🌿 3 Biophilic Design Tips for a Calm, Natural Home

Today I am writing about the influence of the natural world in interior design. In my own work, biophilic design (incorporating nature into our indoor environment) plays a significant role.

I believe that taking influence from nature in our homes can have many positive effects on our wellbeing as well as resulting in beautiful aesthetics which feel good to be around.

Here are three ways you can enhance your home using some biophilic design concepts:

1. Houseplants

The most obvious way to bring the outside in is via houseplants. There are many benefits to having plants inside your home, beyond them simply looking nice. They can help to purify the air as well as giving excellent colour contrast against plain walls.

If you have small children or pets, it's important to check that the plants you have inside your home aren't toxic. I'd highly recommend Gynelle Leon's excellent book 'Plant: Houseplants: Choosing, styling, caring'(aff. link) which is full of tips on choosing the correct locations and finding out about suitability for your home.

A few well-chosen plants can bring a room to life. If you have a big space, choose a large structural plant which will add plenty of interest to your room. Ikea are pretty good for large plants which don't cost a fortune as I realise that many people don't want to take a risk spending ££s on a large plant only for it to quickly wither.

2. Use natural materials

Where possible, opt to use natural materials in your home over synthetic. I'm talking about wood, wool, stone, linen, terracotta, rattan, jute, cork...

These materials all grow or are found naturally and so bring a feeling of comfort and calm to a space which is hard to explain until you walk into a room filled with these kinds of materials. It just feels right.

It's important to think sustainably and often it's possible to get hold of second hand or antique solid wood furniture over buying new. Older pieces of furniture can bring character to your home that is hard to create from new items. If you do buy new, make sure you check the type of wood, where it has come from and what kind of sustainability credentials it has.

Be careful though. Terms like "Made in Britain" can be deceptive if the materials are sourced internationally and only assembled locally. Without full transparency about the supply chain it can be difficult to understand what’s really sustainable. The more questions we ask, the more likely it is that habits will start to change.

In my own design work I will always favour a wood or engineered-wood floor over LVT and wool carpet over polyester. These are just a couple of the ways you can make a home feel good and flooring is vitally important as a starting point.

3. Embrace patterns and shapes from nature

Shapes and patterns found in nature are everywhere in interior design. I'm not necessarily talking about overtly floral designs, but more those which take inspiration from a natural form.

Take a herringbone pattern, for example. This is not necessarily an obvious pattern from nature, but when you think about it, it's clear where the design comes from. It's been used in interiors for hundreds, if not thousands of years. The Romans were a fan of such patterns and today we still see this used in flooring, textiles, ceramics, jewellery and more. This is a very interesting article on the history of herringbone in case you'd like to read more.

Scalloping is another natural form that has seen a resurgence in interior design recently; from headboards to painted borders, the scallop pattern can be a nice feature to a design scheme when used thoughtfully. I love this raffia scallop trim lampshade by Matilda Goad.

Bringing nature into interior projects is one of my key values as a designer. If you'd like a little more in depth help with bringing biophilic design into your home, why not book a Rapid Revamp online consultation with me?

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