How to Create a Unique Hotel Atmosphere with Dried Flowers
Creating a memorable hotel atmosphere goes beyond choosing furniture or finishes — it’s about shaping the feeling your guests experience from the moment they step inside. Thoughtful décor plays a huge role in this, and dried flowers offer an elegant, sustainable way to elevate your hotel ambience with natural texture, warmth, and character.
Their muted tones, sculptural forms, and organic movement make dried flowers perfectly suited to boutique hotels and retreat spaces. They bring a sense of calm and curated beauty into lobbies, lounges, spa areas, and guest rooms, enhancing the overall guest experience while reinforcing your brand’s aesthetic.
In this guide, I’ll explore how dried flowers can help you create a unique, calming atmosphere throughout your hotel. From signature lobby moments to subtle touches that make each room feel considered, intentional, and beautifully designed.
Contents
Understanding Why Hotel Atmosphere Matters
Why Dried Flowers Are Ideal for Boutique Hotels & Retreats
Choosing a Colour Palette to Enhance Hotel Ambience
Creating Signature Floral Moments in Key Hotel Spaces
Designing with Light, Texture & Movement
Bringing Nature Indoors — the Modern Way
Telling Your Brand Story Through Floral Design
Working With a Floral Designer (and What to Expect)
Final Touches: Maintaining a Beautiful, Consistent Atmosphere Year-Round
Ready to Transform Your Hotel Atmosphere?
Key Takeaways
Atmosphere is everything in boutique hotels. Thoughtful design elements — especially natural texture and soft, sculptural botanicals — shape how guests feel the moment they enter your space.
Dried flowers are ideal for hospitality. They offer year-round consistency, low maintenance, and a calm, modern-rustic aesthetic. Complimenting design-led, boutique hotel and retreat interiors.
Neutral palettes elevate ambience. Soft sand, clay, sage and chalky whites harmonise with limewash walls, natural materials and Mediterranean-inspired design.
Key hotel areas benefit from signature moments. Lobbies, lounges, bars, spa areas and guest rooms can all be transformed with subtle but impactful floral styling.
Light, texture and movement create depth. Dried florals interact beautifully with daylight, sculptural shadows, and organic materials to build a warm, atmospheric guest experience.
Nature-led design feels modern, not rustic. When paired with textured paint finishes, stone, wood and clay vessels, dried botanicals help create an effortlessly grounded interior.
Floral design is part of your brand story. Consistent palettes, textures and focal points reinforce your hotel’s identity and enhance the overall guest journey.
Professional design ensures longevity and cohesion. Working with a floral designer brings spatial awareness, material understanding and a cohesive vision to every installation.
Minimal maintenance keeps spaces looking curated. Light dusting, occasional reshaping, and small seasonal refreshes help maintain a year-round atmosphere..
Japandi style hotel lobby space with dried flower accents
Understanding Why Hotel Atmosphere Matters
Creating a distinctive hotel atmosphere is at the heart of memorable hospitality. Guests may book for location or convenience, but what stays with them, what forms the emotional connection, is the way a space makes them feel. The interplay of light, texture, scent, colour, and form shapes this perception long before they ever reach their room.
In boutique hotels and retreats especially, atmosphere isn’t just a design layer; it’s part of the storytelling. It influences how grounded, cared for, and welcomed guests feel. A considered atmosphere can slow someone down after a long journey, create a sense of calm, or offer an instant impression of luxury without being loud or over-decorated.
From my experience, I’ve seen how natural materials can dramatically shift a room’s tone. A lobby that feels a little too stark or echoey becomes warm and inviting with the right botanical form. A spa that feels serene but flat gains personality with layered, textural botanicals. And restaurants with minimalist finishes often benefit from floral elements that soften the architecture without disrupting the clean design.
Guests don’t always consciously name these elements, but they feel them. The atmosphere becomes part of the experience — part of the memory they take home.
