Bringing the Outside In for your Interior Design

Maybe you live in a New York City high rise and the thought of a back yard isn’t even conceivable.  Maybe you have a beautiful view and just want to enjoy it more from outside. Maybe you just love the outdoors.

Whatever your reason, bringing the outside in for your interior design is something you can do, and it can be done with more than just a house plant, or a boquet of flors. How about a moss covered kitchen floor – its been done!

Let’s explore some of the interiors and products that have inspired this interior design trend.

There is no shortage of interiors that incorporate the natural beauty of the outside within the walls of a home. Just check out some of these amazing interiors for inspiration:

Robb Report Home & Style, Home Tour

Inspiring Idea: Room Size, Natural products, Oversized Glass Walls and Windows

Designed by Brazilian architect Arthur Casas, he comments that to design the interior for this home he “[raised] the ceilings high and [installed] glass walls and partitions that dramatically erase the boundaries between the indoors and the outdoors.  He amplified the sensation of being one with nature through his signature color pallete…relying on locally sources materials…and fashioning a privacy screen from native trees and plants”. 

See more project info and photos here.

Dwell, Finishing Touch

Inspiring Idea: Let in the Sun

It is a rare opportunity when a design or architectural professional has the luxury of time to complete their own designs, but when it happens you can uncover amazing interiors like this one from Germany, and architect Reinhold Andris who says “when the sun moves through the house, it creates thousands of different situations of lights”.  You don’t get any more natural when you can let the sunshine in throughout a home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more at Dwell.

Veranda Magazine

Inspiring Idea: Outdoor Murals on Interior Walls

In the September 2013 issue of Veranda you’ll find an awe inspiring home that makes the word “excessive seem like an understatement”.  But those of you who love to bring in the outdoors, why not a vintage 1950’s mural of seemingly Italian town complete with architectural details along a majestic waterfront.  What better way to recall (or daydream) about an outing in your own European outdoors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you aren’t quite ready for a full scale mural there is plenty of nature photography to choose from,

DesignRulz

Inspiring Idea: Let your Gardens carry into your Home

In this Colorado home, designed by Blu Design Group and featured by DesignRulz, the “garden celebrates the uninterrupted flow among indoor and outdoor spaces”.  All thanks to oversized, sliding windows and tastefully laid out outdoor and indoor spaces that flow right into each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more about the project and see more photos here.

Now that we have seen some interior design ideas at work, let’s look at some products that will help you bring a little bit of the outside indoors.

Ralph Lauren suggests decorative rocks & driftwood, featured on Freshome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or forget decorative rocks and “go big” like in this home featured on landarchs.

Wood floors like these dark wood flooring, or wood wall paneling like this Original Surface Barnwood made of antique wood flooring, is never a bad idea.

Then you can create natural “green” walls from a company like Ambius which is decorative and oxygenates the indoor environment.

There are countless ways to bring the natural world inside your home, including indoor water fountains, stair railings made of logs or twigs, sea shells and of the good ‘ol standby houseplant.  Whatever you decide to use have fun and create a beautiful interior.

What products have you used to infuse your interior space with a little bit of the outdoors?