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Principles of Fresh Flower Arranging

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