The FLOWER Magazine Atlanta Showhouse not only brought together 21 top-tier interior design teams but also paired them with 15 wildly artistic floral design teams.
“Showhouses are like a decorating collage,” says Honorary Chair Charlotte Moss. “They bring people with different viewpoints, personalities, and styles to the table—and here, we also have the unifying element of flowers. I can’t think of a designer who doesn’t love what botanicals bring to their interiors, whether fresh from the garden or interpreted in a fabric or painting.” Describing her flower cutting room, Bunny Williams notes, “A place to pot plants and arrange flowers is a necessity for me because they give life to a room.” And Barry Dixon, who designed the library, adds, “The things that grow beyond our windows are a never-ending font of inspiration for designers and for homeowners everywhere.”
Enjoy this sampling of flower arrangements that delivered life and inspiration to all of the spaces at the showhouse.
Kathy Rainer and Tricky Wolfes of Parties to Die For in Atlanta say their motto is “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.” For the showhouse, they created beautiful compositions in roses and corals but brought their “go big or go home” approach to a cascade of Kahala roses, Country Home roses, peach stock, lilies, Coral Charm peonies, peach campanella, butterfly ranunculus, pink scabiosa, and white anemones in the east gallery. Even the birds in the wallpaper seem impressed by this bounty of blossoms.
See more from the Julie Dodson’s east gallery, lady’s dressing room, and primary bath.
See more from Parties to Die For on Instagram.
Not all of the arrangements at the showhouse were cut flowers. Ashley Skandalakis and the team at Atlanta Planters created beautiful containers for the gardens and terraces. For the terrace-level patio she filled a small planter with a blue point juniper standard, Popcorn violas, calluna, Chinese and lemon ball sedum, ivy, and moss. The larger urn is planted with a Rosa’s Blush dwarf blueberry, Grey Owl juniper, taxus, baby cabbage, rose-colored dwarf snapdragon, Delft blue violas, Silver Cascade dusty miller, dark pink cyclamen, and moss. The piece is finished with winged elm branches to give it height and more texture.
See more of Tish Mills Kirk’s terrace-level patio and guest suite.
See more from Atlanta Planters on their website and follow them on Instagram.
“The textures, colors and movement in nature have always influenced my design process with each season bringing new perspective and life,” says floral designer Kappi Naftel of Birmingham. For the catering kitchen, she created a blazing composition of heirloom chrysanthemums, ligustrum berries, salmon-colored ranunculus, pyracantha berries, Bradford pear leaves, and fall grasses.
See more of Melanie Millner’s catering kitchen and butler’s pantry
See more arrangements and a how-to from Kappi and follow her on Instagram.
One of the pleasures of working at the showhouse was seeing arrangements change as they were refreshed for photo shoots and tours. In the Ray Booth-designed family room, Keith Robinson of Gloriosa composed simple arrangements with big impact. He first filled a tall, clear glass cylinder with impressive, white proteas and later refreshed the container with impressive branches of blooming fatsia.
See more from Ray Booth’s family room.
See more arrangements from Keith Robinson, read about his Georgia home and garden, and follow him on Instagram.
Cindy Brock and the team at Miss Milly’s Event Rentals, Florals, & Design created this rhapsody of jasmine, Juliet garden roses, leucadendron pods, Japanese anemones, veronica, tulips, butterfly ranunculus, Clooney ranunculus, symbol roses, nigella, variegated Italian pittosporum, and Italian ruscus for the second-story landing. The arrangement appears to have sprung from the blossoms in the English chintz covering the table.
See more from Jared Hughes’ stairwell and adjoining landings.
See more from Miss Milly’s at their website and on Instagram.
“I’d like to debunk that inner voice that says, You can’t do flowers, and replace it with an encouraging voice that says, ‘Yes I can,'” says Sybil Sylvester of Wildflower Designs in Birmingham. For the salon, she created a glorious arrangement of dahlias and peonies with green hydrangea blossoms, golden ginkgo and red sweetgum foliage, tendrils of ivy, spiky and cascading grasses, and bare branches. Bold, red pomegranates, golden persimmons, and red ilex berries punctuate the design.
See more from Suzanne Kasler’s salon.
See more arrangements from Sybil and follow Wildflower Designs on Instagram.
For the opening gala at the showhouse, Mary Delia Poynter of M. Delia Designs created arrangements for the, bars, outdoor terrace, and pool deck. These arrangements of orange tiger lilies, blue delphinium, pink and cream roses, blousy peonies, hydrangeas, persimmons, and trailing ivy bring the party to the garden!
See more from Elaine Griffin’s terrace and pool deck.
See more from M. Delia Designs on their website, and follow them on Instagram.
This centerpiece for the dining table, created by Robert Long Flora & Event Design, not only picks up the rich, dark green of the dining chair seat with ferns and clematis foliage, but the roses, vanda orchids, tulips, hyacinths, clematis, and other blossoms echo the colors and even some of the floral forms in the fabric on the backs of the chairs.
See more from Alexa Hampton’s dining room.
See more from Robert Long Flora on their website and on Instagram. And don’t miss a Keats-inspired wedding bouquet how-to from Robert.