Dried flowers support this beautifully because they offer:
Natural softness that balances structured interiors
Calm, muted palettes that work with modern hotel aesthetics
Organic shapes that break up hard architectural lines
Consistency year-round, which is essential for maintaining a unified brand feel
Low-maintenance durability, ideal for high-traffic areas
When the atmosphere is intentionally curated, every space — lobby, bar, corridor, guest room — feels coherent and purposeful. Instead of competing elements, the hotel reads as a single, well-crafted story.
And dried flowers, used thoughtfully, become a subtle yet powerful part of that storytelling.
Why Dried Flowers Are Ideal for Boutique Hotels & Retreats
Boutique hotels and retreat spaces thrive on atmosphere — not the kind created by seasonal decorations or trend-driven styling, but something more enduring and intentional. This is where dried flowers become a powerful design tool. They bring a naturally elevated aesthetic that aligns beautifully with the warm neutrals, soft lighting, and grounded textures found in modern hospitality design.
From working across salons, cafés, and lifestyle-led interiors, I’ve found that dried flowers offer a level of consistency and calm that fresh flowers simply can’t. Their shapes hold, their tones don’t shift, and their textures age beautifully — which is essential for hotels aiming to maintain a cohesive look across multiple spaces and seasons.
My favourite reasons to use dried florals in hotel and retreat decor include:
1. A Consistent, High-End Look Year-Round
Hotels don’t have the flexibility for constant decor refreshes. Dried florals provide long-lasting beauty that keeps public areas looking curated and intentional year-round, without the disruption (or cost) of frequent replacements.
This reliability means your hotel atmosphere stays aligned with your brand — always calm, clean, and composed.
2. Alignment with Nature-Led, Slow-Living Aesthetics
Many boutique hotels and retreats draw inspiration from nature, minimalism, and Mediterranean-style interiors — all of which pair effortlessly with dried botanical design.
Neutral grasses, sculptural stems, and textured seed pods echo the surrounding landscape, reinforcing the tranquil guest experience.
3. Adding Organic Warmth to Architectural Spaces
Hotels often feature strong architectural lines, stone surfaces, large windows, and minimalist finishes.
Dried flowers introduce soft contrast — organic shapes that balance the geometry and help a space feel more welcoming and grounded.
In my installations, I often use botanical form to guide the eye around a room, soften a corner, or add depth to an otherwise flat wall or reception desk.
4. Supporting Sustainability and Low Maintenance
Sustainability is increasingly important for hotel guests, and dried flowers offer an eco-friendly alternative with excellent longevity.
Unlike fresh flowers, they require minimal resources, no wasteful weekly replacements, and very little upkeep.
For hotels, this means less time spent refreshing arrangements — and more time maintaining a seamless guest experience.
5. Enhancing Guest Experience Without Being Overpowering
Hotels need décor that feels intentional, not intrusive.
Dried flowers add subtle beauty without dominating the room or competing with existing artwork, furniture, or architectural features.
Their natural textures help create a calming hotel atmosphere that guests notice, even if they can’t quite put their finger on what makes the space feel so inviting. It reverts to that “feeling”.
6. Versatility Across Multiple Hotel Zones
One of the biggest benefits is flexibility:
Lobbies can take larger, sculptural installations.
Bars and lounges respond well to low, textural arrangements.
Guest rooms benefit from lighter, simpler botanical touches.
Spa and wellness areas feel more natural and serene with botanicals that echo the landscape.
This allows the hotel to maintain one cohesive design language while tailoring the experience to each space.
Choosing a Colour Palette to Enhance Hotel Ambience
The colours you choose play a defining role in the overall hotel atmosphere. In boutique hotels and retreats, the most inviting spaces are often those that feel calm, tonal and effortlessly cohesive — where every shade works in harmony with the light, architecture and materials around it. Dried flowers are ideal for this kind of palette because their natural, muted tones slot seamlessly into modern rustic, minimalist or Mediterranean-inspired interiors.
From my own design work, I’ve found that the best palettes for hospitality create a feeling of warmth without heaviness, and simplicity without feeling sparse. It’s about striking the right balance: organic, textural, cosy, but still refined.
1. Embrace Soft Neutrals for a Calming Base
Soft sand, warm clay, dried sage and chalky whites create a soothing foundation that works beautifully across lobbies, lounges and guest rooms.
