All The Ways To Decorate With Floral Prints In Home Decor

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

From sweet and romantic to classically contemporary, floral designs for the home vary as widely as natural blooms. How do you select a floral pattern to use in your home? That depends on you. While floral decor dates back to ancient Asia, these delicate designs first became popular in American interior decor in the 20th century, per The Local Flea. The color, design, and location of these patterns in the home have evolved from more than just a decorative way to cover a wall.

Floral prints have found their footings in today's homes. They appear on household furnishings such as beds, blankets, floors, and curtains. Floral patterns of peonies, roses, and budding flowers, with branch and sprigged designs, are appealing and can be the perfect element of visual interest. The detailed patterns blossom when paired with simple furnishings in natural wood tones or neutral colors. Incorporating decorations with gorgeous flower patterns in a home can be tricky. However, you can decorate the home with flower power by finding your inspiration in the decor tips below.

More than grandma furniture

Floral pattern furniture has come a long way from the sofa and chairs you may recall in grandma's living room. The designs today range from simple to maximalist. Gone is the furniture of yesteryear as contemporary florals are trending. "I have seen a huge surge in sales of my own floral fabrics and clients have been requesting floral upholstery, especially sofas and club chairs," interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard told Vogue. "We often hear from clients that a floral sofa reminds them of a furniture piece from their youth, so it's a choice that feels special and nostalgic." However, remember to ditch the plastic covering this time and let the floral prints take center stage.

When decorating with floral prints on furniture, follow the less is more approach. Rather than pair a chair and sofa or sofa and loveseat together, choose only one of these pieces and pair it with a solid color. Choosing to display a single floral pattern prevents the design from appearing dated. Floral furniture isn't just for the living room area. You can also incorporate it into your bedroom, office, or den by adding a seat with a floral print.

Simply add wallpaper

If you are searching for a dramatic way to create a focal element in your home, look no further than wallpaper. There are plenty of innovative ways to use wallpaper. Displaying floral wallpaper on a blank surface increases dimension in the space and adds character. You can opt to decorate just one wall or multiple sections to create stunning visual texture.

When it comes to what wallpaper to choose, begin with the type. Deciding between classic glue adhesive wallpaper or the more modern peel-and-stick variety is an individual decision. Contemplating a temporary peel-and-stick style allows you to create a bold look without committing. Complete this step with caution. As designer Amy Leferink told Woodbury Magazine, "Once you stick it down, it's stuck." When applying a traditional paste wallpaper, there is more flexibility in the placement, and you have more time to perfect it while the glue dries. There are other positives and negatives to each type of wallpaper, and you should weigh the options before deciding what to use on the walls in your home. Align the floral design with similar design elements, as this will give the wall treatment a cohesive appearance when all the pieces are puzzled together.

Display plates with floral designs

What better way to add a bit of personality to your walls than by decorating with plates? Not any old dinner plate but a china plate with intricate florals. There is something classically beautiful about decorating with floral print dinnerware. China plates can be an inexpensive and effective way to decorate the walls in almost any room. Designer Maggie Griffin shared with HGTV how versatile plates are in her own home. "I have plates mixed into a gallery wall in my den, over a window in my kitchen, and around the TV — the options are endless." If you have a set of grandma's china, dust it off and display it on the walls.

However, you don't have to inherit heirloom china to make this dream come true in your home. If you don't already have china plates with a floral pattern that suits your decor, then find dishes that do! "Start by flipping through shelter magazines or searching the internet for inspiration before shopping," Griffin suggested. If you don't find what you're looking for right away, take some time to source the perfect plates. "Don't try to rush the search," Griffin urged, "just wait it out until you find all the right pieces." Once you find the dishes to decorate with, pick your wall, plan your layout, and let your creativity take the lead.

Mix up floral pillows with other patterns and colors

Decorating with floral designs on accent pillows is one of the easiest ways to introduce floral patterns into your home. "To cover a chair or a sofa is a big fabric commitment," designer Virginia Tupker told The Washington Post. This method of using floral patterned pillows is less risky than the other options. Decorating with a cushion in a picturesque floral pattern requires little structural change but adds dimension. When decorating with floral pillows, be sure to create balance. Not every pillow on the furniture needs a floral pattern, so don't be afraid to mix it up. Create a cushioned support of floral patterned pillows combined with solid shades. When pairing patterns and solid hues together, try matching at least one color or undertone in the designs.

