Vase Ideas: Pottery, Glass and Simple Shapes to Style

The easiest vase combination to get right is one heavy, matte pottery piece next to one light, transparent glass piece, in two different heights and two different shapes. Add a third vessel only if it has a different form again, such as a sphere next to two cylinders.

That pairing balances weight, texture and light on a mantel, console or table. The rest of this post covers how to choose materials, size a vase to its surface, group several, and style them in each room.

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Which materials work best: pottery or glass?

Both, and the contrast is the point. Matte pottery, unglazed terracotta and textured glazes absorb light, so they look solid and settle a shelf. Glass does the opposite: it lets light through and throws reflections onto nearby walls, which keeps a surface from feeling heavy.

If you're buying glass, look beyond the plain clear cylinder. Smoked or amber glass, ribbing and the occasional bubble all catch light in more interesting ways. A vase that looks good empty is a better buy, because it will sit empty between bouquets more often than you'd expect.

How do you pick simple shapes?

Spheres, cylinders and cones are hard to date, so they don't go out of style quickly. A round vase also softens the hard edges of a rectangular table or a boxy shelf. If you want to go deeper on how forms affect a room, I cover it in the hidden potential of shapes and forms in interior design and 10 ways to use shapes and forms in your home.

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How big should a vase be for the surface it sits on?

Scale is where most vase arrangements go wrong. A tiny vase on a big table looks like an afterthought, and an oversized one in a narrow hallway becomes an obstacle. A few rules of thumb help:

• Leave most of the surface free. A vase should read as one accent, not fill the table.
• On a dining table, keep vase and stems either under about 12 inches or above about 24 inches, so nobody has to talk around a bouquet.
• On a shelf or console, place the largest piece off center, in the left or right third, rather than in the middle.
• When grouping vases, keep them within a few inches of each other so they read as a set.

As an architect, I'd also check weight before height. A heavy stone vase wants something airy beside it, like a thin glass vessel. Three heavy pottery pieces together tend to look bottom-heavy.

How do you build a vase arrangement step by step?

1. Pick one surface, such as a mantel, entry console or nightstand, and clear it completely.
2. Choose a hero vase: the tallest or most textured piece.
3. Add a counterpoint in the opposite material. Pottery hero, glass partner, or the reverse.
4. Add a third piece in a different shape, like a low wide bowl beside two cylinders.
5. Lift one shorter vase on a book or small wooden riser so the heights vary.
6. Decide whether to fill them. Branches like eucalyptus or dried palm look good with this style; tight supermarket bouquets tend to look busy.
7. Step to the other side of the room. If it reads as one unit, you're done. If it reads as three objects, move them closer.

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How do you style a vase on a coffee table?

If you're looking for coffee table styling ideas for living room layouts, keep vases low and wide so they don't block sightlines to the TV or across the seating. A sphere or short bowl-shaped vase works better here than a tall stem arrangement.

One of the more creative ways to decorate a coffee table using a tray is to corral a vase, a candle and a small stack of books on it. The tray gives a lone vase a base, and you can lift the whole group off the table when you need the space. For a square coffee table, I'd put the tray slightly off center and leave one corner clear for drinks.

The same trick fixes the "floating vase" problem on any large table: a single small vase looks lost until it sits on a tray or a stack of oversized books.

Room-by-room ideas

Entryway

Go tall here. Long branches in a large vase give a sense of arrival. Because people brush past the console, choose a heavy-bottomed vase that won't tip, and if you have a dog or cat that zooms through, secure it with museum putty.

Dining room

Keep it long and low. A row of identical glass bud vases with single stems runs down the table without blocking conversation. A large ceramic bowl in the center can hold fruit on days there are no flowers.

Bedroom and bathroom

In the bedroom, muted earthy pottery and one bud vase on the nightstand keep things calm and leave room for your phone and book. In the bathroom, a ribbed glass vase on the vanity feels clean, and it handles steam and splashes easily.

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Home office

A cylindrical vase in a bold color or dark glass gives your eyes a place to rest during long work hours, and its simple geometry adds a bit of order to a busy desk.

Common mistakes and quick fixes

• Same-height vases look stiff. Vary heights and widths, for example a tall thin neck beside a short wide base.
• A white vase against a white wall disappears. Contrast helps the vase stand out, which is the figure-ground relationship from Gestalt psychology: we separate what we see into a figure and a ground. Put dark or smoked glass against light walls, and pale pottery against dark or wood tones.
• Cloudy water ruins clear glass fast. Change the water often, keep leaves above the waterline, and fill the vase only part way. Or use dried stems that need no water.
• Pottery can scratch wood and polished stone, so add small felt pads under the base.

If your vase sits on a glass surface, how to clean a glass table covers fingerprints and rings. For fresh flowers, see arranging sunflowers in a vase and caring for roses in a vase.

A note on pets

Some common cut flowers are dangerous to pets. Lilies are the well-known example for cats, so keep them out of the house if you share it with one, and ask your vet about any plant you're unsure of. If a pet might knock things over, use a wide, heavy base and skip the tall glass.

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Finishing touches

• Wipe glass with a microfiber cloth and a little white vinegar.
• Squint at the arrangement. If one side looks heavier, adjust the spacing.
• Pull at least one color from elsewhere in the room, like a pillow, rug or artwork.
• A single crooked branch in a simple vessel is enough. Perfect symmetry usually looks stiffer than it's worth.

Frequently asked questions