Mother Nature has plenty of beauty to offer, but it’s not always easy to mimic her majesty indoors. A few plants here and there go a long way in introducing biophilic interior design into your home. Expanding your biophilia or love for nature doesn’t have to come all at once. Little details enliven every space with the lush, organic feeling of natural home decor. And you can achieve this ambiance without it feeling overwhelming or forced. Learn how to bring the outdoors inside with simple tricks and tips that are thoroughly modern and on-trend.
Bring Nature Indoors
Embracing your natural side doesn’t have to mean resorting to an expensive remodel. In fact, the best highlights of natural decor are added as accessories or furnishings rather than large-scale renovations like new flooring or paint. Focus on elements that are tranquil, comforting, and minimalist to keep everything coordinated.
While you can save a little money by using natural elements you find in the environment around you, you also need to select cozy decor items designed with a biophilic design in mind. Pairing a mix of collected items like pine cones, dried leaves, and wildflowers with permanent fixtures like woven jute baskets or driftwood light fixtures will create a sense of natural home decor that changes with the seasons. Add a bundle of reeds here and a moss-inspired throw pillow there, then watch your own natural expression bloom gradually over time.
You just need a sprinkling of natural details to bring life and movement into any decor type. There’s no need to embrace an entire biophilic interior design scheme just to use nature-based details. For example, Nordic modern styles already rely on many natural touches like light-colored woods and moss balls to create an airy sense of calmness. In more traditional decorating styles, bedding patterned with trees or floral patterns may be just enough to hint at nature’s bounty without looking out of place. Use a restrained hand when adding actual materials from the great outdoors like dried branches, fresh or dried flowers, nuts, shells, and pinecones. Stick to a single color scheme or theme for those elements you gather and add. For example, it’s easy to find mushrooms, nuts, and dried branch arrangements all in an elegant dove gray color. This adds an elegant touch to keep your space from looking too rustic.
Decorate Your Interior with Indoor Planters
Living houseplants are easier to keep than you might think, thanks to the sheer variety available. With dozens of varieties that require little light and even less attention, all that remains is finding stylish indoor planters to nestle the plants into. Some of the easiest houseplants to maintain include:
- Pothos or Devil’s Ivy (Epipremnum aureum)
- Cast Iron Plant (Aspidistra elatior)
- Weeping Fig (Ficus Benjamina)
- Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema)
- Dumb cane (Dieffenbachia)
- Air plants (Tillandsia) and Staghorn ferns (Platycerium)
- Heartleaf (Philodendron), often mistaken for Pothos
- Spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum)
- Friendship plant (Pilea involucrata).
Most of these plants are smaller, so consider mixing a few together to fill a larger planter with plenty of space. All indoor plants require good drainage, so that you can supply enough water without drowning their roots. Look for planters that can hold other pots and add a layer of river rock at the bottom to keep the roots up and out of the drainage water. Don’t be afraid to lift the potted plants out of the planters and take them into the bathroom for watering as well, a popular technique among houseplant influencers today. Start with just one or two easy-to-grow plants, and then expand with a common color scheme for the foliage.
Find the Best Faux Plants
Not home enough to keep an eye on living plants? You can still embrace the natural decor trend with faux plants that look realistic. Every corner of your home can sprout with luxurious blooms and leaves if you mix a combination of high-quality faux plants and a few live houseplants. This minimizes the amount of weekly care you need to provide while maximizing the “wall of green” look that’s so popular today. Of course, you’ll want to get the very best faux plants to achieve your natural decor dreams.
The first step to selecting a faux plant is considering the original texture of the specific plant you’re mimicking. Many succulents have a waxy look that is easily replicated with plastic or wax. For fuzzy plants or those with a sheen, it may take a little more searching to find a silk product that offers just the right level of realism. Smaller plants and those placed below eye level will need the highest level of realism, while larger plants and those placed on higher shelves can look a little more generic. Preserved plants are a good choice as well, as they offer natural beauty with no maintenance. To get this look, check out freeze-dried bouquets and wreaths made of dried boxwood or holly.
Decorate Indoors with Sculptures
Not all natural touches for the home need to come directly from nature without processing. Any fine stone or metal material can add earthiness to a home and ground its interior in the memory of the outdoors. Try sculptures that draw from nature as inspiration yet add a modern twist, such as elegant rabbits finished in a smooth whitewash finish. Ferns, lilies, and more lend eternal yet cozy elegance to the home without fading over time when you choose a sculpted version rather than a living one.
A stroll in the park can give you more than enough inspiration to redecorate your home with a nod to natural decor. Update the bedding, toss in a few new decorations, and accessorize with seasonal elements from just outside your home to breathe a new sense of life and depth into your surroundings. Ashley has everything you need to bring nature indoors the easy way.
