How To Decorate Your Home With Flowers

When it comes to decorating, flowers are the most obvious and simple way to inject life and personality into a space, transforming it from being just-a-house into a home.

As with every aspect of our interiors, the flowers we choose and how we display them are subject to changing fashions and contemporary tastes.

No longer about formal, fussy, over-the-top center pieces, today it’s casual, relaxed simplicity that looks effortless. We’re taking a more natural approach with the flowers we choose and the way we arrange them,  preferring  a simple, thrown-together, hand picked from-the-garden look, that appears effortless, but is often the result of much skill.

Today, designers are using flowers to accent and add drama to a space, showing them in such a way, they become real decorative details. Considering the overall decor of the room, the flowers are chosen accordingly. The vase or pot is just as important as the flowers we decide to put in them.

Let’s take a look at some of the current trends …

Single Stems and Blooms

Whether it’s due to the economic downturn or purely because we like the aesthetics, many of us are opting for the single stem look. This simple, contemporary visual is so easy to achieve and extremely effective. With the right combination of textures and colours, the single bloom can be a very dramatic gesture, regardless of it’s size.

One of the most exciting parts of displaying single stem blooms is matching it to exactly the right vase or container for the scene.

The image above shows the combination of a single stem and clear glass, against a neutral backdrop, which works extremely well because the rose does not have to fight for attention, allowing its simple elegance to shine through.

In this image above, the vase and flower have been specifically chosen to complement one another. They work in harmony, so neither out-shines the other, with a result, they are viewed as one single entity.

Also set against a neutral background – notice another trend? – the flower and vase combined, have purposely been set beside the lilac box for the colours to work together, adding an interesting accent to, what would otherwise have been, a boring, clean and clinical space.

Displays like this can be a wonderful way to give new life to the last bloom in a bunch, or that flower whose stem has broken too short.

Alone In A Crowd

Flowers, like most decorative details, often make more impact when massed together, however, this does not mean they all need to be put in the one container.

Try dividing a bunch equally over several vessels and make things less complicated, by keeping one colour to each vase.

By grouping together flowers of similar size and colour, the smaller ones will not get lost in the crowd.

Another great way to display stems that are too small to be grouped in larger bunches, is to mass several vessels together, each with its own separate stem.

The Rules Of Displaying Flowers

It’s all about getting the scale and balance right. Certain proportions have been proven to work.

Low arrangements should be wider than the container, but half the height. Display them on low surfaces, where they can easily be admired from above.

Taller stemmed flowers should ideally be one and a half to two times bigger than the container they are in…

Choosing The Right Vase

When it comes to choosing a container, if it can hold water, it can be used to show of your floral delights. This is where it’s important to think outside the box….

…. a beautiful china cup

An antique sugar bowl….

Anything goes, from a crystal vases to milk jugs of all shapes and sizes.

Look all around the house, Go through all your cupboards, look for anything that you can use – empty jam jars, old milk bottles, bowls, teapots, tureens, tins, eggcupps, liqueur bottles, buckets – the list is endless and a little imagination goes a long way.

For the best results, take into consideration the colour of the flower, think about what colour and texture would contrast well and look for this in a container. Experiment, have fun and most importantly use your intuition and the rest will take care of itself.

Where Should you Display your Flowers?

Flowers can be used any where in the house.

Why not add a little luxury to the bathroom…

… or add a little charm to your bedroom dressing table.

Little clusters of flowers all over the house can be relatively inexpensive. Buy several bunches of cheap seasonal flowers and follow some of the ideas above and watch your house come alive.

I hope some of these tips have been helpful and if you have any ideas you’d like to share, get in touch.