Flowers in the beach house...

Like many parents across our big beautiful land...we sent all our kids back to school this past week.

We have three kids, and of course, their return to school was staggered over three days!

We tend to embrace this by giving each child a day to *choose* how they would like us to spend *their* last day of school holidays...it works and everyone goes back feeling just a *bit special*.

Anyway, right or wrong, the kids have all had their days and now it's almost time for one of my own!
Until then I am tidying up the divine chaos of 8 {yep you read right}...8 long weeks of summer hols in this little beach house.

I start with the usual room-by-room total overhaul that we mother's like to do...makes us feel in control of the new year and all that...then I fill the fridge, freezer and pantry feeling pretty on top of it all!

And then...I drink waaay to much tea, and focus on flowers and greenery to make the house feel fresh and overhauled...

All summer long we have big sprouts of blooms all over the house...collected from walks to the beach, from our garden, and the fruit market- but I do love the ritual when school goes back of sorting all my vases, washing down all the table tops and starting with a new haul of greenery.

I'm not a mad flower lover- aside from jasmine and lavender all over the garden looking a little wild, and I would love to have a garden bed of English peonies- but the reality of living by the ocean, battered by sea air is that that is not going to happen here!
So instead I focus on flowers that do thrive along the coast that have wonderful shape, are a great size, are simple and can be stuck in a vase, with other pieces of nature, to really catch your eye.

It's about volume, and height and simple beauty.
Just about anything works if the size of the vase is generous, and the flower/greenery combination a little unusual.
To get a lot of wow for your buck, or from your garden greens, it's great to throw in a branch or two and whatever actually grows in your neck of the woods at that particular time of year.

Like eating food in season, it's simpler and cheaper to decorate our houses with what's on our doorstep, in nature, the same way.

So...find that flower that really embraces your season, and grab a few random pieces of wood, dried twig or fallen branch to build up a story that catches your eye every time you walk in your door.
Make a *moment* of filling your vase with something you have collected- not just the supermarket bunch thrown in at the check out.

I recycle so much of what we stick in with our flowers- I love that...and I love that collecting particular flowers, as the seasons change each year, remind me of summers before...winters before...and days before.

Frangipanni's say home and summer to me...they remind me of christmas and hot days by the surf...they make me smile that smile when you know you have long, long days of sunshine ahead...

We all have a flower that does that for us...I'm throwing them all over the beach house here and it smells like family to me...

Enjoy your day!

Melissa xx