Helen Izlar and Lane Courts of East Pine Designs composed a lovely mix of pink, peach, and white roses, pink snapdragons, peach hypericum berries, and cryptomeria for the rosé bar cart in Mallory Mathison Glenn’s sitting room. Cheers!
See more from Mallory’s sitting room, study, and en suite.
See more from East Pine Designs on Instagram.
The arrangement atop Bunny’s faux bois demilune table is a showstopper. Michal Evans Flora & Event Design filled a large, footed cachepot with Red Charm peonies, lysimachia, Tropical Punch vanda orchids, paprika yarrow, Pink Xpression garden roses, Shimmer roses, and Ilse spray roses.
See more from Bunny Williams’ flower cutting room, gallery, back porch, and powder room.
See more Michal Evans’ arrangements and follow them on Instagram.
For the gentleman’s dressing room and adjoining powder room, Suzanne Graves of Garden Party Designs complimented the patterns of the room with a simple color palette. “I was able to replicate the mums in the wallpaper and pair with dahlias from the garden for classic arrangements.”
See more from the Nina Long and Don Easterling’s dressing room.
Follow Garden Party Designs on Instagram.
When Elaine Griffin told Canaan Marshall what she had in mind for the outdoor dining table centerpiece and sent him pictures, the first thing he said was, “Girl, that’s a lot of flowers!” And he delivered with with a riotous composition of citrus and sherbet colors, with pops of purple and varied textures.
See more of Elaine’s outdoor terrace and pool deck.
See more from Canaan on his website, Instagram, and don’t miss his holiday centerpiece how-to.
“Inspired by nature, I love to design a multi textured, loose and wild arrangement of flowers. Let’s bring the outdoors, inside!” says floral designer Mary Pinson. Lisa Mende filled the bureau in her bedroom with blue-and-white porcelain from Replacements, Ltd. Mary flowered the collection with arrangements of butterfly ranunculus, thistle, anemones, rice flowers, antique hydrangeas, roses, straw flower, light blue delphinium, and brown Queen Anne’s lace.
See more from Lisa’s ‘Aunt Betty’s Garden’ bedroom.
See more of Mary’s arrangements on her website and follow her on Instagram.
Kirk Whitfield of K & Co. Floral‘s splendid arrangement of peonies and roses with hydrangeas, grevillea, and Japanese maple branches is magnificent on the terrace-level morning bar designed by Corey Damen Jenkins.
See more from Corey’s secret speakeasy, wine room, and morning bar.
See more arrangements from Kirk Whitfield and follow her on Instagram.
For Tish Mills Kirk’s Out of Africa themed bedroom, Canaan Marshall of Canaan Marshall Designs took dried palm fronds and painted the tips with a bit of gold, allowing them to blend perfectly into the wall covering. He then added pops of color with yellow and blush roses, white mums, and yellow rice flower. Red protea banksia bring bolder color and even more fascinating textures along with monstera leaves.
See more of Tish’s guest bedroom.
See more from Canaan on his website, Instagram, and don’t miss his holiday centerpiece how-to.
In another refresh, on the bedside table in Tammy Connor’s room, Holly Bryan‘s composition of black and white anemones, fern fronds, Japanese maple foliage, and camellia branches was replaced with wonderful greenish, ruffled clematis blossoms and ivy foliage.
See more from Tammy Connor’s ‘Secret Garden’ bedroom.
Find more from Holly on her website and follow her Instagram. Don’t miss Holly’s step-by-step guide to making an arrangement inspired by Tammy’s room.
James Rudge of Michal Evans Flora & Event Design tries to use to use unique flowers that are not seen everyday, in addition to standards like roses. For this arrangement in the primary bedroom, he combined pink brillianthus, Icelandic poppies, Majestic Hot Pink bouvardia, Pink Ohara and Princes Maia garden roses, Bellalinda cream spray roses, and berried privet foliage.
See more from Cathy Kincaid’s primary bedroom.
See more Michal Evans’ arrangements and follow them on Instagram.
The team from Lush Life Home & Garden in Atlanta brought beautiful plantings of white phalaenopsis orchids to the wellness room and spa. Mounds of moss standing above the container rim ground the flower spikes and willow branches add more vertical interest. The flowers will last for weeks with little maintenance, allowing more time in the gym to be focused on self-care.
See more from Fran Keenan’s home gym and spa.
See more from Lush Life on their website.
For the bedside table in Beth Webb and Tristan Harstan’s “Rhapsody in Blue” bedroom, Holly Bryan of Holly Bryan Design created an enchanting composition in the palest of pinks. She filled a silver cachepot with Quicksand roses, spiky Blushing Bride protea, bunches of pink rice flower, and clematis foliage. The rosy arrangement glows in its blue surroundings.
See more from the Beth and Tristan’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ guest bedroom.
See more from Holly on her website, follow her on Instagram, and look for her arrangement how-to.
By Jason Burnett
More From the Showhouse
- See video tours of the Atlanta showhouse rooms.
- Q&A with architect Peter Block
- Q&A with landscape architect John Howard
- Atlanta Showhouse rooftop garden
- Holly Bryan’s ‘Secret Garden’ arrangement how-to, inspired by the showhouse.