Introducing flower decoration for the home is about more than style, it’s a labour of love that brings your bricks-and-mortar property vividly to life. It’s hardly surprising that Sir Elton John spent £293,000 on flowers in under two years, while Mariah Carey was at one time spending $100,000 a month on exotic blooms.
In truth, however, money only gets you so far. It takes a skilled eye to create effective arrangements, and a little dedication to help those decorations lift your home for longer. But if you have these, you can even grow your own décor in your garden.
House decoration with flowers is a way of making your home naturally, effortlessly beautiful. The perfect way to achieve this is by using English country garden ideals to create in-vogue ‘Meadowesque’ arrangements.
Avoid straight stems and single-species bouquets. Instead, seek out a natural combinations that blend into a cohesive whole. Butterfly ranunculus is a popular plant for this approach, and pairs well with sweet pea, ivy and clematis.
Once it's in place, flower decoration for the home should be more than mere embellishment. It should feel like part of the furniture, an extension of your interior design ideas that actively complements or contrasts existing pieces.
Blooms that match your wall or furnishing colours, but vary slightly in shade or tone, will add depth and texture. Peonies or dahlias, with their rich colours and abundant petals, are great here. A range of foliage helps too.
Alternatively, contrast colours will draw the eye to different spaces, highlighting focal features – whether it’s the dining table or objets d’art. Bold, ornate blooms like lilies, orchids and roses are superb at this.
Vintage and retro chic remain as popular as ever, and interesting antique-fair finds are an excellent source of design inspiration. They're also a talking point for parties.
When you’re bringing in flowers decoration for the home, don't settle for any old vase – look for the perfect piece to display them. Vintage tins create a wonderful farmhouse feel, pretty porcelain teacups and large ceramic jugs brighten up kitchens and studio glass vases add elegance to a living space.
One of the floristry secrets that Franziska von Hardenberg, founder of flower subscription service Bloomy Days, shared with us is the importance of cleanliness. A pristine vase is essential for keeping cut flowers fresh. Changing the water every two to three days will ensure that any bacteria present won’t build up enough to harm your delicate blooms. There are also several tricks to stop bacteria breeding in the water in those intervening days. Adding two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and two of sugar is one approach, although some prefer to swap the vinegar for a single spoon of less-fragrant vodka. Copper also acts as an acidifier, so simply dropping a penny into your water can keep it cleaner.
If this journey into house decoration with flowers has whetted your appetite for greenery in your home, you might also be interested in our guide to easy houseplants you could cultivate. Alternatively, visit our home décor blog for more ideas about how to beautify your property.
