Fresh flowers are one of my weekly splurges. Unfortunately the nearest florist to where I live is both ridiculously over-priced and the blooms always seem a little close to “over”, therefore I tend to buy most of my bunches from either M&S or whatever supermarket I happen to be shopping in at the time.
I like to have flowers in virtually every room and tend to opt for single stem vases so as to spread the cost. On a weekend at a craft centre down the road there has fairly-recently been a market trader who has begun selling seasonal florals that are beautiful and seem to last at least a week or more. You never know quite what you are going to get from one week to the next and I love the variety. Right now there are pink lithianthus in the studio and bathroom, white roses in the master bedroom, peachy-hued hypericum in the living room and bright coral tulips in the kitchen.
Above all flowers make me happy, and they really help to style and dress a home. As you might know from my previous interior decor inspiration feature I am a fan of blogger Holly Becker and her book “Decorate”, along with photographer and product designer Leslie Shewring, Holly has recently launched Decorate with Flowers: Creative ideas for flowers and containers around the home
This is a truly beautiful bundle of pages, lovely to look at and full of useful tricks and tips on how to do all sorts of fancy things with your florals on a budget. There are also various clever DIY projects (that I actually want to do!) and useful general advice on care and colour combining.
The styling aspect is divided into eight main sections, Natural, Pastels and Neons, Market, Happy brights, Coastal, Neutral Pop, Girly Glam and Black and White… yes quite a few! But definitely something for everyone.
If you are planning on adding blooms to any special occasion yourself from a wedding, to a baby shower, to a birthday party I’d say this is an absolute must-buy. I’m thinking of throwing some kind of bash just so I can make “chalky pastel jam jars” and do amazing things with dahlias.
Decorate With Flowers is available via Amazon
I get my flowers from anywhere I can get my hands on them. Luckily for me, my local florist has a fantastic selection. They are pricier than the supermarket but their blooms last a good long while.
I’ve just moved house so (apart from finding all the vases!), my aim is, like you, to have some flowers in every room. The living dining room is quite dark and quite neutral so I think it needs a big pop of bright colour. The kitchen is (currently) a rather fetching shade of lime green (ugh) so needs something calming and white until I can psyche myself up to painting it. Its an old cottage and has all these cute nooks and crannies that would look so nice with single stem vases.
(am seriously considering ducking out of work early to do flower arranging now!)
Oooh this book looks fab. I’m like you Charlotte and love spreading a bunch of flowers throughout the house in little clusters. I am a sucker for a jar, especially spray painted ones, so always go for them when I want to add a little colour to our very white flat!
x
LOVE having flowers in the house, and daffodils are my favourite so I am a very happy bunny right now.
My answer to being able to afford to decorate the house with flowers is to grow them. This isn’t nearly as scary as it sounds – bung in some perennials, hack them to the ground every autumn, and most of the year you will have lovely blooms/greenery. Plus if you get self-seeding ones, their seeds spread everywhere (and also provide a free favour option for weddings). I currently have daffodils (obvs), cherry blossom and some little blue hyacinth-like things that were reduced in Wilkos a couple of years ago.
It is my aim to plant some blooms this Spring Ann-Marie, thanks for the recommendations x
Do it!! Last year we went to a wedding in April, and got some of those poppy seed packets with the couple’s names on. I planted them, they grew, they flowered, they went to seed and we gave the seeds back to the same couple at our wedding in November. Spreading the poppy love!!
I also love having flowers in and around the house – it cheers the whole place up and they really do look amazing!
My Fiance and I are completely self taught when it comes to flowers – we bought one book on container gardening about 18 months ago and from there we have just gone ahead and experimented in our container only garden (it is completely decking) and window boxes. Generally most things have turned out well – its usually slugs which are the problem!
Now I am keen to turn my attention more to flowers in the house and I love the ideas of decorating those jam jars with pastel colours etc. I think all things flowers are quickly coming my little obsession/hobby – I LOVE piling lots of lovely blooms into my shopping basket on the weekends.
Happy days 🙂
I use my florals for bedroom windowsill decoration. It brightness up my room and they’re the first things I wake up and see in the morning. No other way to start the day! A brilliant book too! A must for my collection! X
I adore blooms and blossoms aplenty (let’s face it, who doesn’t?) from my garden, from the markets and from my neighbors. I always have a bouquet in the entryway, in the kitchen and in the dinning area. I love to experiment with arrangements on the buffet that has a large mirror reflecting the green palms and lemon trees in the yard and this acts as an amazing backdrop to the blooms on display. I love to have different themes as it were so it’s like traveling to a different garden in each area, and when the flowers start to wilt I take the remaining foliage and flowers to rearrange into smaller arrangements or deconstructed bunches in interesting vases, ceramics and tins. This way I have constant flowers for 14 days.
Ooh Karen, lovely tips! 14 days would be fab.
I flippin love flowers, how can anyone not? My hubby has a serious allergy so when he puts that aside and brings me a bunch home I’m the luckiest girl on earth. Currently I have hand picked daffodils in a jam jar and a bunch of tulips in a pretty crystal vase, and one very sneezy hubby!