If you are not looking to repurchase cushions or inserts, look for a cute pillow cover like the Danny Floral Pillow Cover from McGee & Co. Pillow covers are the ideal way to instantly refresh a room without having to dispose of existing pillow inserts. Adding two inserts for every cover will make the pillows appear fluffier. Create the perfect pillowy escape on your sofa or bed with a beautiful display of floral printed pillows.

Add contrast with throw blankets

Blankets are decorative additions perfect for any home. Throws can be a work of art, whether sloppily draped or perfectly folded. Ideally, these decorative elements will have hues that complement your color palette while contrasting with the structural elements. "There are the standard throw blankets, which are generally lighter weight and are utilized more commonly as decor accents," Heather Kaminetsky, founder of Riley Home, told The Zoe Report. "These can be colorful, printed, and fun to add interest to a room."

If you want to break up the solid scheme in your home, consider adding a cozy throw with a floral print. Blankets with floral designs are available from retailers in many colors, as seen in Society6. Shop their collection of boho chic, modern, antique botanical, tropical, and exotic floral throw designs. Decorating with plush blankets will add soft texture to your home while providing warmth to guests.

Incorporate art that depicts nature

Enjoy beautiful flowers all year long by decorating your walls with floral art. Framed art with flowers or any abstract landscape, forest, or nature scenes, requires no long-term commitment, and you can easily update it with another print. These prints are like neutral wall art, as the natural colors and calm hues blend well in almost any style. The natural scenes in the art can help introduce pleasant scenery.

Consider grouping several flowery prints on the wall for a captivating floral embrace. Optical balance is essential when displaying several framed art pieces together in a gallery-style organization. "In a group arrangement, keep heavy pieces to the bottom and left," designer Linda Crisolo shared with Better Homes & Gardens. "It balances the weight of the items because the eye starts on the left." Adjustments will be necessary if the desired prints are already balanced "to put the heaviest piece in the middle." The most prominent picture in this spot will focus the eye in the center of the display. Unbalanced picture frames will be easily detectable by onlookers.

Spruce up your dining decor

A dining room, whether formal or informal, needs tabletop decor that creates visual interest. How do you achieve this in your dining room at home? By decorating with tablecloths, placemats, and table runners with detailed designs. "Patterned tablecloths are such a fun way to make a major maximalist statement," interior designer Cece Barfield Thompson told Veranda. "They protect furniture and hide stains, which makes them so family friendly; and they are so joyful!"

Tablecloths are not just for fancy dinners as they once were. These table decorations are highly versatile and functional as everyday home decor. Find the perfect floral tablecloths or runners for your dining room to introduce a touch of nature. Fabric decorated with roses, sunflowers, or lilies creates a stunning impression, especially when paired with dishware and cutlery. These decorations can be swapped seasonally for a fresh new look or updated to fit festive times of the year.

Create a garden oasis with bed linens

Wake up in a garden every morning by layering your bed with floral sheets, comforters, and duvet covers. Contemporary floral bedding like this reversible modern comforter at Wayfair will add dimension to the bedroom while incorporating cute floral prints. For the relaxing environment of your dreams to become a reality, "The most important thing is the way the details in a bedroom make it feel personal and conducive to relaxing," designer Cathy Kincaid told Veranda. "You need a cocoon to retreat into that makes you feel safe." Find the floral designs that speak to you the most and incorporate them into your look. Block print style, French country printed, antique roses, or other fanciful flower prints are ideal.

A bedroom should be your place of serenity, so fill it with floral linens that enhance the atmosphere. When choosing floral linens, the colors in the design are equally as important as the pattern. Create balance amongst the pieces by decorating with complementary patterns of similar flora. Layer a bed with florals in solid colors or simple striped or plaid patterns.

Embrace window treatments with Jacobean designs

If you want to make a small change with a dramatic impact, look no further than a set of floral curtain panels. Window treatments are usually solid-colored since most blend well with neutral color schemes. However, there are panels with vivid designs made to stand out. Opt to brighten your room with a beautiful set of Jacobean floral-designed curtains from Target. This pattern is elegant in a fabric. Jacobean floral designs feature an intricate weaving of vines and petals and are available in many colors.