These colours blend effortlessly with limewash walls, natural stone, warm woods and textile-rich furnishings — all common in modern-rustic and boutique hotel design.
Dried flowers naturally echo these tones, helping the whole room feel layered, grounded and cohesive.
2. Add Cosy Accents Without Overpowering the Space
Hotels often rely on subtlety to maintain a refined feel — but that doesn’t mean you can’t introduce warmth. Small accents in soft terracotta, muted browns, or golden wheat tones add a sense of comfort without disrupting a minimalist scheme.
In my installations, I often use a whisper of deeper tones to anchor a display — enough to add character, but gentle enough to maintain the calming ambience guests expect in hospitality settings.
3. Work With (Not Against) the Natural Light
Light shapes colour.
A palette that feels warm and inviting in daylight may shift dramatically after sunset — and hotels operate across both moods.
To get the best results:
Choose lighter, airy botanicals for spaces with strong natural light.
Opt for slightly warmer tones in areas lit by lamps or wall sconces.
Use sculptural stems to cast soft shadows and create gentle movement throughout the day.
Dried flowers interact beautifully with light — their textures create subtle depth, while their matte finishes prevent harsh glare.
4. Complement Architectural Elements and Materials
Boutique hotels and retreats often feature tactile materials like:
Limewash or clay-plaster walls
Slatted wood
Aged brass or brushed metals
Stone flooring
Textured fabrics
Rustic timber beams
Choosing florals in similarly natural tones ensures they feel like an integrated part of the design and not an add-on.
Soft grasses, hydrangea heads, palms, and seed pods work especially well in modern rustic spaces, where texture and tonality are key.
5. Maintain Cohesion Across the Entire Hotel
A colour palette shouldn’t change dramatically from room to room — it should feel like one continuous visual story.
Dried flowers make this easy by providing consistent tones across multiple installations, helping every space feel intentional and connected.
Palette consistency = cohesive brand identity = stronger guest experience.
Farrow & Ball have a great guide to building a colour palette. Read it here.
A welcoming, modern-rustic design hotel reception area with natural dried flower display
Creating Signature Floral Moments in Key Hotel Spaces
Every hotel has its “signature moments” — the touchpoints that linger in a guest’s memory long after they’ve checked out. Thoughtfully placed dried floral design elevates these spaces. Adding warmth, personality, and a sense of curated luxury without overwhelming the interior.
From previous work and commissions, I’ve found that dried florals are at their most impactful when they enhance the natural flow of a room. They can guide movement, soften hard architectural lines, and create focal points that feel effortless rather than staged. Or even hide unsightly utilities like boxing and vents.
Below are the key hotel areas where dried flowers can make the biggest difference.
1. The Lobby: The Heart of Your Hotel Atmosphere
The lobby sets the tone for the entire guest experience. This is where first impressions form, and dried florals help create a feeling of calm, warmth and welcome.
Design ideas:
A sculptural suspended “cloud” installation to fill the vertical space.
A large, grounded arrangement on the reception desk to soften its edges.
Paired floor vases framing seating areas to create a sense of place.
Textural botanicals styled against limewash walls for soft elegance
Insight:
Lobby spaces often feel echoey or too open. Organic floral forms instantly warm the atmosphere and create a more intimate scale without interrupting the architecture.
2. Reception Desk: Softening Structure with Natural Form
Reception desks tend to be the most structured, linear surfaces in a hotel. A dried floral arrangement can balance that geometry with softness and texture.
Effective choices:
Sculptural arrangements that don’t obstruct visibility
Warm neutral tones to match the brand’s palette
A combination of grasses and seed pods to create gentle movement
My approach:
I often design reception pieces that guide the guest’s eye toward the staff — subtly directing the flow of interaction.
3. Lounge & Bar Areas: Layered, Cosy Touchpoints
These are the spaces where guests unwind, order a drink or wait to meet someone — so they need to feel effortlessly comfortable.
Design ideas:
Small grouped arrangements on side tables
A long, low tablescape along a bar counter
Sculptural wall-mounted florals to add tactility without clutter
Botanicals that echo the hotel’s evening lighting (warm, golden tones)
Insight:
In lounges, I often use dried florals to create “visual pockets of calm” — little moments that help guests settle in and slow down.
