Five Ways Interior Designers Use Flowers

Ask any interior designer, and they’ll have a list of their go-to florists, flower markets, and landscape designers at the ready—flowers and plants are often one of the most important finishing touches in a home. And, it turns out, picking the perfect flowers and plants for your home can be easier than you might think.

“Using flowers and plants in your decor doesn’t need to be a complicated, involved task—in fact, I often gravitate toward the beauty of simplicity when it comes to flowers,” says Andrea Goldman, a Chicagoland-based interior designer. “Even a streamlined bunch of the same type of flower framed by a beautiful leaf or low-maintenance greenery—anything in the succulent family or jade—adds so much to any space, without a lot of work or upkeep.”

Below, we’ve rounded up a few more favorite flower tips from top interior designers, so you can style your own home like an expert.

Make a First Impression With Bright Bouquets

While we might not give our foyers or entry hallways much thought when we pass through them every day, they are one of the first spaces your guests see. A bright, statement bouquet or an on-theme seasonal arrangement on an entry table will showcase your style, spark conversation, and immediately make your house feel like a home (plus, they smell wonderful!). For a more low-maintenance option, choose a striking houseplant or orchid for the foyer if you’d like something with a bit more staying power.

Add Texture and Color To Any Room With Plants

Flowers and plants are one of the easiest ways to make a change in space—it’s much less effort than changing the paint color and less of an investment than switching in new furnishings. Houseplants—like fiddle-leaf fig plants, ZZ plants, and snake plants—have a lot of beautiful, organic texture and can fill a larger space, adding eye-catching depth and dimension to a room. And flowers are an easy way to pull in a pop of color. Whether you contrast a neutral space with a bolder hued bloom or stay within a monochromatic palette for understated sophistication, flowers immediately enhance the color scheme of any space.

Celebrate Your Aesthetic

Whether your design preferences skew more classic or you love a sleek, modern home, your floral arrangements can complement it. If you love farmhouse style, try a looser arrangement of rustic, textured flowers (like thistles and billy balls) with plenty of greenery, while a denser, full arrangement of classic favorites (like roses and hydrangea) is beautiful with traditional decor. Flowering branches, like cherry blossoms, make a beautiful statement in a more minimalist space.

Fill Awkward Spaces With Houseplants

We all have that strange nook or corner that we just don’t know what to do with—the one that would look strange empty but doesn’t quite fit a piece of furniture. That’s when interior designers turn to houseplants; there’s one for any size space, from more moderately sized plants, like peace lily, or all the way up to large indoor plants like rubber plants or birds of paradise. The type of light that the area receives will also let you know what type of plant will thrive.

Perfectly Style Any Shelf With Fresh Flowers

Accessories are an interior designer’s final touch in a space, and fresh flowers are often the thing that ties it all together (fresh blooms beat an empty vase any day!). And restyling a bookshelf or coffee table is an easy weekend project that can make a big impact on your space (and you don’t even need anything new—just swap in pieces from other rooms for an instant refresh). A mix of books, objects (like vases, trays, decorative boxes, and sculptures), and artwork or photos that are of different heights and textures will make any shelf pop. Top it all off with fresh flowers to your vases or small plants, like succulents, for a bit of natural beauty, and you have styled like a pro.