Decorating
How to Style Your Home with Summer Blooms and Foliage
Enhance your interiors with an abundant choice of bright and cheerful seasonal flowers and ferns
Summer is the time to make the most of the floral abundance that nature provides. With gardens, parks and natural habitats fit to burst with flowers and bright foliage, be inspired to achieve the look indoors, too. Take advantage of the price of seasonal blooms being at their lowest in the year to take plenty of trips to the local florist. Here are some stunning ways to introduce summer blooms into your home.
Display your blooms in collectables
A collection of vases is a great basis for displaying your arrangements. Here, fragrant sweet peas are elevated by a collection of white, midcentury-influenced vessels. Keeping the colour of the vases uniform and using a single type of flower ensures the arrangement is harmonious, while interest is provided by the different shapes, patterns and textures of the ceramics.
You can use any type of container as a basis for your own collection – just make sure it’s unified by colour, material or style.
A collection of vases is a great basis for displaying your arrangements. Here, fragrant sweet peas are elevated by a collection of white, midcentury-influenced vessels. Keeping the colour of the vases uniform and using a single type of flower ensures the arrangement is harmonious, while interest is provided by the different shapes, patterns and textures of the ceramics.
You can use any type of container as a basis for your own collection – just make sure it’s unified by colour, material or style.
Keep it simple…
As with most things, there’s a lot to be said for simplicity. A few flowers snipped from the garden border and arranged in a simple clear vase can look a million dollars. The unfussy arrangement here effortlessly emphasises the classical elements of the design and the natural colour palette and tones.
Find out what you should be tending to in the garden in July
As with most things, there’s a lot to be said for simplicity. A few flowers snipped from the garden border and arranged in a simple clear vase can look a million dollars. The unfussy arrangement here effortlessly emphasises the classical elements of the design and the natural colour palette and tones.
Find out what you should be tending to in the garden in July
Go green
You don’t necessarily need to include summer blooms in your displays. Here, a tableau including palm foliage and a parrot emphasises the tropical wallpaper with its lush green tones.
Palm and fern leaves are very much on trend at the moment. Adding greenery, whether through a foliage arrangement or pot plants, is a great way to make you feel as if you’re in your very own tropical paradise.
You don’t necessarily need to include summer blooms in your displays. Here, a tableau including palm foliage and a parrot emphasises the tropical wallpaper with its lush green tones.
Palm and fern leaves are very much on trend at the moment. Adding greenery, whether through a foliage arrangement or pot plants, is a great way to make you feel as if you’re in your very own tropical paradise.
Use blooms to enhance your accent colours
In this open-plan living and dining area, bursts of orange throughout add interest while unifying the different zones. The flowers here play a supporting role. A simple vase of vivid nasturtiums on the table and some similarly zesty-hued roses in the living room join a supporting cast that balances harmony and liveliness.
In this open-plan living and dining area, bursts of orange throughout add interest while unifying the different zones. The flowers here play a supporting role. A simple vase of vivid nasturtiums on the table and some similarly zesty-hued roses in the living room join a supporting cast that balances harmony and liveliness.
…or be adventurous
Experiment and be creative with your floral displays. Try varieties and combinations you might not have considered before.
This arrangement mixes things up while staying within the colour spectrum of the pale cream and yellow tones used in the room. It demonstrates the value of using movement within your arrangement to add interest and drama. The vertical elements of the composition are complemented by trailing love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus), also known as tassel flowers.
Take a tour of this home
Experiment and be creative with your floral displays. Try varieties and combinations you might not have considered before.
This arrangement mixes things up while staying within the colour spectrum of the pale cream and yellow tones used in the room. It demonstrates the value of using movement within your arrangement to add interest and drama. The vertical elements of the composition are complemented by trailing love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus), also known as tassel flowers.
Take a tour of this home
Try flowers as a calming influence
Sometimes, when there’s a lot going on in a space, a little greenery can be used to tone things down. This simple bunch of green hydrangeas works well because it complements rather than competes with the exuberant colours and textures in the room.
Sometimes, when there’s a lot going on in a space, a little greenery can be used to tone things down. This simple bunch of green hydrangeas works well because it complements rather than competes with the exuberant colours and textures in the room.
Bring the summer garden inside
Quite often, the summer weather doesn’t allow us to spend as much time enjoying the fruits of our labour in the garden as we might wish. Summer blooms displayed indoors help us to overcome this. Here, the exuberant flowers and the colourful, patterned chairs evoke the feeling of summer, whatever the weather.
Quite often, the summer weather doesn’t allow us to spend as much time enjoying the fruits of our labour in the garden as we might wish. Summer blooms displayed indoors help us to overcome this. Here, the exuberant flowers and the colourful, patterned chairs evoke the feeling of summer, whatever the weather.
Opt for the quintessential flower of summer
Just as bulbs exemplify spring blooms for most people, roses are the flower of summer. Here, a simple vessel of pink garden roses creates a homely posy in harmony with this cosy living space. One can only imagine the intoxicating scent wafting through the room.
Just as bulbs exemplify spring blooms for most people, roses are the flower of summer. Here, a simple vessel of pink garden roses creates a homely posy in harmony with this cosy living space. One can only imagine the intoxicating scent wafting through the room.
Celebrate the season of bounty
This is the time of year when you can go all out with your floral creations. The choice of seasonal flowers is enormous and they are generally better value in the summer, too.
Take a tip from the great Dutch flower painters of the 17th century and incorporate unexpected elements – some fruit, perhaps, or a snail shell. Here, shop-bought roses and other summer flowers are bulked out with ivy and foliage from the garden. An urn is the perfect shape to show off this abundant arrangement.
Tell us…
What are your favourite summer blooms? How do you decorate your home with them? Share your thoughts and photos in the Comments.
This is the time of year when you can go all out with your floral creations. The choice of seasonal flowers is enormous and they are generally better value in the summer, too.
Take a tip from the great Dutch flower painters of the 17th century and incorporate unexpected elements – some fruit, perhaps, or a snail shell. Here, shop-bought roses and other summer flowers are bulked out with ivy and foliage from the garden. An urn is the perfect shape to show off this abundant arrangement.
Tell us…
What are your favourite summer blooms? How do you decorate your home with them? Share your thoughts and photos in the Comments.
This artist’s house perfectly demonstrates the art of making sure your flowers work with their surroundings. The colours of the dahlias and asters, as well as the vases, highlight beautifully the delicate pastels in the artwork.
For maximum impact, use the colours of a favourite piece of art or an object as a starting point for your flower arrangement.