4. Guest Rooms: Light, Minimal, and Thoughtful
Guest rooms benefit from simplicity. Heavy décor can feel intrusive, but subtle botanical touches elevate the experience without overwhelming the space.
Recommended designs:
A single stem or small vase in a soft, neutral palette
Miniature sculptural arrangements on a console or beside the bed
Botanical textures that reflect the hotel’s wider design language
Why it works:
These small accents create a consistent brand feel throughout the hotel, helping the atmosphere carry from public areas into private spaces, and adding a touch of serene luxury.
5. Spa & Wellness Areas: Enhancing Calm Through Nature
Spas thrive on serenity. Dried florals complement the muted lighting, earthy finishes, and slow-living aesthetic perfectly.
Design ideas:
Tactile grasses to add softness to treatment corridors
Stone or ceramic vessels filled with natural, airy botanicals
Sculptural pieces that blend seamlessly with textured walls
My experience:
Spas benefit most from botanicals that mimic nature’s movement — soft, airy designs that help guests unwind the moment they enter. The epitome of grounding natural design, and “bringing the outside in”.
6. Restaurant & Café Spaces: Elevating the Dining Experience
Florals in dining areas should add atmosphere without competing with the table setting or food presentation.
Best options:
Low centrepieces that don’t impede conversation.
Neutral-palette designs that complement tableware.
Sculptural focal forms that enhance, not clutter, the experience.
Insight:
Restaurants with minimalist interiors often need warmth — dried florals offer this without sacrificing the clean aesthetic.
Why Signature Moments Matter
Each of these touchpoints contributes to a cohesive, memorable hotel experience. When dried florals are intentionally placed, the entire hotel feels more connected, more welcoming and more uniquely itself.
Details in a meadow-inspired dried flower centrepiece by Anther Studio
Designing with Light, Texture & Movement
Light is one of the most powerful tools in creating a memorable hotel atmosphere. It shapes how colours appear, how textures read, and how guests emotionally experience a space. Dried flowers respond beautifully to light — softening interiors, casting gentle shadows and introducing natural movement that brings still spaces to life.
In my own work, I pay close attention to how botanical forms behave throughout the day. A stem that looks delicate and understated in the morning sun might create a dramatic silhouette at golden hour. Understanding these interactions is key to designing florals that elevate a space from “styled” to truly atmospheric. Visit DeZeen’s interior design archives to learn how some of the top hotels in the World use design to showcase their story.
1. Using Natural Light to Highlight Organic Form
Large windows, skylights and open-plan hotel spaces create the perfect conditions for dried florals to shine. Their matte finishes diffuse light softly, avoiding glare and creating a calm visual rhythm throughout the room.
Design considerations:
Place sculptural arrangements where the sun can catch their edges.
Use airy, elongated stems to emphasise high ceilings.
Let shadows play on limewash or plaster-textured walls.
This creates a warm, editorial feel — subtle yet unforgettable.
2. Layering Textures for Depth and Warmth
Texture is essential in boutique hotel design, especially in modern-rustic or Mediterranean-inspired interiors where materials take centre stage. Dried botanicals offer a rich palette of tactile elements: silky grasses, structured palms, papery hydrangeas, seed pods and soft feathery plumes.
How I layer texture in hotel spaces:
Pair structured stems with soft grasses for contrast.
Use tonal variation rather than colour for depth.
Incorporate vessels in natural materials — stone, ceramic, raw clay.
Balance bold architectural features with organic forms.
This creates a space that feels lived in, grounded, and effortlessly warm.
3. Creating Natural Movement in Still Spaces
One of the things I love most about dried flowers is the way they introduce movement without animation. Even the slightest breeze or shift in airflow can bring them to life, adding softness and fluidity to the space.
Movement works especially well in:
Lobbies with high ceilings
Long corridors that feel too linear
Quiet lounges that need gentle energy
Spa spaces where calm, organic motion enhances relaxation
Guests may not consciously notice the movement, but they feel the atmosphere it creates — a sense of ease and openness.