I dry my flowers and still have a perfectly dried buttonhole from our wedding day, my flowers last forever!! x x
I’ve had a passion for flowers ever since I got my first job as a Saturday girl age 13 in my local florist. I do always wonder “what if” as I decided to study Business at university instead of becoming a florist. So instead I tend to fill my home with quirky blooms that are naturally put together to create a wild, unstructured look. I love anything random and un-matching using old wine bottles and jam jars as vases. It’s nice to be creative in my spare time and still keep my hand in with flower arranging. Would love to see this book for some fresh ideas. X
It’s safe to say I could definitely benefit from a bit of Holly’s advice!
I don’t have much of a green thumb (unlike my mother, who grows all her own produce!) but I love the look of flowers so I mostly use faux florals around my home – I’m less likely to kill them!
I have a beautiful wooden vase my best friends bought me for my 21st birthday where I display my faux florals, changing up the blooms depending on my colour scheme.
But, I can’t resist picking up a little bunch of daffodils whenever they’re in season. They always make me smile! I place them in a simple jam jar or coloured vase and use them to liven up our dining table.
KiKi x
I love having flowers in the house but my knowledge is terrible. We currently have some pretty yellow and orange ones from the garden in a little Emma Bridgwater mug, they look so cute but not a clue what they are!! Scilly flowers do gorgeous flowers by post for a special treat or to treat someone else. Otherwise it’s supermarket or unknown out of the garden. Loving narcissuss at the mo and then the bulbs are going outside for next spring.
Ps sweet William are my all time faves. I did our wedding buttonholes as sweet william. Too cute.
We currently have huge deep red roses in a white milk jug against our grey feature wall and small bundles of daffodils and tulips complete with lovely green foliage (very Spring!) in empty whiskey bottles and single stems in empty bottles from our local brewery dotted across our book shelves. In our bedroom we have single stem roses, lisianthus and tulips in white china bud vases and my late grandmother’s crystal bud vases. Everything is very personal, down to the choice of the flowers or the votive! I usually grab flowers from the local supermarket (only the flower stalls if I’m feeling particularly flush..!) and keep these fresh by trimming down the ends, using lukewarm water and adding a teaspoon of sugar and two copper pennies to the vase – much more beneficial than the shop bought flower ‘food’. The arrangement on my dining table has so far survived two weeks, which is pretty good going for Tesco roses!
I have never heard of adding sugar and copper! Fab tip though Sian, will definitely give it a go.
Oh and change the water every few days, re-adding the sugar as you go. It’s a pain in the butt, yes, but it makes them last so much longer which is always a good thing in my book!
After winter I remove the coals from my fire and put a planter in with flowers throughout the year. Currently flowering daffodil and tulip bulbs for spring!
I love fresh flowers! I have read dried are bad feng shui?! I don’t have any so no need to worry :). From lilies, peony roses to lisanthnum, freesias, and stocks I love a wide range of flora & fauna. At our wedding we had lots of jars/vases/bottles with a wide range of flowers in them along the front of the stage the band were set up to play on. It was the back drop to our top table so looked fab! I use the same idea for our mantle & fireplace. A couple of stems in each bottle or jar looks great mixed with a full vase to create height & depth :). I don’t tend to use flowers in the bedroom. Mainly kitchen, living room & hallway. The lovely smell of stocks when you arrive home is lovely!
I love having flowers in my home. I have various glass bottles that I have decorated with wool or ribbon and love having little displays of flowers scattered around my small flat. I also love using jam jars to display flowers in.
So many good ideas on these comments, love the whiskey bottles – though may use gin bottles instead 🙂
Great idea! I love the Hendricks bottles the best..! We don’t drink that much, honest!
me neither… 🙂
Hi Charlotte, I actually left a photo of flowers on instagram tagging rockmystyle into it! I do a bit of both growing my own and treating myself to a bunch or two. We have recently moved into our first home so currently our homegrown blooms are masking the rather blank and dull areas of our new house! My favourite way to present flowers are in some 2nd hand mint julep glasses, the old silver effect with my current bluebell hydrangeas look lovely. This book looks truly lovely! clare x
Ooh lovely! thanks Claire, will check out Instagram!! Hydrangea are my favourite 🙂
Such a lovely article. I must confess to having a bit of a black thumb, but i am proud to say that in 2012 I managed to turn my front garden into a shrubbery with the addition of few rose bushes, tulips, and other flower plants dotted in the empty spaces. My mother in law has really helped me with this as she is a bit of a flower conniseur. I’m a keen learner and hoping to turn that black thumb green.
My home is regularly decorated with seasonal supermarket flowers that my husband brings home every month or so. The flowers last 1-2 weeks. The bouquet stems are chopped and then arranged into different sized vases and jars with the biggest arrangement placed in the centre of the dining room table. The other smaller arrangements are placed in the kitchen, on the coffee table and in the downstairs loo.
I love that you have flowers in your loo, I have them in the bathroom with various scented candles. We don’t have a front garden as such, but we are considering some pots etc, what shrubbery would you recommend that is hard wearing but has some ‘colour’?
