How to Bring the Outdoors Into Your Home

Whenever I need to get inspiration for my interiors, I turn to what is perhaps an ironic place - the outdoors. There is something about the beauty of nature, the textures and light and patterns, that I always want to incorporate in my interior spaces. I wonder if it harks back to a time when we really did live in nature, at one with the elements.

Bringing the outdoors into your own home doesn't have to be difficult either! Here are tips to make your own home a natural retreat.

1. Plants

Okay, I'm going to start with the most obvious one! Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a bit of a crazy plant lady. I LOVE them. I'm especially into lusciously green plants, like ferns, ivy or a good old ficus. But structurally interesting or different green hues are great to incorporate too. One of my favourites is a string of pearls. If you don't have such a green thumb, a trick I like to use is mixing (a good quality) fake with real plants. That way you get twice the green for half the work.

2. Bring in natural fibres and textures

There are so many awesome natural materials out there these days for home decor products. Wood, leather, stone, rattan, linen, textured fabrics in natural hues, will all give your home a 'natural' look. I like textures that aren't too perfect and still contain the natural weave, pattern or knots of the element, like a rough hewn stool or stone benchtop. This chalet below is a great blend of a white background palette for lots of natural textures in the wood ceiling and floors, leather chairs, rustic fireplace and bright pot plant.

3. Scents from nature

That feeling of the outdoors doesn't just have to be visual - incorporate all your senses in the experience! There are so many beautiful smelling diffusers, room scents, oils and bathroom products with scents inspired or drawn directly from nature. I try to match mine to the seasons - floral scents for spring, tropical scents for summer, cinnamon for autumn and pine and

4. Create indoor outdoor flow

One of the best ways to bring the outdoors in to make sure you can see if from your living spaces! This is always an essential part of space planning for me, to capitalise on garden views. Many of my favourite homes are fairly minimal in interior decor because the garden or view you can see out the windows is the real star of the show. It's also great to have this flow for entertaining, so you can extend your living space or dining room right outside. If you have a nice garden or view, it may be worth thinking about putting in larger windows, bifold doors or a deck to truly enjoy nature from your home.

5. Decorate with nature

If structural changes are a bit beyond your budget, this one certainly won't be. Decorating with plants, pine cones, feathers, stones, shells, grass or whatever else you can find outside is definitely friendly for your wallet! I love how beautiful a single leaf in a vase or some stones piled one on top of the other can be and the great thing is you can change it up for every season for a whole new look. Here are some simple decor ideas using nature for every season:

Spring - A posy of spring wild flowers brings beautiful scents and a fresh vibe to your home!

Summer - Bold green leaves like the ones pictured below are stunning when displayed artistically on their own

Autumn - Pampas grass, acorns or autumn leaves, or an interestingly shaped twig in a vase.

Winter - I love filling a simple bowl with pine cones of different sizes and draping a sheepskin rug across a chair for extra cosy vibes!

Hope this has given you some great ideas about how to bring nature into your home!

Cheers

Elaine