Decorating-Flowers and the Well-Dressed Home

Flowers and the Well-Dressed Home
How to Match Flowers to Your Home's Personality

The American home has taken its place in the national spotlight. Aging baby boomers, empty nesters, cocooning couples and telecommuters are eagerly spending time and money on making their home a haven. Furniture, paint, rugs and accessories all are employed in the quest to perfect the domestic environment.

Because perfection lives in the details, flowers are emerging as the essential accessory for creating a warm, inviting interior. Contemporary or antique, relaxed or vibrant æ adding fresh cut flowers and floral arrangements brings exquisite individuality and charm to any home decor.

Professionals use this technique constantly. Open up any home magazine to see how flowers are used to achieve a sophisticated look. And yet you need not be a professional interior designer. Almost anyone can decorate with flowers to create a personal and picture perfect home interior.

Home Style Decor
Just as people have their own personalities, so do their homes. According to the Society of American Florists (SAF), popular home decorating personalities tend to fall into five categories: classic traditional, casual easy living, modern contemporary, Victorian, or American country. The guide below shows how flowers can complement and enhance these styles.

Classic Traditional
This home has formal architecture with impressive front doors, foyers and individually decorated rooms. Design elements include classic furnishings and antiques made out of mahogany, cherry or walnut with elegant fabrics of brocade, silk and tapestry.

Classic arrangements call for a mixture of flowers (roses, gladiola, iris, carnations, lilies or snapdragons, to name a few) and accents such as dried fruit and foliage. Crystal, brass, silver or porcelain containers are ideal for the classic floral centerpiece.

Casual Easy Living
Casual living lifestyles focus on the simple pleasures of life. The decor includes furniture of light pine, natural woods, bleached oak or a white-washed painted finish with fabrics of linen and cotton in neutral tones.

Because these homes are designed for "stress busting," flowers provide nature's balancing formula with that "just picked" look. The right match might include flowering and green plants (like cyclamen, kalanchoe, pothos or ivy) casually grouped in a basket, or flowers (such as sunflowers, daisies, hydrangea, delphinium or tulips) placed in a clear glass vase, pitcher or piece of pottery.

Modern Contemporary
Sleek and chic, this modern home calls for clean lines, smooth surfaces and form. Elegant fabrics, colorful silks, gauze or leather accent steel, glass and other man-made materials.

Bold, exotic flowers (anthuriums, heliconia, callas, orchids) with strong lines work well to complement this home's clean, open spaces. To complete the dramatic look, flowers such as these are best displayed in frosted glass vases, decorative pottery and metallic containers with pewter or stainless steel finishes.

Victorian
Velvets, satins, chintz, lace and organza create a feeling of softness and romance in the Victorian home. Pastel colors or soft tone-on-tone prints are used to delight the senses.

Fragrant flowers (roses, spray roses, peonies, lavender, gardenias, freesia) in pale peach, lavender, pink, yellow and cream conjure images of romance and sensuality. All of these delicious colors glow in lovely, romantic vases of clear glass, crystal and silver.

American Country
Recognized as a style all its own, American country has become a phenomenon. Motifs include artifacts out of our past, such as quilts, galvanized metal bowls and wooden crates. The result is comfort that is easy and inviting.

Woven baskets or simple vases of mixed spring flowers (yarrow, wild roses, scabiosa, heather) fit perfectly on a coffee table or kitchen counter. Cut flowers, blooming plants, herbs, wreaths and swags with that farm-fresh look are a natural extension of this homespun decor.

Tips from the Pros
SAF suggests additional techniques such as choosing one or two colors in a room and having a floral arrangement created to highlight those colors. Or, have your florist design flowers for a favorite vase or container.

For consumers who want advice on incorporating floral elements, SAF encourages them to go to those who know flowers best. Talk with your florist. Brainstorm with them. Together, you already have all you need to brighten your home - your own personal style and their knowledge of how to capture it in flowers.

Living Light and Easy

"Casual/Easy Living" Plants Featured: Cyclamen, azaleas and ivy.

Whether sitting in a kitchen, family room or guest bedroom, a basket of flowering plants enhances the uncomplicated casual easy living home decor of neutral tones and natural woods.

An American Classic

"Classic/Traditional" Flowers Featured: Roses, gerbera daisies, mini callas, snapdragons, freesia, lilies, tulips and ranunculus.

This classic geometric floral arrangement of deep, warm colors in an antique vase (one of yours or from a florist) complements a classic traditional home decor of mahogany, cherry or walnut furniture and elegant fabrics of brocade, silk or tapestry.

Editor's Note: To retrieve in digital form for use in news stories, contact Wieck Photo Database at (972) 392-0888. (Refer to the Floral News Bureau ile and picture title).

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Classic Traditional	This home has formal architecture with impressive front doors, foyers and individually decorated rooms. Design elements include classic furnishings and antiques made out of mahogany, cherry or walnut with elegant fabrics of brocade, silk and tapestry. Classic arrangements call for a mixture of flowers (roses, gladiola, iris, carnations, lilies or snapdragons, to name a few) and accents such as dried fruit and foliage. Crystal, brass, silver or porcelain containers are ideal for the classic floral centerpiece.
Casual Easy Living	Casual living lifestyles focus on the simple pleasures of life. The decor includes furniture of light pine, natural woods, bleached oak or a white-washed painted finish with fabrics of linen and cotton in neutral tones. Because these homes are designed for "stress busting," flowers provide nature's balancing formula with that "just picked" look. The right match might include flowering and green plants (like cyclamen, kalanchoe, pothos or ivy) casually grouped in a basket, or flowers (such as sunflowers, daisies, hydrangea, delphinium or tulips) placed in a clear glass vase, pitcher or piece of pottery.
Modern Contemporary	Sleek and chic, this modern home calls for clean lines, smooth surfaces and form. Elegant fabrics, colorful silks, gauze or leather accent steel, glass and other man-made materials. Bold, exotic flowers (anthuriums, heliconia, callas, orchids) with strong lines work well to complement this home's clean, open spaces. To complete the dramatic look, flowers such as these are best displayed in frosted glass vases, decorative pottery and metallic containers with pewter or stainless steel finishes.
Victorian	Velvets, satins, chintz, lace and organza create a feeling of softness and romance in the Victorian home. Pastel colors or soft tone-on-tone prints are used to delight the senses. Fragrant flowers (roses, spray roses, peonies, lavender, gardenias, freesia) in pale peach, lavender, pink, yellow and cream conjure images of romance and sensuality. All of these delicious colors glow in lovely, romantic vases of clear glass, crystal and silver.
American Country	Recognized as a style all its own, American country has become a phenomenon. Motifs include artifacts out of our past, such as quilts, galvanized metal bowls and wooden crates. The result is comfort that is easy and inviting. Woven baskets or simple vases of mixed spring flowers (yarrow, wild roses, scabiosa, heather) fit perfectly on a coffee table or kitchen counter. Cut flowers, blooming plants, herbs, wreaths and swags with that farm-fresh look are a natural extension of this homespun decor.