Austin Statesman: Outdoor Elements
OUTDOOR ELEMENTS CAN GIVE INDOOR SCHEME NATURAL AESTHETIC
Do you love the outdoors and nature, and wish that the elements could be incorporated into your home?
Whether your style is modern, traditional or even a little unique, there are many ways to incorporate natural and outdoor items into your design.
Lieve Saether of Turnsyle Design says that whether you have a modern home or a traditional one, you will naturally tend to choose elements that you like and that will incorporate well into your surroundings.
“Keep choices simple and avoid overdoing an element too much. In other words, when you find something you love, use it in doses small enough to be able to appreciate it for a good long while,” she said.
Saether suggests that for more temporary options, it is great to get your family involved and collect items on a day-to-day basis to incorporate these into your home.
“Pick, pick, pick! Fresh blooms or the things your kids pick up on a family walk (indeed, we should all do that more) make great table-scapes,” she said. “My son has on plenty of occasions brought in some kind of stick that I have wiped down and/or painted to convert into an anchor for floral. Rocks found in pockets look great in a bowl and satisfy a child’s need to feel appreciated for his or her finds.”
For more permanent options, Saether says scale is the ultimate deciding factor. Because the item will be a more permanent fixture in your home, it is important to ensure the item will not be too overwhelming, but will still have the impact you are looking for.
“Use found wood in large quantities to trim out a wall. A gorgeous large stone discovery can quickly become a nice spot to display photos or may be pushed into place as a bookend once nicely cleaned,” she said. “When it comes to bringing outdoors in, the goal should be to choose things that mean something to you. That way, you appreciate any inherent or installed natural flaws.”
When bringing natural elements inside, it is also important to keep safety in mind and ensure that metals are not rusted or sharp and woods are free of termite holes. Saether also recommends making sure that glass from outside is weathered and soft so that it will not shatter.
“It may seem obvious, but even the best of us have let the enthusiasm of a find allow us to overlook some of those things,” she said.
Just be sure to make safe decisions when bringing the outdoors in. Avoid metals that are rusted or sharp, and check wood items for termite holes or other little insect remnants. Make sure that glass is weathered and soft, and not so fragile that it will shatter as you transform it into whichever use you intend.
Ultimately, there are many benefits to bringing natural elements into your home, such as bringing your family together and making your home design very personal.
“When we find things in nature, we feel simultaneously humbled and proud that our surroundings could provide such a treasure AND that we were lucky enough to find it. The experience will bring long-term appeal since it happened relatively organically and it spoke to whoever made the selection. And if we involve our children in the find, boy – it’s even better,” Saether said.
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