We may be a little biased toward floral prints—can you blame us?—but we already have a solid prediction for one of the top trends of spring and summer: Small-scale florals will be blooming in homes everywhere this year.
While scouting Ambiente—one of Europe’s largest housewares fairs, with nearly 4,000 exhibitors from 171 nations—we noticed this miniature print popping up on everything from glassware to textiles. Rooted in cottagecore, these mini-blooms are a far cry from the blousy florals of chintz or the punchy flowers of pop art. Their quiet, diminutive size makes them ripe for layering and softening any room, and the roots of this trend are already well-established by some of the brands we saw at Ambiente. Here are our favorite ways to update your space with mini florals now.
COURTESY OF LAURA ASHLEY
Cover Every Surface
Laura Ashley has long embraced the floral look, but recently the brand has gone all in with layers upon layers. If you’re a maximalist at heart, follow their lead and mix and match floral patterns in a similar hue, but at varied scales, to completely envelope a room. In the photo above, a mini floral duvet and shams ground a medium-sized floral print on the sheets, both of which complement, rather than compete with, the oversized floral wallpaper. This look would feel overwhelming if all the floral prints were the same scale, but instead the variety draws you in.
COURTESY OF LITTLE GREENE PAINT and PAPER
Or Just Accent a Wall
If a little dab’ll do you, consider a mini floral accent wall, or wallpapering a recessed nook, as British brand Little Greene Paint and Paper did in the room pictured above. The chalky hues and sweetness of the floral pattern in their Spring Flowers Bombolone wallpaper instantly softens up the wood tones and modern art in this space. Mini floral wallpaper works best when paired with natural materials like this, or with painted trim. Simply look to the colors in the pattern and choose one to match in paint. Darker colors, like the green leaves in Little Greene Paint and Paper’s Spring Flowers Garden wallpaper, create an eye-catching contrast, while lighter colors will yield a softer transition between the paper and painted woodwork.
Try Curtains
We often tend to default to solid curtains, or maybe stripes, but consider a mini floral as a toe-dip into pattern. The smallness of the scale means the floral drapes won’t overpower other patterns in the room, yet they’ll add more visual interest than solid colored curtains would. You could then repeat the same floral pattern on small accessories in the room, like throw pillows, and pull out solid colors from the pattern for larger pieces, like a sofa and armchairs.
COURTESY OF HAY
Update a Lamp
The usual upgrade is to pop a modern lampshade onto a vintage table lamp base. Well, how about taking a cue from HAY and putting a vintage-style mini floral lampshade onto an ultra modern base? We love it, and not just because these florals are Liberty prints—the icon of mini British florals dating back to the turn of the 19th century. The contrast of a sleek metal base with a soft pleated shade is joyfully unexpected. The Matin Liberty Table Lamp by Inga Sempé pictured above is available exclusively through Design Within Reach; alternately, try your hand at making your own floral lampshade to jazz up a lamp you have at home.
This spring, Liberty London is also partnering with Nordstrom on an exclusive collection of fashion and homewares in Liberty’s storied floral prints. The Liberty London Pop-In@Nordstrom shop is open through May 27 in select Nordstroms stores nationwide and online.
COURTESY OF JULISKA
Mix and Match Dinnerware
The beauty of mini floral pattern plates is that they can easily layer with other patterns on your table. Look for a common color thread to hold the theme together, but otherwise go wild mixing vintage and modern florals, or even pairing florals with stripes. Scoop up vintage floral tableware at flea markets and mix them with your existing china for a boho look, or try Juliska’s Maribelle pattern, which comes in a mini floral salad plate that can be layered onto a medium-scale floral dinner plate. Bonus: They’re melamine, so you can feel confident taking them outside in the summer.
COURTESY OF RAKLE
Or Set a Floral Backdrop
Toast spring with a table that celebrates the season’s emerging blooms. Instead of floral pattern plates, try solid plates against a vibrant floral tablecloth, topped with floral glassware and a centerpiece that’s bursting with flowers. Keeping everything but the centerpiece small in scale lets the real blooms take center stage. We spotted the above charming glasses by Rakle at the Ambiente fair in Germany, and the MoMa Design Store just added retro mini floral glassware by Hikaru Sugimoto to its assortment.
See What Else Caught Our Eye in Germany
Here’s just a taste of the mini florals we saw on display at Ambiente—straight from our photo library!