4. Sculptural Botanicals for Elevated Visual Impact
Some dried stems act almost like art pieces. Large palms, branches, or uniquely textured botanicals can serve as sculptural accents within the room.
Design tip:
I often choose one or two hero stems per installation — something with character, curve, or interesting negative space — to give the arrangement a sense of direction and purpose. This is an approach I take across sectors, including salon and beauty studio installations.
Pairing these with softer supporting elements creates a balanced composition that feels intentional and quietly luxurious.
Designing for Day-to-Night Ambience
Hotels transition through multiple atmospheres in a single day. Morning light feels fresh and expansive, while evenings call for warmth and intimacy.
How dried florals adapt beautifully:
In the morning, airy botanicals brighten and soften the space.
During the day, they create structured shadows that add depth.
In the evening, warm-toned lighting enhances their cosy, rustic tones.
This natural adaptability makes them ideal for hotels looking for visually consistent yet dynamic interiors.
Dried florals, when used with an understanding of light, texture and movement, can transform even the simplest space into something memorable and emotionally resonant. This is where the artistry truly comes in — and where the design starts to feel bespoke, rather than decorative.
Bringing Nature Indoors — the Modern Way
Bringing nature indoors has become a defining principle of boutique hotel and retreat design. But today’s approach isn’t about filling spaces with greenery for the sake of it. It’s about creating calm, grounded interiors that borrow from the rhythm, texture, and subtlety of the natural world.
Dried flowers work beautifully within this modern philosophy. Their muted tones, sculptural forms, and gentle movement echo nature without overwhelming the space, making them ideal for hotels that want to feel warm, textural and effortless.
From my own installations, I’ve learned that nature-inspired interiors aren’t built on colour alone — they’re built on materials, texture, and softness. Dried botanicals complement these elements perfectly, creating harmony between the crafted and the organic.
1. Pairing Dried Florals with Limewash & Textured Wall Finishes
Limewash and clay-plaster walls are becoming staples in boutique hotels thanks to their soft, cloud-like depth. They offer subtle tonal shifts that change throughout the day — perfect for pairing with dried botanicals.
Why this pairing works:
Limewash has a natural, slightly mottled finish that mirrors botanical textures.
Dried florals cast soft shadows that enhance the wall’s movement.
Neutral palettes on both sides prevent visual clutter.
From my experience:
I often design arrangements specifically to interact with textured walls, letting shadows and silhouettes become part of the installation. It creates a look that feels organic, modern, and quietly luxurious.
2. Using Natural Materials to Build a Cohesive Atmosphere
To create an interior that feels truly nature-led, materials need to work together. Dried florals sit beautifully alongside:
Raw or weathered woods
Stone or travertine
Woven fibres
Terracotta or clay vessels
Aged metals with matte finishes
These materials echo the outdoors but feel refined enough to suit boutique hotel design.
Insight:
I often choose vessels that feel like they belong in the space — earthy, tactile pieces that anchor the arrangement and give it a sense of place. The vessel and the botanicals should feel like one connected design moment.
3. Creating a Light & Airy Aesthetic That Mimics Nature
Unlike fresh florals, dried flowers naturally hold soft, airy forms that work beautifully in spaces designed to feel calm and open.
You can use airy botanicals to:
Soften corners or architectural edges.
Add gentle height without feeling heavy.
Create movement that mimics the breeze or natural flow.
Bring softness to minimalist or modern-rustic rooms.
Guests instinctively gravitate toward spaces that feel effortless and breathable — dried florals help cultivate that feeling without shouting for attention.
4. Designing with Organic Shapes to Break Up Hard Lines
Hotels often feature strong architectural geometry: straight lines, structured furniture, large panels, or wide corridors. Organic floral forms help rebalance this structure.
Some of my go-to techniques:
Using asymmetric botanical shapes to soften rectangular surfaces
Creating gentle arcs or “sweeps” that guide the eye
Pairing soft textures with stone or concrete
Letting stems bend naturally rather than forcing rigidity
This creates a space that feels more human, more comfortable, and more connected to the natural world.
