Summer is a wonderful season for creative decorating ideas. Longer, sunny days and nature in full bloom offer an abundance of inspiration for unique interior design concepts. Interior design elements important to successful decorating projects include light, color, materials, pattern, texture, proportion, and scale. Each of the elements is evident in nature and especially visible in the summertime.
We thrive on sunlight, as do all plants and animals. Most of us feel better in summer than at other times of the year because there are more daylight hours. Similarly, the ways in which you use lighting in your home will affect your mind, body, and spirit.
Summer is the best time of year to observe the profuse color in nature. Brightly colored fresh fruit and vegetables abound. A rainbow of colors in flower gardens and lush foliage can offer ideas for beautiful colors to use in our home decorating projects. Summer suggests many natural materials to use in decorating our homes. Cool, crisp, and refreshing cotton and linen fabrics, sisal and jute rugs, rattan, and wicker furniture are all borrowed from nature and delightful to use in our interior design.
Patterns in nature can give us some fascinating ideas to translate into our decorating projects. Flowers and foliage are often used in printed fabrics, but use your imagination to use patterns in many other ways. Contrasting patterns of light and shadow, cloud formations, even the markings in wildlife can be creatively applied to various patterns in your home. Many interesting textures in nature’s summer landscape encourage us to use varied textures to complement each other in our home decorating. Observe the beauty of a white velvety magnolia blossom against its own smoothly polished leaves. Compare the contrasting textures in your own back yard and repeat them in fabrics and finishes for a naturally occurring textural variety.