The Carousel has some advice from Kim Cardillo, the Founder and Creative Director of Melbourne Flower School. Here, she gives tips on which flowers best compliment each space in our homes, and how to style them properly.
Style your home with blooms
What’s your style?
Do you have a modern home or a traditional style-home?
Do you have a large home, or do you have a smaller size, maybe an apartment? What colours and tones do you like?
Do you like a soft palette when decorating your home or do you have bold artwork adorning the walls?
All this is taken into consideration when choosing blooms.
Put your signature self on display when it comes to decorating with flowers.
Lounge Room
A large open living room can house a statement piece.
Choose a vessel with a generous size opening or neck.
Florals should be in proportion with your vase.
If your vase/vessel is 30cm high, it can hold flowers that are double the height of the vase.
Before creating your piece, make sure you prep your flowers and foliage by removing any leaves from the stems that will be below the top of the vase. When arranging start with the foliage first, fill your vase with greenery—this creates a base for you to work with—a base that will hold your flowers in place.
Now add your blooms!
Group a bunch of Dahlia together on one side of the vase, to the other side add 3 stems of Oriental Lilies, create height with Delphinium or Snapdragons.
Bedroom
When choosing blooms for the bedroom, be mindful of scented flowers. Strong-scented blooms can interrupt your sleep or cause headaches.
Even the mildest sweet scent can irritate your senses.
A simple glass vessel with a bunch of pastel Ranunculi or two stems of Hydrangea cut short to sit on the top of the vase like a powder puff!
Soft, fluffy and very feminine!
Kitchen
If your countertop is large add a vase with great height together with beautiful tall flowering foliage – Magnolia, Dogwood blossom, Cherry Blossom.
Choose seasonal flowers, they will be less costly when in full season.
Cluster interesting vessels together, what’s in your kitchen cupboard? A beautiful jug, a salad bowl or a lovely shaped condiment jar.
Style with a variety of blooms, keep each variety to one vase when clustering vessels together.
Dining Room
Long, round, small or large table?
Choose the appropriate size vase to compliment the table and surrounds.
Fill a low line vase with foliage then add a lovely branch or two on either side of the vase. Place a couple of large focal blooms close to the base then add a few reflexed roses (turn back 2-3 layers of petals on a large open rose) or lovely garden roses to create a vintage feel.