5. Subtle Nature, Not Over-Style
Today’s guests crave authenticity over overly styled décor. They want interiors that feel relaxed, intentional, and easy — not staged or overly curated.
Dried florals achieve this by:
Offering texture without clutter.
Providing warmth without colour saturation.
Bringing nature’s imperfections indoors.
Helping the space feel lived-in yet elevated.
How design ethos shines:
The use of muted neutrals, Mediterranean influences, and sculptural botanicals aligns perfectly with this shift. The goal isn’t to decorate a hotel — it’s to build atmosphere through natural storytelling.
Bringing nature indoors through dried florals isn’t about replicating the outdoors literally. It’s about crafting a feeling — calm, grounded, slow, and warm — that guests respond to the moment they enter the space.
A natural, meadow-inspired display by Anther Studio, enhancing a seating area
Telling Your Brand Story Through Floral Design
Every boutique hotel or retreat has a story — a mood, a feeling, an identity that threads through each space. Guests experience this long before they read a single word of your brand messaging. Atmosphere is communication, and dried florals are one of the most effective tools for expressing your hotel’s personality in a quiet, sophisticated way.
I’ve seen how florals become subtle storytelling anchors: grounding the design, supporting the mood, and reinforcing the experience you want guests to remember. Connecting the surroundings of the space with the interiors.
Dried florals work especially well here because they feel natural, crafted, and considered — exactly the qualities boutique hotels want to convey. Learn more in our How to Tell Your Brand Story article.
1. Communicating Mood Through Colour & Texture
Your floral palette can reflect the emotional tone of your hotel:
Soft neutrals for calm, slow-living retreats
Warm clay and wheat tones for modern-rustic comfort
Pale sands and sage for Mediterranean-inspired simplicity
Sculptural botanicals for refined, design-led spaces
These choices tell guests what kind of experience they’re stepping into before they even reach reception.
Insight:
I design with the hotel’s personality in mind — choosing botanicals that match the emotional vocabulary of your brand: serene, grounded, warm, refined, or contemporary.
2. Creating Consistency Across Every Touchpoint
Brand storytelling in hospitality isn’t about one big statement — it’s about a seamless journey.
When dried florals echo the same palette, textures, and mood across the hotel, guests experience the brand as a single, cohesive narrative.
This is especially impactful when the florals align with:
The interior architecture.
The materials used throughout the space.
The lighting scheme.
The brand’s editorial aesthetic.
The atmosphere you want guests to associate with your stay.
This consistency builds trust and emotional resonance.
3. Designing Signature Moments That Guests Remember
Think of the visually iconic points within your hotel — the lobby entrance, the bar, the lounge nook, the guest room bedside table. Even hallways, landings, and connecting spaces. These moments can become part of your brand identity, especially when they’re captured and shared on social media.
Dried florals can help create:
A recognisable lobby installation
A warm, textural feature wall
A sculptural arrangement near the bar
A simple botanical accent in each guest room
A consistent “floral language” across the entire property
These moments become part of the hotel’s visual storytelling — and often the scenes guests photograph and share.
4. Using Florals to Reinforce Sensory Branding
Great hotel branding engages more than just the eyes.
Dried florals support multi-sensory design by:
Softening acoustics
Enhancing textural depth
Pairing beautifully with hotel signature scents
Complementing natural materials like linens, stone, and timber
The result is a space that feels cohesive, intentional, and emotionally aligned.
5. Reflecting Place, Culture & Design Heritage
Many boutique hotels draw inspiration from their surroundings — whether that’s coastal landscapes, countryside calm, Mediterranean warmth, or urban minimalism.
Dried florals offer a way to echo these influences without being literal.
Examples:
Coastal hotel → airy grasses, soft neutrals, driftwood accents
Countryside retreat → oats, wheat, dried seed pods, hydrangea heads
Mediterranean-inspired hotel → sculptural palms, clay tones, sage greens
Urban boutique → architectural stems, bold shapes, slim minimal arrangements
My design perspective:
Translating place and mood into botanical form is key — using sculptural, neutral-toned florals to reflect the hotel’s natural and cultural context without being thematic or cliché.