For the design to flourish, pay attention to how you hang the curtain styles. The rod placement and curtain panel length will determine the final look. When hanging curtains over your window, designer Megan Hersh tells New York Magazine to measure "so that it just 'kisses' the floor. This way nothing is dragging and trapping dirt, but they don't look so short." The panels should slightly hover or barely touch the ground. The elongated appearance will make your room feel larger and taller.

Use block print rugs in the rooms

When decorating a home, the lower levels can get left behind. You know, the floors you walk on every day. It should be quite the opposite when you are decorating a room. Rolling out a rug on your floor will affect how everything around it appears. A rug is essential to a room's design because it can anchor the entire look.

To make your rug pop, keep the design at the forefront. What print are you choosing for your space? While solid neutral colors are favorable in most styles, nothing captivates a room better than a rug with a floral design. "My favorite way to do this is using hand-printed block patterns," designer Anatasia Casey told Homes & Gardens. Rugs of this style feature beautiful displays of flora and vine designs in different shades. Add these floral prints to your home decor to make a statement.

Match floral prints on multiple items in the same room

No matter where you're adding floral designs, it's crucial the patterns are complementary, including the curtains, pillows, sofas, chairs, and linens. When shopping for floral designs for your home, focus on creating cohesion with similar shapes and forms rather than trying to find something with the same flora. "It is difficult to put two similar looking patterns next to each other in a space, so I suggest mixing the scale and keepings the tones similar," interior designer Sara Gilbane told Architectural Digest. Flower designs with fluctuations in print size will provide visual texture and much-needed movement to a space.

Don't go overboard with the floral prints or try matching too many together. The garden oasis you're attempting to create will quickly turn into a jungle. The idea is to have a few flowery details scattered across the room from piece to piece. Think of each design as a stepping stone for the eye. From left to right and top to bottom, the pattern should lead the onlooker from one flower petal to the next.

Strike a balance between furnishings and prints

When decorating with floral prints, the designs are often intricate and detailed, creating a lot of movement on an otherwise static surface. This visual stimulation makes floral prints so attractive for interior decor. However, not all patterns are necessarily the texture you need in a space. "People can worry about the busyness of floral wallpaper," designer Shawna Underwood told Washingtonian. What if there was a way to tone it down with another decorative element? "Balance it with artwork that has a wider mat, it breaks it up."

If you have a floral design you love, no matter how busy the pattern is, stick with your gut and plan to accent the print with anchor items. Balance the florals with contrasting elements like wallpaper, pillows, blankets, or table runners. Brass and black candlesticks, collectibles in solid colors, books, or trays are some vertical and horizontal decorative ideas to assist in balancing a floral print.

Choose colors that bring the outside in

Decorating with floral prints should give your space a sense of rejuvenation not just in the pattern but in color, too. Flowers are nature's beauty and should resonate the same way in your dwelling. "Floral prints bring a bit of the outside into any home, whether it's an actual country house or an urban apartment — to which many people were confined to during the pandemic," Anthony Barzilay Freund, director of fine art at 1stDibs, told Vogue. "Who doesn't find solace and pleasure from a country scene, with its promise of innocent, simple pleasure and eternal renewal?" Bring this feeling into your home by choosing floral patterns in natural shades.

Homes small and large can benefit from floral designs with calming hues. Aim to create a beautiful natural world at home by shopping for floral prints in colors you would see outdoors. What color do you love most when you picture being outdoors? Is it the bright yellow, light and dark green, brown, and blue, or the seasonal tones of red, pink, and purple? Not all floral designs are strictly one specific color. There will often be a beautiful mix of several shades. Center your look around the most dominant color and incorporate one or two others for a cohesive design.

Pay attention to scale

While floral designs vary in color and pattern, they also change in scale. When decorating your home in your favorite floral print, consider how it looks up close and from a distance. Can you see all the details you want? The scale of the pattern you choose will depend on the room. A floral print with a small design will be ineffective from afar, whereas a larger one will be more dynamic. Choosing a pattern with an incorrect proportion will distort the overall visual representation.

"Large floral prints can be the perfect option to fill a room with style and texture," designer Kirsten Grove told Hunker. If you want to create a dramatic impact with floral designs on your walls, consider choosing ones with oversized prints. These designs are ideal in dining rooms as they present a "beautiful backdrop for furniture and art. If you're afraid to fill an entire room with one pattern, consider only wallpapering one wall to create a statement wall." Whether on the walls, sofas, floors, or tables, floral prints can be a blossoming addition to any home.