| Style | | | | Echo and offset the colours of your rooms with |
| Before starting to create an arrangement of | | | | your flowers, simply by avoiding using colours that |
| flowers, think about where you want to position it | | | | seem to you to look unattractive together. |
| and how it will relate to the designs, colours, | | | | Sometimes it will be the colour of the wood in |
| forms and textures around it. Consider the space | | | | your room or the pattern of your curtains, carpet |
| that will surround the arrangement and how that | | | | or wallpaper that gives you the idea for a |
| space is used. This will give you an idea of the | | | | combination of flowers. At other times it will be |
| scale and size it should be. If it is to stand on a | | | | the mix of flowers outside in the garden. |
| hallway table, then it must be large enough to be | | | | Whatever prompts you to choose certain flowers |
| noticed, but it must not be so wide that it | | | | and shapes, be bold in them. |
| obstructs people walking through the hall. | | | | Flowers and Houses |
| If the arrangement is to go on a dining table, then | | | | Although flowers are amazingly adaptable, the age |
| it must look attractive from the points of view of | | | | and style of the building can substantially influence |
| all the diners, and it must not take up too much | | | | arrangements. |
| of the table, making the place settings or serving | | | | Contemporary houses, especially those with large |
| areas cramped. Most importantly, it must not | | | | plate glass windows and minimalist decorations, |
| obstruct the view of the guests. This does not | | | | generally suggest simple and unfussy |
| mean that it cannot be tall, but if it is tall it must | | | | arrangements, maybe using only one type of |
| be narrow, with the flowers held above eye level. | | | | flower, and possibly using just one colour as well. |
| If it is for a bedside table, then leave space for a | | | | The containers, too, should be simple both in |
| book and for leaning across to check the time or | | | | shape and form to create the best effect. |
| turn off the alarm. | | | | However, many of the houses now being built |
| An arrangement for a coffee table should look | | | | have a neo-Georgian character and these and |
| good from above and every side. It should not | | | | their real Georgian forebears need more classical |
| take up too much room: you may want to place | | | | arrangements. That is not to say that these |
| coffee cups on the table after dinner. A shelf | | | | arrangements must be formal, but they should |
| arrangement should not look cramped beneath | | | | have some of the elegance of that period. |
| the shelf above it. Remember that in any | | | | Likewise the containers need not be actual |
| situation, the flowers should always have space to | | | | Georgian, but neither should they be starkly |
| declare themselves attractively. An arrangement | | | | modem. |
| for a fireplace rarely looks good fitted into the | | | | As well as bearing in mind the period of the |
| grate of the fire. It is much better to stand it on | | | | house, make sure that the proportions of the |
| the hearth in front of the grate. Remember that | | | | arrangement are suitable, so that it relates to the |
| it will probably be seen from the sides as well as | | | | height of the ceiling and the room size. So in a |
| the front. | | | | well-proportioned Georgian town house, for |
| Matching the decorations | | | | example, you can afford to create more |
| Always take into account the atmosphere of the | | | | extravagant flower arrangements, which in a |
| room. Chrome and modem glass rarely look | | | | smaller modem house would look out of place. |
| attractive in a Victorian or chintzy setting, | | | | Simple combinations of flowers look best, no |
| whereas they can look very special against old | | | | matter what the setting; arrangements should |
| well-patinated wood, such as oak, as well as in a | | | | always look natural and never appear to have |
| modem room. If the decorations are sombre, | | | | been tortured into shape. With this in mind it |
| rich-coloured flowers and containers look best. In | | | | follows that a simple jug arrangement can look |
| a pastel room, pale-coloured flowers, with touches | | | | equally at home in a contemporary or Georgian |
| of bright colour, are ideal. | | | | setting, but whereas one type of flower, such as |
| Although an arrangement should relate to the | | | | yellow lilies or stems of lilac, would look best in the |
| style and decoration of the room in which it is | | | | contemporary room, a mixture of simple country |
| placed, be wary of matching flowers to | | | | flowers and foliage would be better suited to the |
| decorations exactly: there can often be something | | | | Georgian setting. |
| very calculated about such arrangements. | | | | |