The splendour of lovely flowers

More often than not, it so happens that when you’d have planned for an informal party at home, few moments prior to the party, you cast your eyes around, to mentally scrutinise the arrangements. 

Yes, the living room window drapes are well laundered. 

The scruffy cushion covers are replaced by the ones meant for special occasions. 

 

The marble or mosaic floor is squeaky-clean and gleaming. 

 

The crockery and cutlery are sparkling and in perfect  condition. 

Though all the things around appear impeccably neat, you detect some lacuna, which is making the living room decor not captivating enough. 

Instant freshness

Well, what else could instantly and exponentially ramp up the visual appeal of any living space other than pretty posies placed at vantage points? 

For instance, just try placing the long-stemmed red roses, interspersed with sticks of lady’s lace flowers in long-neck pastel-hued vases. 

 

Keep them on the centre-table to experience the magical impact they create! 

In case your living room walls are in dark palettes, then you can think of lily white or pale yellow hued roses in sleek vases, kept on side tables.
 

There is yet another impressive way of arranging these roses. 

 

On a pin-holder, fix two roses, with cut-away stems, beside one another, in such a fashion that one is tad longer than the other. 

Keep these roses, along with the pin-holder, on an attractive glass or melamine plate.

Now, take a creeper of asparagus, and fix it on the pin-holder in a semi-circular fashion, such that the creeper encircles the two roses in the upper region. 

 

Alternatively, you can make the asparagus go round the roses in the bottom too. 

In no time, you find this eye-catchy arrangement tangibly perking up any dull space. 

The other flowers that look simply gorgeous in long-neck vases are gladiolus, rajani-gandha (tube-rose), tulips in different hues, aster, dahlia, chrysanthemum and so on. 

Try salmon-pink gladiolus fixed against stems of wide leaves (with edges trimmed) for that alluring effect. 

 

In fact, you can try arranging in the vase a solitary flower too, like say, a bird of paradise or anthurium flower, or even a stem of coxcomb, clubbed with either asparagus ferns or stems of rubber plant to infuse a cocktail of charm and beauty to the ambience around. 

Here is yet another exquisite way of using flowers, to create that enchanting effect.

 

Just at random, drop small flowers into a wide-rimmed, ornamental brass or copper bowl containing water. 

Especially flowers with small petals, such as periwinkle, jasmine and fire-cracker flower (kanakambara). They look awesome when they are floating in water. 

Remember, flowers bestow more beauty to their surroundings when they are placed in alluring containers. 

Like those flowers that look visually stunning when they are jutting out from the dangling quaint-looking flower-holders suspended from ceiling hooks. 

Incidentally, nowadays, imported fake flowers along with exotic jardinières are retailed in many stores selling home accessories. 

Some of these flowers, particularly the ones with faux dew drops, look simply mesmerising to the extent they can beat the real flowers hollow! 

The positive attribute of these flowers is that they don’t wilt or wither off. 

In case you are opting for these flowers, then opt for rare flowers such as orchids, rhododendron, iris, carnation, lilacs, hyacinths, daffodils etc. 

 

You can place these flowers not only in living rooms, but also in the bedrooms, guest room, kiddies’ room, on kitchen window sills, and in restrooms.

Finally remember, there are flowers exclusively to deck up the pooja room, and for the adornment of the portraits of  deities. 

They are hibiscus, champak, night-flowering jasmine (parijatha), oleander (kanagale), tumbe, kewda (kedage), white jasmine, lotus, balsam, chrysanthemum etc. 

Festoons
 

Note, you can also craft out floral festoons using strands of jasmine and fire-cracker flowers interspersed with ocimum (tulasi), which create that tri-colour effect. 

You can hang these festoons vertically or as torans at the pooja-room doorway. 

You can even try floral rangolis using petals of marigold, roses, jasmines, champak etc, for that numinous feel in the pooja room, besides making it exude with mystical flavour.
 

Flowers do lend themselves as fabulous decor elements due to their distinctive feature of diffusing charm to their surroundings. 

 

So, next time, if you are thinking of beautifying any living space, just consider bunches of bewitching flowers and the bedazzling ways in which they can arranged!