Using Natural Materials to Enhance Interior Design

Tracey Clayton is a working mom of three girls. She’s passionate about green lifestyle, home décor and healthy living. Her motto is: “Live the life you love, love the life you live.”

Posted on Friday 24th May 2019

Homeowners like to use natural materials in their interiors. From walls to floors, and even furniture, natural materials give our homes warmth and more organic feel. The phrase 'bringing outdoors inside' is often heard, but beyond wood and bricks, there are many other materials that are often forgotten, despite being sustainable and highly decorative.

Using Natural Materials to Enhance Interior Design

Glass

Oven overlooked as a natural material and relegated to more contemporary schemes, glass can actually work pretty well in most settings. It distributes natural light around an internal space, reflects sound, and creates sophisticated aesthetics. What is more, glass maximises the feeling of space and works as a versatile material in refined and functional applications. It's a perfect upgrade for small spaces and a great way to add glitz and lightness to interiors dominated by solid materials. Glass can be included in coffee tables, walls, or just a selection of antique glassware or vases.

Using Natural Materials to Enhance Interior Design

Bamboo

A beautiful and sustainable material, bamboo is used for window treatments, flooring, furniture, decorations, and much more. Bamboo blinds are a surprisingly decorative way of blocking the sun in your space. Some homeowners choose to introduce bamboo to their living space to bring in subtle oriental influence. When compared to other hardwood plants, bamboo is capable of consuming carbon dioxide at a higher rate, so it’s often decoratively used as a potted plant. As a material, however, it’s often used for bathroom flooring, where both thermal insulation and resistance to moisture are desirable traits. 

Using Natural Materials to Enhance Interior Design

Wool

With a warm, rich look and a long history, wool fibre is a material that no synthetic formula can duplicate. Discovered the moment people realized sheepskins can keep them warm when the weather was cold and cool when it's hot, today's wool creases nicely, is mothproof, and can even be stain resistant. When used for amazing indoor rugs, its antistatic properties and natural resistant to dirt often make it a number one choice. In addition, since it needs just fresh hair, water, sunshine, and grass to grow, wool is considered an ultimate sustainable and renewable materials.

Using Natural Materials to Enhance Interior Design

Iron

Iron is ideal for adding a strong and bold appeal to your space. This masculine material is perfect for patios, living areas, and kitchens. Keep in mind that iron comes in different finishes which lend themselves to different uses. These days, metallic colours are trending high, but if you're more into traditional and period style interiors, wrought iron elements will make your home stand out. The design of wrought ironwork is always being shaped by actual trends, it can go from flowery to minimalistic, traditional to innovative, and from organic to geometrical. Since these products are entirely handmade if they can be adapted to match a variety of decorating styles such as classical, contemporary, and even minimalistic.

Using Natural Materials to Enhance Interior Design

Seagrass

You don't need a beach-themed home to add some seagrass features to it, neither your house needs to be near the ocean. Seagrass species used for woven furniture grows along the coasts of China, and depending on a wet or dry harvesting period, varies in colour from brownish to greener. Being a 100% natural material the woven end product displays irregularities, which only adds to the organic charm of your living space. For maintenance, it's advised that you moisten the seagrass surface with a mister, especially in warm periods.

Using Natural Materials to Enhance Interior Design

Aluminium

Modern processing techniques have allowed exploitation of raw aluminium or with a low environmental impact, spiking its popularity as a design feature. Aluminium, which comprises about 8% of earth’s crust, is a readily available material whose robust nature and resistance to UV rays, bending, discoloration, and rust make it a prime material for indoor rails and door frames.

Apart from the materials mentioned, your home can never get enough of sunlight, as an ultimate natural element. Make sure your windows let enough natural light inside. Apart from brightening the interior, it can also make your house feel fresh all day round.

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