Interiors: Floral patterns, big blooming flowers, wicker chairs and the colour green are on trend for spring 2017
Sometimes in life things are simple.
If you want an instant update for your home this spring, just gather together the biggest bunch of assorted big blooms you can find, cut them down to spill over a huge clear vase with a splash of water, and Bob’s your uncle: exuberant, casual, fresh and floral. When it comes to flowers, more is definitely more, building on the trend over the past year of bringing nature indoors.
We’ve been in love with hygge for winter, but if you didn’t buy a sheepskin rug before, don’t bother now. For spring, it’s time to go large with indoor plants and botanical themes.
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If you don’t have ready access to an interesting florist, then artificial stems in a display of mismatching glass vases does the trick. Then, simply refresh this otherwise static look of faux stems with a scattering of seasonal blooms. Abigail Ahern has a faux-florist shop at Heal’s and on Essex Road, or visit abigailahern.com.
Wicker and rattan have been on the rise and are a good investment. As chairs they have everything going on – low-slung, natural and informal. They can be dressed with cushions and throws or they look well-made on their own.
We’ve been in love with hygge for winter, but if you didn’t buy a sheepskin rug before, don’t bother now. For spring, it’s time to go large with indoor plants and botanical themes.
Try Cox & Cox (coxandcox.co.uk) for rattan chairs, benches and lampshades, from £120 each. They sit well amid other low furniture upholstered in rich velvets.
Woven baskets are still great decorative and practical accessories, as are collections of spotless glass vases, water jugs and pitchers, joined this season by the must-have bell jar.
Rattan high-back bench from Cox & Cox
Plants, and planters, are multiplying. The excitement is building as architectural plants make a long-awaited return. They solve the issue of what to put in a corner. Tall, wide and healthy they bring freshness and vitality to a room, and their living, breathing leaves sit against window dressings of sheer panels and gauze floating in a breeze.
Checks and stripes, and even retro geometry, take a back seat to the looseness of botanical prints. Think simple charm rather than chintz.
The John Lewis catalogue has nailed every look for spring – you won’t want to put it down (johnlewis.com). Take inspiration from its Leckford collection – striking meadows of pastel flowers on white bone china. “Our love of the natural world also extends to animal life,” says John Lewis’ head of design, Philippa Prinsloo. “The flamingo box and rabbit candle holder are wonderfully eccentric and very English.” Beatrix Potter, come on down.
John Lewis Leckford plate, Puritan 12-piece dinner set
As for colour, neutrals are still a safe bet for walls, with your smart herringbone floors. Our beloved soft greys, taupes, whites and woods of ash and oak combine with pretty pastel accents.
Green, from foliage, plays an even more central role, so complement it with pops of pink on cushions, pillows, throws and lampshades, which bring soft sage-painted kitchens and consoles, oversized smoked green glass floor vases, pale lime skirtings or mint tufted rugs to life.
Keep to a simple palette with accents, but be brave with texture and layering, and there will definitely be a spring in your step.