Well this has made me feel really boring with flowers….! I like most using garden flowers, specially ‘weeds’ but never think much about what I put them in. I’m also all over architectural dried stems like giant alliums once they’ve gone over – sprayed a colour they look awesome. But I really don’t do much if I think about it….
However flowers feature a LOT in my home – on fabric, in embroidery, crochet, origami, cards….I’m all over them like a rash as craft inspiration.
Weird that I’ve not done much with the real thing! Clearly I need this book 🙂
The book also includes general floral decor too Catherine not just fresh blooms, pretty cards, materials etc, honestly, you will love it!
I love having flowers around the house. My favourite way to display them is to use vintage lassi cups from India (google them). They are heavily details brass pots and look amazing with single peony stems in them. I need to have a plastic party cup inside them though as most of them aren’t watertight anymore…
I really miss my old garden (now living in military accommodation with just a square of grass for a garden and the worst soil ever so no plants will grow) so I try to buy flowers for the house whenever I can. Currently have red and white roses dotted around the house – bought two big bunches last weekend from a market for €5 and I have split them up between vases, old gin bottles and unusual beer bottles etc so I have flowers in every room. Makes the washing up so much more enjoyable when you have pretty flowers to look at 🙂
I am longing for the day when we finally have our own garden and I am hoping that I will miraculously become as green fingered as my Mum! It is true flowers make a room so much happier! I currently have yellow tulips and purple hyacinths in the window and I am counting down the days until my all time favourite pink fluffy peonies are back in season!! Holly’s new book sounds wonderful!
Every friday after work I pop in to my local florist and pick up the blooms that tickle my fancy. Recent purchases include blush pink roses with thistles; yellow pussy willow; yellow spray roses and lots of gyp… Always lots of gyp! I also loved how Abigail Warner used flowers in her bathroom to up the luxe! That will my new thing for sure! Love the floral and interior posts btw!! X
Hi Michelle! Thanks for the feedback, and absolutely agree on blooms in the bathroom, I mentioned in a comment above that I always have a few stems with some scented candle action going on in ours x
I’ve recently developed a habit of having flowers in every week and just like many of you guys my favourite is to have them spread out around the house in single stem vases.
I am getting a nice collection of different items to use as single stem vases – my favourite is actually a Kikkoman soy sauce bottle, the shape looks fab & I think it’s a cute touch for the kitchen! (but maybe I’m just a little strange!!)
LOVE this idea Rebecca! Very retro!
Since my wedding in February I have become a flower addict and inspired by the beautiful spring blooms we had on our the big day. I decorated an array of glass jars with lace to hold candles and small props on our wedding day and now it’s lovely to use them to hold a bunch of daffodils or a cluster of daisies. I would love to win this book to help me learn more and bring the sunshine inside! Thank you x
I couldn’t agree more Charlotte, fresh flowers throughout my home makes me so happy :). I love vintage milk bottles and mason jars. I collected some for my wedding day decor. They were hard to track down so I also used passata jars! We have quite a collection now but they look so cute in the window of my kitchen (and throughout our home).
My husband still picks up passata in a jar rather than a carton from the supermarket, he knows me so well! 🙂 x
Hi,
After spending hours looking at wedding flowers on Pinterest, one of my favourite ideas was to put them in tin cans! I save up my used Heinz beans tins, remove the labels and then glam them up by wrapping them with bits of old hessian, ribbon, lace or paper doilies, crochet, lace, pretty fabrics – anything really! I had a mismatched selection of them lining my wedding aisle and now I have them around the home.
Ball mason jars painted in Annie Sloan chalk paint and distressed a little also look fabulous! Just a shame Ball mason jars are hard to come by in the UK 🙁
Lastly, old Marmite jars look darling in the kitchen with just a couple of yellow flowers in. Right now I have some filled with a few daffodils – super pretty!
Sarah x
I love having flowers around, but due to the fact that I’m incredibly disorganised I can never seem to find a vase when I need one, so most of my bunches of flowers end up in a pint glass! It’s a good thing I’ve got nice glasses
I really love this book, I put my flowers everywher, but above all in mason jar, cup of tea, and pastel tins . I have two Ball mason jar that I really love.
I love to buy a bunch of blooms and divide it into lots of different sized vases in little groups. My absolute favourites are peonies but only on special occasions. I go for flowers like carnations and stocks that last really well and start of looking like one type of flower and look completely different but just a beautiful a week later! I’m lucky that there’s a farm shop at the end of my road who sells carnations for £3 a bunch! Xxx
I’m a floristry student so there are a lot of flowers in my little 1 bed flat!
I’ve currently got a milk bottle full of Mother’s Day leftovers, a planted basket of tete a tete, primrose, ivy and palm and a bottle filled with manzanita branches decorating my living space.
I love using jugs, jars and bottles and finding unique vases. My Anthropologie orchid vase is my favourite. I love seasonal flowers, especially spring because of the scents.
I’m moving into my first house next month and would love to use the book to inspire decorating my house with flowers!
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