6. Creating Emotion Through Atmosphere
Ultimately, floral design is less about décor and more about feeling.
The choice of stems, the height of an arrangement, the colour palette, the vessel, the shadow it casts — every element contributes to the emotional landscape of the room.
When guests feel calm, welcomed, grounded, or inspired, that emotional response becomes part of the hotel’s brand memory.
And that’s what great storytelling is.
Working With a Floral Designer (and What to Expect)
For boutique hotels and retreats, floral design isn’t simply a decorative element — it’s part of the guest experience and overall brand atmosphere. Working with a floral designer ensures that every botanical detail feels intentional, cohesive, and aligned with the mood you want to create.
From my work on commercial installations, I’ve found that the most successful hotel projects are those built on collaboration. Translating your vision, architecture, and interior scheme into florals that feel deeply integrated rather than added on top.
Here’s what the typical process looks like when partnering with a specialist in dried floral design:
1. Discovery & Atmosphere Consultation
I begin by exploring the story behind your hotel — the feeling you want guests to experience, the design language already in place, and the atmosphere that needs strengthening.
Together, we discuss:
Your brand identity and guest experience goals.
The personality of key hotel spaces.
The mood you want the florals to evoke (calm, warm, minimalist, rustic, refined).
Your existing materials, textures, and colour palette.
Practical considerations like footfall, lighting, and ongoing maintenance.
Insight:
This stage is where I “read” the space — how light falls, how guests move, where energy needs softening, and where focal points have room to grow.
2. Concept Development & Design Direction
Once I understand your atmosphere goals, I create a visual direction that captures the design’s aesthetic and emotional tone.
This may include:
Moodboards
Botanical palettes
Vessel and material selection
Example arrangements for key touchpoints
Lighting and placement recommendations
The goal is to show how the florals will feel within the space — not just how they look individually.
My approach:
I design around mood first and materials second. A hotel’s atmosphere has its own rhythm, and the botanicals are chosen to support it.
3. On-Site Review & Spatial Styling Plans
For hotels, scale is everything. During an on-site review, I assess where installations will bring the most impact without overwhelming the interior.
Key considerations include:
Ceiling height and architectural features
Light direction morning–evening
How guests enter and move through each space
Visual balance (especially in lobbies and lounges)
Opportunities for sculptural or signature features
This stage ensures every design is tailored to the building, not just the brief.
4. Installation Day: Creating Atmosphere in Real Time
Large installations and signature arrangements are predominantly built on site to ensure perfect scale, proportion and flow.
What this means for you:
No guesswork
No drop-in décor
Each botanical element is shaped to the room
The final result feels rooted in the space
I often design instinctively in this phase — responding to the light, adjusting form, and shaping movement to ensure the atmosphere feels just right.
5. Aftercare, Longevity & Seasonal Refreshes
One of the biggest advantages of dried florals is their longevity. They stay beautiful year-round with minimal care.
I provide guidance on:
How to gently dust or refresh arrangements
How seasonal “accent refreshes” can subtly lift the atmosphere
When a space may benefit from a new focal installation
Choosing palettes that weather gracefully over time
Many hotels opt for small seasonal updates to keep the atmosphere feeling alive without losing consistency.
Why Working With a Designer Matters
Hotels are complex, high-traffic environments with layered aesthetic and practical needs. A floral designer ensures that:
Every arrangement enhances your brand
The atmosphere feels coherent and intentional
The design supports guest comfort and experience
Installations suit lighting, materials and movement within the space
The florals elevate the architecture rather than compete with it
Your hotel gets a look that’s both beautiful and deeply considered — the kind of atmosphere guests remember long after they’ve checked out.
An example of me at work, crafting a dried flower hanging of mixed grasses
Final Touches: Maintaining a Beautiful, Consistent Atmosphere Year-Round
One of the biggest advantages of dried florals in boutique hotels is their longevity. Unlike fresh flowers, which can fade quickly or require weekly maintenance, dried botanicals retain their beauty and structure for months, sometimes even years, when properly cared for. This makes them ideal for hotels that need installations to stay looking intentionally curated, day after day, without constant refreshing.
