Distinctive Book Club: Decorate with Flowers by Holly Becker and Leslie Shewring

Professional golfer Walter Hagen, of all people, once said: “You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”

The man was right, you know – life is always brighter when flowers are involved. They cheer you up during boring hospital stays, brighten your dinner table, and keep you smiling on otherwise dull, grey days.

So we were thrilled when a cardboard package featuring a new book by Decor8 blogger Holly Becker and product designer and photographer Leslie Shewring landed with a heavy thud through Distinctive Chesterfields’ letterbox.  The book – Decorate with Flowers, released today (March 21) – offers a ton of creative ideas for flowers and containers in and around the home, and it’s as stunning to flick through as its pastel-coloured front cover would suggest.

I mean, just look at it…Doesn’t the cover alone make you want to dash to the nearest florist, pick up a bunch of cheery blooms and proudly plonk them in a pretty vase?

All images via Decorate with Flowers

But the thing is with this here book is that the ‘plonking’ of flowers is just not acceptable. Not when you clap eyes on the beautifully-arranged displays among the book’s 142 pages. It’s enough to make you feel guilty about lazily arranging those daffodils you just bought into an old vase. To help you avoid this, Holly and Leslie have combined some gorgeous ideas with stunning photography in this book, the latest in a long line of interior-focused publications from Holly and co.

The great thing about this book is that it features projects everyone can have a go at – and on the cheap, too. There’s even a super easy tutorial for pastel-coloured jam jar vases. It’s ideas like this that give the book a real homemade ‘do-it-yourself’ feel – and each project is achieved at home with few ‘tools’ (there’s nothing worse than embarking on a simple home project only to discover you need a tool bag’s worth of stuff you haven’t even heard of) with ease.

We love this simple yet effective cone of flowers (above), which offers a perfect way to display flowers in the home (perhaps propped up in an equally pretty vase) and a similarly attractive way to hand over a floral gift.

And, of course, the book offers up some of the more ‘standard’ ways to display flowers; in hand-tied posies and gorgeous vases. There’s plenty of great tips along the way, and a real sense of Holly’s personal style coming through all the while.

This bright and cheery arrangement (above) is the perfect complement to any dining table, do you agree?

Find out how to create beautiful displays like this one, and a whole lot more, in Decorate with Flowers, available to purchase now via Amazon.

Like this post? Don’t forget to check out other reviews in our Distinctive Book Club series by heading here.