Adorning your space with seasonally apropos flowers rarely comes cheap. Pick up a bouquet for your kitchen island, one for your bedside table, plus, one for your zen den, and before you know it, you’re out the price of a boutique fitness class (Eek!). That’s why, like so many other money conundrums in life (think meal-prepping instead of buying a $13 lunch salad) the answer is simple: Do it yourself.

To help you get started on sourcing, pairing, and perfecting summer arrangements for your healthy home, I asked Christina Stembel, “Chief Farmgirl” at Farmgirl Flowers to offer her sage wisdom for creating compliment-worthy bouquets (without totally breaking the bank). Who knows? Once your girl gang catches onto your skills, you might just have a floral side-gig on your hands.

Roll up your sleeves and get ready to become your very own summer florist.

Step 1: Choose your vibe. When Flembel thinks of summer flowers, one word pops into her head: “Tropical! When you think of summer, most people dream about sunshine, margaritas, palm trees, and the beach,” she says. “We also tend to love brighter colors during the summer—corals, oranges, and pinks—instead of the more jewel-toned colors of fall, and muted winter hues.” 

Basically, you can’t go wrong with vibrant pops of color. So channel those beach-sunset-slash-surf-school vibes and bring summer to life in your bouquet with a vivid palette.

Step 2: Find a place to buy your flowers.Since Marshall’s hasn’t expanded their offerings into the floral biz yet, you’ll have to source your DIY project elsewhere. Luckily, Stembel has some insider tips for stocking up on summer essentials without blowing your savings.

If you live near a farmer’s market, she says to try taking leisurely stroll through the selection there: “Buying them directly from the farmer ensures they’ll be at the peak for their freshness and beauty and gives you a great excuse to break out your cute market bag and get a little sunshine on a Sunday morning (post-brunch, of course)!”

However, if you’re in a farmer’s market-less area, Farmgirl flowers actually offers a market box delivery service ($68) packed with fresh flower just waiting to be arranged. And of course, you can always give a pre-made bouquet from the grocery store a face-lift.

Step 3: Select three to four varieties that vary in size, shape, and composition.“I like to pick one or two bigger head flowers like peonies, roses, or dahlias, a taller, linear flower snapdragons, foxglove, or calla lilies, and one or two fun bits like scabiosa, veronica, or hypericum berries,” Stembel recommends. To save a few bucks, you can scrounge for foliage in your backyard (or a park if you’re a city-dweller) to round out your other selects.

Not sure where to start? Peonies are an all-star bloom that she terms the “first-round draft pick” of summer bouquets. “They also have an incredibly short season so we take advantage of every single day that we can get them. I think because the season is so fleeting, it makes them even more special,” she says. Add in a blush-hued anthurium, and you have a Farmgirl-approved arrangement. 

Step 4: Contour your flowers—just like you’d contour your face. 

Stembel’s number one rule for DIY flower arranging: “To get a really designed look, the rule of the game is staggering,” she tells me. “We like to think it’s a little like contouring, just with blooms, not bronzer!”

By this, this team of flower architects means arranging the blooms so some reach different heights than others. “Try adding a few taller stems (snapdragons, callas, or stiffer greens like spiral eucalyptus are great options) to one side and adding a graceful dip to the other side (tulips, foxglove, or feathery greens like plumosa fern are great options).” And there you have it. No other, *ahem*, arrangements necessary.

Other #homedecorhacks: These are Etsy’s truly genius ways to organize your essential oils and how to upcycle your candles into gorge coffee mugs.