Inspiring your Home and Lifestyle
Hannah Taylor of Fayetteville’s Fleurish Floral Studio brings spring indoors with bouquet inspiration
“I do a little bit of farming, a little bit of design, and a little bit of events. It’s a fun mix,” Hannah Taylor says. After opening her Fayetteville boutique flower farm and floral design company, Fleurish Floral Studio, two years ago, the Northwest Arkansas native is finding her niche in multiple areas….
Houseplant Handbook: Here’s the 411 on popular indoor plant varieties and maintenance
While houseplants are an easy way to bring life to your home décor, they have the reputation for being not-so-easy to keep alive. At least, that’s the myth that David Kirkpatrick from Cabbage Rose Florist in Little Rock says should be dispelled. “Plants just like a routine,” he explains. “When you overwater, then underwater, then change things around, that’s where houseplants get temperamental. It’s like a child—the more you keep to a schedule, the better they do,” he says. The eight plants listed here are great for first-timers—just remember to set a schedule and stick to it. >>>…
Seasonal Statement: Welcome guests with fall foliage and accents that can easily transition to winter months
Jennifer Gibson of Little Rock’s Good Earth Garden Center says the front-door display at coworker Billie Shields’s house has been on Billie’s to-do list for some time. “She has always wanted a pumpkin fall entrance, and this is the first house she’s lived in where she could do it,” Jennifer says. “And if you are going to have an eye-catching pumpkin display, you need the rest of the accents to complement it!”…
Thanks to an amenity-filled backyard there’s no need for this family of five to head out of town for a getaway
Sometimes the greatest escape is one nearby. Case in point: Angie and Hunter McMillen’s Little Rock backyard. “We had a boat, and we enjoyed going to the lake, but we didn’t have a lake house,” Hunter says. “I thought, ‘One day I will have a house there, and I’ll enjoy boating all day and not having to drive back home, but until then let’s sell the boat and build a pool and get our priorities right. Now, we use this more than we ever used our boat.”…
A European-inspired poolside retreat offers a quiet place to escape
When Melissa Hixson and her now-husband, Walter, moved to Little Rock three years ago, it didn’t take them long to find a house that felt just right. Having lived all over the country (most recently in Dallas), Melissa was happy and surprised to find a home in Arkansas that reminded her so much of some of her favorite travels abroad. “Our real estate agent showed us one house we thought we were interested in, but we didn’t think it was the one,” Melissa recalls. “Then he said, ‘There’s another I can show you, probably my favorite house in the Heights.’ Twenty minutes later, we bought the house.”…
A blank-slate backyard undergoes a massive transformation, complete with spaces for both kids and kids at heart to enjoy and an abundance of colorful plantings
Good friends are hard to find and even harder to leave. That’s one of the reasons the owners of this west Little Rock home have stayed in a community filled with dear friends for almost 25 years “We built in this neighborhood in the mid-1990s. We had a group of six friends, and, at the time, we were all looking for a place to land. We decided to develop a new area of this neighborhood along the ridge,” the homeowner says….
Make a statement in your outdoor area with container plantings that will thrive through the summer and fall
“Containers are one of the most under-utilized garden features,” says David Munsey III, general manager of Little Rock’s Better Lawns & Gardens. “You don’t need a lot of them to start with; you can make a big impact, colorwise, with just one or two plantings. Plus, they are less expensive than planting a bed and can be used in small spaces or apartments,” he adds….
Creating a floral arrangement can be intimidating. Much like keeping houseplants alive, a lot of people just assume they don’t have a knack for it. But according to Mary Grace McCauley at Pigmint Floral Studio in Fayetteville, anyone can master the art—you just need to know the basics and give it a try. Next time you’re faced with a bunch of stems and an empty vase, call on Mary Grace’s words of wisdom to guide you to a gorgeous arrangement.
STEP 1: Go Green
“The most important step is ‘greening the vase,’ because that builds your support for your flower arrangement,” Mary Grace says. To accomplish this, she alternates laying stems of salal and Italian Ruscus, Pigmint’s signature greens, across the vessel. “You want to think about building an armature that’s going to hold up your flower stems,” she says….
Leslie Pender has a penchant for historical homes and gardens—most notably her own. The Heights home she shares with her husband, Jim, has previously graced the pages of At Home in Arkansas, prompting us to wonder what was behind the iron gates of her garden. Pender took us on a tour to share how both the past and the present play a role in her beloved outdoor space.
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Low on maintenance yet high on style, succulent plantings are an easy way to bring a bit of nature indoors
During the often-dreary days of winter, the smallest pops of green can remind us of the seasons of growth that lay ahead. Succulents, a group of plants characterized by their thick water-storing leaves and minimal requirements for care, prove to be a perfect planting for this time of year. Floral designer Alex Hudson of Tanarah Luxe Floral created this combination by mixing varied styles, shapes, and sizes. “If you have small-headed plants that are very textural then you will want to add in some smooth-textured plants to provide balance and give the eye a rest,” he says of the process….
At Home in Arkansas offers you a look inside the state's most inspiring homes. The magazine features monthly advice from the experts to help you plan your next remodel or redesign, entertain at home, or find Arkansas's best kept secrets. It is your definitive guide to the state's finest homes and gardens, design professionals, fashion and entertaining essentials, and premier shops and showrooms.