From Kingscliff 2007 to Your Living Room: 19 Years of Valentine's Home Decor Expertise

I'll be honest with you, when we had the shop in Kingscliff back in 2006, I knew almost nothing about flowers. Andrew and I had bought Kingscliff Florist with dreams of organic skincare and baby products, the flowers were meant to be a sideline, something we'd eventually phase out. But the phone kept ringing, 40 plus calls a day, and most of them were people wanting to send flowers for Valentine's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, you name it. We learned fast. We had to.

One thing I noticed during those early Valentine's weeks, standing behind the counter in that tiny shop on Marine Parade, was how many customers weren't sending flowers to someone else. They were buying them for their own homes. To brighten up a kitchen bench. To make a rental feel less like a rental. To have something beautiful to look at while the February heat pressed against the windows.

It took me a while to understand this. I'd always thought of flowers as gifts, something you give away. But watching customer after customer walk out with arrangements tucked under their arm, destined for their own dining table, changed how I saw the whole business.

* Our flower shop in Kingscliff in 2006.

Why Valentine's Day Flowers Work So Well at Home

Years later, when we'd moved the business to our garage office in Pottsville and hired Anna, our first proper florist employee who still works with us 15 years on, I asked her about this. Anna had spent years in actual florist shops before joining us, and she had this way of explaining things that made you feel a bit silly for not seeing it yourself.

"Valentine's Day flowers last longer than any other flowers people buy," she said. "Think about it. In February, nobody's got the heating cranked. The days are warm but not scorching. You're not fighting a Melbourne winter or a Brisbane summer. The conditions are perfect."

She was right. I'd never thought about it that way. Flowers bought in Valentine's week, placed in the right spot in your home, can easily last 10 days or more. Sometimes two weeks if you're diligent with the water.

What Actually Works for Home Decor

Here's what I've learned after 18 years in this business, most of it spent talking to customers and partner florists about what works and what doesn't.

Arrangements beat bunches for home display. This sounds obvious but it took me ages to figure out why. When you buy a bunch, you need to find a vase, trim the stems, arrange them yourself. Most people, myself included, don't have the eye for it. We shove them in whatever vessel is handy and hope for the best. Arrangements come ready to go, already designed by someone who actually knows what they're doing.

Red isn't your only option. I know, I know, it's Valentine's Day. But if you're decorating your own home, you might want something that fits your existing space rather than screaming "romance" from the kitchen bench. Pinks, pastels, even natives can work brilliantly.

Size matters less than you think. Some of our best selling products for home decor are actually our smaller arrangements. A single rose in a glass vase on a bedside table. Three gerberas on a home office desk. You don't need a massive centrepiece to change how a room feels.

Three Products I'd Actually Recommend

I asked Anna which of our products she'd pick for someone wanting Valentine's flowers for their home, and she came back with three that I think are spot on.

3 Red Roses In a Vase ($93.75) is her first choice for most homes, and her reasoning surprised me. "Three roses is the sweet spot," she said. "One looks lonely. Six starts competing with everything else in the room. Three gives you that classic Valentine's feel without taking over your whole bench." The vase is included, which matters more than people realise. I've lost count of how many customers over the years have told me they bought flowers somewhere, got them home, and spent 20 minutes hunting for something to put them in. This one arrives ready. Anna's placement advice is specific: somewhere you'll actually see them during the day, not stuck in a corner gathering dust. A kitchen windowsill works brilliantly. A bathroom vanity if you've got the space. Somewhere that catches morning light, because roses photograph beautifully at that hour if you're the type to take a photo, and let's be honest, most of us are.

Red Ruby Arrangement ($135.95) is what she recommends when you want presence without fuss. This one combines red roses with oriental lilies and seasonal foliage, and it arrives in a box arrangement, completely self contained. No vase hunting, no trimming stems over the sink, no trying to make everything sit right. But here's the thing Anna pointed out that I'd never considered: the lilies in this arrangement are deliberately chosen at different stages of bloom. Some are open, some are still closed. Which means on day one you get the roses doing most of the visual work, but by day five or six the lilies have opened up and suddenly the whole thing looks fuller and more dramatic than when it arrived. She told me this back in the Pottsville days and I thought she was having me on. She wasn't. It's genuinely designed to peak mid-week, not on arrival day.

Lily & Rose Arrangement ($118.95) is her pick for anyone who cares about fragrance as much as how things look. Oriental lilies have this incredible scent that fills a room, especially in the warmer February air when windows are open and there's a bit of movement through the house. Anna warned me once about giving these to anyone with allergies, the pollen can be intense, but for most people that fragrance is the whole point. The mix of pinks and whites in this one means it fits into most colour schemes without clashing with your existing decor. Anna's specific advice here: don't put it in a small enclosed room like a toilet or laundry. The scent needs space to breathe. A living area, a bedroom with decent airflow, somewhere the fragrance can drift rather than concentrate.

> View all Valentine's Day Flowers

A Quick Note on Placement

Back when we had the shop, we'd get customers coming back a few days after Valentine's Day, disappointed that their flowers had wilted already. Nine times out of ten, when I asked where they'd put them, the answer was near a window in direct afternoon sun, or right next to the stove, or on top of the television where the heat rises.

Flowers hate direct sunlight and heat sources. I didn't know this when we started. I learned it from watching what happened when customers ignored the advice and came back frustrated. Cool spots, indirect light, away from appliances. That's the formula.

> Read my blog post on 4 ways to preserver Valentine's Day flowers

The Thing Nobody Tells You

Valentine's Day gets painted as this couples holiday, roses and romance and all that. But sitting in our garage office in Pottsville during Valentine's week 2011, eight and a half months pregnant with Ivy, phones ringing constantly (I estimate I have answered over 15,000 calls over my time), I noticed something. A lot of orders were people buying flowers for themselves, or for their mums, or for friends going through hard times.

The holiday has become bigger than romance. It's become an excuse to have something beautiful in your life for a week or two. To walk past your kitchen bench and see colour. To smell lilies while you're making your morning coffee.

> Read my post on the best flower to give to mum on Valentine's Day

I think that's actually lovely.

If you're thinking about flowers for your own home this Valentine's Day, or for someone who could use a bit of brightness, we deliver same day when you order before 2pm on weekdays or 10am on Saturdays. Our partner florists, real shops with real trained florists, make everything fresh. No warehouses, no Australia Post overnight shipping, just proper flowers made by people who know what they're doing.