Yesterday, Melbourne was cold and pouring with rain. I rugged up warm and braved the weather to meet a lovely friend of mine for breakfast. As I walked into the cafe, I saw he was already there, with a beautiful bunch of pink and white tulips waiting for me. Inside the wrapping paper, he had slipped his RSVP to our wedding. It was such a lovely touch, and made my day.
Flowers are one of my favourite things. They come with so many meanings, and can change the feel of a home completely. My mum will always have fresh flowers in their house; little sprigs of lavender on the bedside tables in the guest room, roses in the kitchen. Flowers can tie decorating themes together, or add colour to the most neutral of rooms - and best of all, they lift even the heaviest of hearts.
Flowers give you a fun way to get creative with your interior decorating, particularly if you're on a small budget. I save any empty little bottles I come across, and put a few stems in each as a makeshift vase. You can have one on its own, or line them up along a windowsill or mantlepiece as I have done.
For parties, baby or bridal showers, an easy project is to hollow out eggs and rinse them, putting them in an egg cup and stuffing the top with little flowers. You can even spray the egg shell as the same colour as your flowers to tie in a colour theme.
Fresh flowers can tie in with a room's floral theme, creating a contemporary country feel. I love the splashes of light and dark purple in the above room - a lot of the theme coming together is due to the fresh flowers.
Think outside the square with what you put your flowers in. The container itself can also become part of the theme of the room.
Ikea have a good, inexpensive range of little white pails and pots. It can be a nice change from a glass vase to display your flowers in one of these.
If the maintenance of fresh flowers doesn't appeal to you, there are some very realistic looking faux flowers available that are guaranteed to leave your admiring guests none the wiser. The happiest place on earth, Pottery Barn, is the home of my favourites.
As a child, I always admired my mother's faux hydrangeas in the bathroom. I was ecstatic to pick some up in LA recently for my own home.
If you have a green thumb, you can always pick fresh flowers from your own garden to put inside.
My favourite part of planning our wedding (aside from choosing my gorgeous Vera Wang dress!) was picking the flowers. It was a difficult task as we're having a winter wedding and not a lot of my favourites will be in season. I've learnt a lot about winter flowers as I have been guided through the process by our clever florist, and am now in love with what I have chosen. But you'll have to wait a month or so to see pictures of them!
As always, thank you for reading,
Joanna
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