by Dawn Gettig, AIA, MWFS

Decorating with Nature

It has long been one of the goals of Feng Shui to bring nature indoors. Now it is a wonderful trend in the decorating world; pick up just about any decorating magazine and usually there is an article on decorating with nature in mind. Here are some ideas on how to decorate with nature as your inspiration:

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1. Place plants in each and every room. Choose easy to grow plants such as Phalaenopsis orchid, peace plant, ficus, or philodendron. Or add a bouquet of flowers to brighten and cheer up a room. An added benefit is these indoor plants and flowers bring a vibrancy to the room and help to clean the air in your home.

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2. Artwork is one of the easiest ways to bring nature and color into your home. How about a picture of flowers or a beautiful landscape? An inexpensive way to do this is to purchase patterned fabric with a theme such as birds, trees, shells, fruit and mount them on square wooden frames (you can get these inexpensively from companies like Ikea).

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3. Add pillows with leaf or shell designs or use fabric such as cotton or linen in earthy colors.

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4. Paint your walls in the colors of nature using no-VOC paint. The outdoors is bursting with color ideas – a garden of flowers, a sunset, moss, and trees.

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5. Purchase sheets or blankets with natural fibers like organic cotton, bamboo, or hemp (places like Target sells them quite inexpensively). They feel soft, breathe more easily, and adjust to your body temperature.

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6. Choose natural window coverings like bamboo shades, and cotton or linen curtains.

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7. Purchase rugs made from natural fibers such as jute, sisal, or sea grass. Or try rugs with a faux animal skin patterns.

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Bring Nature’s Spirit Indoors with the Four Elements

To replicate the energy of nature and bring balance and harmony into the home it is powerful to add the four elements to our environment. Here are some easy ways to accomplish this:

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Earth Element

1. Keep your curtains open during the day and let the light in! In Feng Shui, windows are the eyes of our homes and this is one way we receive good energy flow into our homes. The next preferred form of illumination is full-spectrum lighting which most closely mimics real sunlight. In addition, some of these bulbs use less energy to produce the same amount of light.

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2. To create an earthy grounded feeling in a space, purchase a lingham stone or bring rocks in from the outdoors. If you decide to bring in a rocks please do it with great respect and don’t take too much from the earth.

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Water Element

1. Purchase an indoor fountain, as the sound of running water will turn any room into a soothing environment with lots of good energy (chi) flowing.

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2. Use fabrics with a wavy pattern or blue or black color to bring in this element.

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Air Element

1. Clean your home with all natural products made with wonderfully smelling herbs (* see all natural cleaning scour recipe below). The wonderful scent of herbs truly bring nature indoors.

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2. Play music with nature themes such as the sound of the ocean, birds or chorus frogs singing.

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Fire Element

1. Pets are a great way to bring fire chi into your home and they will keep the good vibes going.

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2. Another way to bring in the fire element is to burn incense or soy or beeswax candles.

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By bringing nature into our home we will feel a sense of expansion in our environment and in ourselves. So go outdoors, connect with its powerful energy, observe a flower, sit by a river, look at the moon and stars. Feel the magic and vibrancy of nature and get inspired to bring the outdoors in so we can create a more supportive and nurturing environment.

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* Green Living All Natural Scouring Cleanser

1/2 cup baking soda

1/4 cup washing soda (in laundry section of grocery)

1 Tbs. or more of crushed dried herbs such as lavender, sage, peppermint, or spearmint.

Combine and mix well with a fork. his is non-toxic and biodegradable. You can feel good about using this cleaning product!