Mimicking Nature in Your Decor With Texture and Color
by Evelyn Long
For too long, homes have defaulted to looking like they came out of a magazine. While you may impress guests with such a space, it probably doesn’t feel much like a place where you can cozy up and relax. Rather than adjust the angle of that pillow one more time, take some design notes from the great outdoors.
Going natural with your styling can help you feel more comfortable while still being eye-catching and glamorous. It’s all about picking the right elements. Here are nine ways to mimic nature in your decor with texture and color.
1. Hardwood Floors
Hardwood flooring is one of the best ways to make a house feel more in tune with the outdoors. Regardless of what you choose to put on your walls or the furniture you pick, the natural texture provides a complementary background that instantly makes any area more cozy. Though you’ll pay a decent amount for them, hardwood floors’ durability and return on investment have caught many homeowners’ eyes.
2. Plants
Having a few plants around helps mimic nature in a snap. You may even want more than a few, turning your space into an indoor jungle to dive into the design style head-on. However, those whose thumbs are a bit more brown than green can get the same effect with artificial plants.
Research shows that most of the health benefits of plants come from observing them. Now that fake plants look more natural, you’ll get the same repetitive patterns that calm the mind. You could even use artwork, as studies have found looking at photos of nature can make you feel happier. The biggest benefits will come from having real plants, but feel free to add a few artificial ones and prints to lessen your care load.
3. Color Choices
Wall color is a significant part of making a space more nature-inspired. However, that doesn’t mean you need to paint it all green. There are many ways to take hints from the outdoors.
For example, one author offers several palettes based on the sky, sea, plants and earth. As you would expect, the plants collection is dominated by green, but there are several green-blues, algaes, deep greens and lime greens to pick from.
If you feel more in touch with sunsets, focusing on pastel reds, purples and yellows may be best. Determining a group of hues to paint and decorate with can help your home seem more well-rounded than opting for one, making it feel even more natural.
4. Natural Decor Pieces
Turn every area of your property into a nature-inspired masterpiece by using decorations that invoke the right feelings. Do you want your living room to look like an earthen paradise? Use clayware pots for your plants and add a few stone carvings to the walls. Those who love the cottagecore vibe could do well with wooden mushrooms and moss wall art or carpets.
Ocean-inspired minimalists could decorate their coffee table with a bowl of sand and seashells, while maximalists who look to the sky may love art deco stars on their ceilings. Everyone’s different, so try adding and removing decor until the room feels balanced.
5. Lamps
Your choice of lamp can make your home feel more natural via texture and color. For texture, getting a shade and base made of organic materials is important.
Rattan is a common option that has been used for centuries yet is making its comeback once again. The vine offers a natural feel, is sustainable and blends with any style. Polished metal, weaving and gemstones have also been popular choices lately, so your local home decor store likely has something that fits your needs.
You can also tackle the color aspect by picking the right bulb. While you should get light-emitting diodes (LEDs) — they use 75% less power than traditional incandescents — ensure they’re the warmer, yellower variety. These replicate sunlight more closely, helping you avoid blue-toned light, which can mess up your sleep schedule.
6. Seating
How can your chairs help your house feel like a natural paradise? It’s about more than its color — though that also plays a part. A loveseat in a shade within your space’s palette will work wonders, but think about how you could push things further.
Many couches go straight to the floor. Could yours have wooden legs or sides that add more texture? Perhaps it still goes all the way to the ground, but rather than being rectangular, the edges are round. If you’re feeling bold and want something truly unique, one furniture collection has a sofa that looks just like a rock off the forest floor.
Dining room and desk seating that follows the same principle brings nature throughout your home. Family dinners may feel less tense with chairs in organic shades and work could go by more smoothly in a seat with curves rather than corners.
7. Rounded Wall Corners
Speaking of curves, rounding out the edges of your walls can create a natural look. The great outdoors doesn’t have many sharp points. Plus, just looking at a corner can make you picture stubbing your toe. Both those factors make rooms feel less inviting with a mere glance.
If you’re building your house, you’re in luck — you can request rounded edges from the get-go. However, things may be more complicated if you already have square drywall. You must get down to the joint in your wall, apply a base of joint compound, add the rounded corner bead and put on a top coat. You’ll likely also have to cut some of the current drywall to make the area round.
Beyond adjusting your wall, you could opt for decorative corner guards. Ones in a color matching or complementing your walls could be your new favorite feature.
8. Layering
The forest, ocean floors and sky have one thing in common — they’re certainly not flat. There are piles of dirt, sticks, rocks and leaves in the woods, while deserts are full of dunes. Even when the sky isn’t full of clouds, there are shifts in the color that make it appear uneven.
You probably don’t want items all over the floor, but layering still applies to many surfaces. Perhaps the living room could use a few books on the coffee table and natural-toned blankets draped over the couch so it doesn’t look so perfectly clean. Including alternately sized pillows or photos has a similar effect. Nature isn’t spotless, so play around with layering decor in your space for more organic texture.
9. White Space
White space (or 'negative' space) must also be part of your decor's texture. This visual breathing room helps an area feel cozy but not cluttered and lets in more natural light. Filling your walls and shelves with artwork and books can be tempting, but use restraint.
Nature is not perfect, but it does find balance, so experiment with where you place everything to find even ground between white space and layers. If something like a shelf could use some mixing up, include a plant or salt lamp between the stacks to add contrast without taking anything away.
Can Going Natural Can Make Your Decor More Sustainable?
Picking more decor inspired by natural patterns and shades can make your home more eco-friendly. However, it depends on your chosen components.
For instance, FSC-certified, salvaged and reclaimed woods are some of the most sustainable options for flooring. If you’d still rather avoid taking from the trees, bamboo grows fast enough that harvesting it is yet to be an issue. Plus, it’s nearly 30% harder than northern red oak while expanding half as much. Simply installing hardwood floors without checking their source may mean the planks came from an unsavory logging operation.
Additionally, a warm-toned lightbulb produces the necessary effect of replicating sunlight. However, just 2%-3% of incandescents’ energy becomes visible light. The rest gets released as heat, as a small piece inside the bulb needs to be hot enough to glow. By choosing LEDs, you make your home more energy-efficient and reduce the amount of cooling your air conditioner needs to do.
There’s also a vital need to make these conscious decisions. About 60% of the U.S.’s energy comes from fossil fuels, so practicing efficiency where you can is critical. The Earth also needs as many trees as possible to serve as carbon sinks for humanity’s emissions. Being choosy about where your decor comes from makes your home and the planet cleaner.
Bring the Outdoors in With These Design Ideas
If your house isn’t offering you enough comfort, introducing more natural design elements can make a significant difference. Try these nine ideas for mimicking nature in texture and color with decor. A new paint shade or rattan lamp might be just the accent you need.
Evelyn Long is the Editor-in-Chief of Renovated Magazine, where she writes on interior design and home organization content. She is passionate about making home styling easier for all homeowners and renters by writing about home interior trends. Subscribe to renovated.com/subscribe for more posts by Evelyn!
