and lift it out of the way before you wipe down around it.
Bedroom and dressing table
Jewellery, hair clips, a watch. A shallow bowl here stops small things migrating across the whole surface. If you want it to read as decoration rather than storage, add nothing else to the table.
What to put in a decorative bowl on a dining table
On a dining table the bowl should never stand between two people talking. Choose a low, wide one, keep whatever is in it below chin height for someone sitting down, and put it in the middle of the table rather than at one end, where it looks pushed aside. Whole fruit, pine cones, decorative balls or dried flowers cut short all work, one kind at a time.
Treat it as a decoration for the hours between meals. Before plates and serving dishes arrive, move it to a sideboard or a shelf. It is light to lift, and a paper bowl has no business among hot dishes and glasses of water.
Can a paper bowl hold whole fruit?
Yes. Our paper mâché bowls can hold whole fruit with the skin on, such as apples, bananas, oranges or lemons. The bowl is there to hold the fruit, nothing more: it is for dry use, it is not waterproof, and it never goes in the dishwasher. Three habits keep it that way:
- Fruit goes in whole and dry. If you have rinsed it, let it dry fully first, and keep anything cut, peeled or bruised elsewhere, because it will weep into the paper.
- Look through the bowl every couple of days and take out anything starting to soften.
- Stick to one or two kinds. It looks calmer, and a soft one is easier to spot.
What not to put in a paper mâché bowl
This is the part most styling guides get wrong, because the standard advice for decorative bowls (a pillar candle in the middle, floating candles in water, a potted plant you water in place) is written for ceramic and glass. In a paper bowl, both kinds of candle are a fire risk, and the floating candles and the plant both bring water, which ruins it.
We would rather tell you the limits than have you discover them. Paper mâché is still paper, and water is the thing that undoes it.
- No liquids. Not water, not oil, no floating candles, no water for flowers. Our bowls are not waterproof.
- No cut, peeled or juicy food. Whole fruit with its skin on is fine. A cut orange, a wet salad leaf or anything that weeps is not.
- Never in the dishwasher, and never soaked or scrubbed in the sink.
- No candles, tealights or open flame. Not inside the bowl and not beside it. London Fire Brigade's candle safety advice is not to put candles close to anything that can catch fire, and paper is on its list.
- No fairy lights. Coiled lights are a popular bowl idea, but fire safety advice on GOV.UK is not to let bulbs touch anything that burns easily, such as paper.
- No potted plants or live moss. A dried arrangement is fine; anything that needs a watering can or a mister is not.
- Nothing very heavy or sharp. Stone orbs, tools and anything with a point belong in a ceramic or wooden bowl.
Everything else on this page is fine. Whole fruit, potpourri, keys, dried flowers, pine cones: all dry, and all at home in a paper bowl.
Where should a paper bowl not go?
Where a paper bowl stands matters as much as what goes in it. Keep it away from:
- Bathrooms and en suites. A bathroom shelf sounds like a nice idea, but steam softens paper over time.
- The sink, the kettle and the hob. Splashes, steam and heat, every day.
- Radiator shelves, wood burners and fireplaces. Paper does not belong next to a heat source.
- Sunny windowsills and conservatories. Strong sun, day after day, can fade painted colour.
- Outdoors, including a covered porch, where damp air alone can soften it.
Anywhere dry and steady suits it: a coffee table, a sideboard, a shelf, a hall console, a dressing table or a bedside table.
Seasonal contents, if you like changing things
Spring
Dried grasses, pale dried flowers, or a few of our paper mâché Easter eggs resting in the bowl rather than hanging. A pale bowl of eggs makes an Easter table in a minute.
Summer
Lemons and limes, or a handful of shells. Keep the bowl pale and let the colour come from the fruit.
Autumn
Conkers, acorns, dried seed heads and dried leaves: the best-value bowl contents of the year, and mostly free. Anything gathered outdoors goes in only once it is completely dry. If you have a dog, keep this bowl well out of reach: Dogs Trust warns that conkers and acorns are toxic to dogs and a choking hazard.
Winter and Christmas
Pine cones, bare twigs and a few baubles carry a bowl through the darker months. For baubles, Christmas potpourri and a festive dining table, see what to put in a decorative bowl for Christmas.
Can you leave a decorative bowl empty?
Yes, and some bowls are better empty. If the piece has a strong silhouette, such as a wide flared rim, a pedestal foot or a deliberately uneven edge, filling it hides the thing you actually bought. Put it somewhere with space around it, and let the shape do the work.
A rough test: photograph the bowl empty, then full, and look at both on your phone. Whichever you would rather have on your table is your answer.
Keeping it looking right
Dry contents mean the bowl needs almost no maintenance. Dust it with a dry cloth or a soft brush; do not use a damp cloth, and do not use cleaning spray. If potpourri has left dust in the bottom, tip it out and brush it rather than rinsing.
There is more on this in how to look after paper mâché.
Choosing the bowl itself
If you are still deciding, our paper mâché bowls are made by hand in Jaipur from recycled paper and painted by hand, so each one varies slightly. They are light to lift and made for dry use: whole fruit, potpourri, keys and post. If you have a specific spot in mind and are not sure which shape suits it, send us a message. We would rather help you choose than process a return.