But even though dried florals are low-maintenance, they still benefit from thoughtful attention. These small touches help preserve the overall hotel atmosphere you’ve worked so carefully to create.
1. Light Dusting Keeps Arrangements Looking Fresh
High-traffic hotels naturally gather dust faster than residential spaces. A gentle dusting routine — once every few weeks, months or so — keeps botanicals looking crisp and clean.
Tips from my experience:
Use a soft makeup brush or feather duster for delicate stems
Avoid compressed air (too strong for fine botanicals)
For larger installations, a light cool-air blow-dry from a safe distance works well
This simple routine helps maintain the crisp, sculptural look of dried stems.
2. Check for Shape & Movement Every Few Months
Over time, dried botanicals can shift slightly due to airflow, guest interaction, or subtle settling.
I recommend:
Lightly reshaping stems when needed
Lifting areas that have softened or splayed
Adjusting angles to refresh movement
Ensuring feature pieces remain the visual anchor
These tiny tweaks help maintain the flow and intention of the original design, and I’m more than happy to pop back and refresh it every few months if needed.
3. Protect Arrangements From Direct Sunlight
Soft, diffused light enhances dried florals beautifully, but intense direct sun over long periods can fade and age dried flowers.
How hotels can manage this:
Position arrangements slightly out of direct beams
Choose naturally lightfast botanicals for sunny areas
Consider protective UV window film in south-facing spaces
By designing with the lighting conditions in mind, the florals age elegantly and consistently. Alternatively, any window display in direct sunlight can just be refreshed every few months to keep it looking beautiful.
4. Add Small Seasonal Accents for Subtle Refreshes
Rather than replacing full installations, hotels can breathe new life into their spaces with small, seasonal updates.
Examples:
A hint of warm amber tones in autumn
Olive branches or botanical greens/greys in winter
Light, airy textures in spring
Sun-washed, wheat-like tones in summer
These shifts keep the atmosphere feeling alive and intentional, without losing the consistency that’s essential to a boutique hotel’s brand story.
Professional insight:
Seasonal refreshes are one of the most effective ways to keep a space feeling current while maintaining the calm, cohesive neutrality hotels rely on.
5. Review Key Installations Annually
Even long-lasting installations benefit from an annual review, especially in public areas like lobbies, lounges, or restaurants.
During an annual check-in, I typically look at:
Overall structure and movement
Colour consistency
Whether certain stems need replacing
How the installation interacts with updated décor or lighting
Potential opportunities to enhance the atmosphere further
For many hotels, this becomes an essential part of keeping the brand experience polished and memorable.
6. Keep Guest Rooms Simple & Easy to Maintain
In guest rooms, the goal is a subtle atmosphere — not constant upkeep.
A single stem in a neutral vessel, or a small, sculptural arrangement, stays fresh with minimal attention. Ensuring every guest, at any time, experiences the same calming environment.
Long-Term Benefit: A Hotel That Always Feels Considered
When dried florals are supported with small, thoughtful maintenance, the hotel maintains a consistently warm, welcoming aesthetic year-round. Spaces feel calm, textural, and intentionally designed — never tired, cluttered, or forgotten.
The result is an atmosphere that guests recognise, trust and remember.
Ready to Transform Your Hotel Atmosphere?
If you’re looking to create a hotel atmosphere that feels calm, warm, and truly memorable, dried florals offer a beautifully timeless way to elevate each space. From sculptural lobby installations to subtle guest-room accents, every botanical detail works together to shape how guests experience your hotel — and how they remember it.
At Anther Studio, I specialise in designing natural, modern-rustic, Mediterranean-inspired floral installations that feel grounded, atmospheric, and deeply aligned with your brand story. Whether you’re launching a new boutique hotel, refreshing key spaces, or creating a signature moment guests will love, I can help bring that vision to life with thoughtful, bespoke floral design.
Explore how dried florals can elevate your space — and create an atmosphere your guests will never forget.
View the hotel installations page.
Let’s create something beautiful, intentional, and atmospherically unique to your hotel.