Becker Holly - Decorate with flowers: gorgeous arrangements, creative displays, and DIY projects for styling your home with plants and flowers

A pure and simple day in the country in tones of white, yellow, and lilac

Feminine pastels with energetic jolts of neon for pizzazz

Floral prints and a lively palette with a decidedly handmade, nostalgic touch

Undeniably cheerful and modern with retro touches in primary hues

Explore the shore in bright whites, sea glass tones, sunny yellows, and cream

Clean upscale urban design in beige, punctuated with shades of lush purple

Fresh and happy with a flair for mid-century glamour and a touch of gold

Crisp white and graphic black is softened with natural greenery

We love flowers, and through our work as stylists, we frequently bring them into our rooms and vignettes to create a little magic. Like most of you, were not trained floral designerswe simply love to play and experiment, and this book will encourage you to do the same. We are inspired by beautiful flowers, from their colors to shapes, patterns, textures, and scents, and because they are so readily available, you can pull together a fresh bouquet that makes you happy within minutes. Flowers add an incredible lift to any space, and a dinner party isnt complete without them. Most major life events present opportunities to give gorgeous blooms to uplift, encourage, console, thank, show love, or share joy, and they are a popular goto when we simply want to treat ourselves. They can be deeply sentimental as a result and hold a special place in our heart. Flowers connect us to one another, and to nature, and for all of these reasons it makes sense that we delight in displaying them at home.

We decided to write Decorate with Flowers to blend our love for botanicals with our passion for interiors. Our mothers passed on their love of gardening, landscaping, and floral design to us, something we are deeply grateful for. Hollys mom was trained in floral design before Holly was born and continued to arrange for years; she even did the flowers for Hollys wedding, and today she can still whip up an arrangement in seconds that is nothing short of inspiring. Leslies mother is also a flower lover; as a Japanese Canadian she comes from a culture with a deep understanding and respect for nature. Her mother continues to share her love of gardening and flowers with her children and grandchildren. From a very early age Leslie learned about everything from how to grow and cultivate flowers to their handling and care, and how to beautifully arrange them in a natural way, which is often noted about Japanese designtheir genuine passion for purity and a certain flair for stylish simplicity that often comes so intuitively.

There are many gorgeous books which cover how to make professional-looking arrangements that are inspirational and gorgeous. We are not claiming to be a replacement; in fact, we own many of them in our own libraries. But the truth is, neither Leslie nor I take a very serious or overly professional approach to flower arranging. When we are decorating our homes, entertaining, or styling spaces for our clients, we tend to follow our heart and be more spontaneous. Both of us can scan a farmers market or grocery store and instantly know which bunches will come home with us and where we intend to place them for maximum results. Upon arriving at home, well unwrap and clip as we busily put together something driven by our gut instinct. For us, this comes easily, but its not always so easy for others, which led us to the idea of creating this book. Our goal is to present flowers that are budget-friendly and easy to find and show you how to quickly arrange them, along with lots of decorating tricks and tips. We thought to create eight flower stories, taking you through a variety of home styles to show you how to use flowers in every interior. Weve also added a bevy of ideas for choosing (or making) containers, including some step-by-step projects that you can try at home.

It is our heartfelt desire to bring you a fresh approach to decorating with flowers through this book, and to remove the intimidation that is typically associated with floral design. Nothing about our work is traditional or rules-oriented, so if youre on board with that, we guarantee you an inspiring journey. So sit back, relax and see what we have to share.

Happy Decorating with Flowers!
Holly & Leslie

When you decorate and make arrangements mostly for your own home, you learn over time what your trusty go-to items are, dont you? Our motto: Keep it simple! On the road, we dont have time or space to carry extensive toolkits filled with styling supplies. In fact, we usually pack our favorites and, when we arrive on location, combine them with whatever the homeowner has on hand to aid us in our arrangement making. When working from our individual studios, our cabinets stock only what we use on a regular basis because, as with any hobby, you can easily overstock and end up using only a portion of the gorgeous tools youve invested in. Were certain the pros stock everything from flower frogs to floral adhesive in their shop closets, but like most of you, we arent in the business of flower arranging, so our approach is affordable and no-fuss in order to obtain a more effortless look.

Always, always, always keep your tools clean, in top shape (scissors sharp!), organized (sort ribbons by color into clear bins), and in a single place so that when you only have 15 minutes of prep time for your guests, you know just where to go to beautifully pull together your bundles of hydrangea, cosmos, and honeysuckle in record time.

HERES SOME TRUSTY TOOLS THAT WE TURN TO AGAIN & AGAIN: