More than ever before, nature’s influence is moving to the forefront of interior design. Whether you’re looking at the pages of glossy design magazines or the images on obscure decorating blogs, you’re likely noticing the trend of focusing on environmentally oriented interiors.
And kitchens are no exceptions. After years of kitchen designs with an almost futuristic, highly engineered feel, the pendulum is swinging back toward simplified materials made from natural products. These natural products feel authentic, and most of us are craving a little authenticity as life continues to speed up and become more and more digital.
The kitchen is often the heart of the home, so care and attention to its design is never wasted.
If you’d like to incorporate more nature in your kitchen but don’t want to go to the trouble of entire makeover, try using one or more of the following tips.
Use Earthy Colours for Your Walls
Create a soothing place to cook and eat by using nature-inspired colours on your walls. Neutral, earthy colours like taupes, beiges, whites and greys create a tranquil feeling in a kitchen. Whether you cover your walls with paint, wallpaper, cement tiles, wooden panels or even stone, choose colours that are commonly found in nature, and you will have a calming backdrop for every other design element you introduce.
Incorporate Natural Wood in Your Design
Natural wood furniture is a popular design and decor trend today, and your kitchen is the perfect place to incorporate it. Natural wood cupboards and cabinets are both beautiful and functional, but if you don’t want to spend the money on these expensive items, you can acquire a natural wood table or chairs instead.
Natural wood is showing up in kitchen islands, countertops, and even in light fixtures. Choose a few key elements in natural wood, and your kitchen will have an elegant, warm, down-to-earth appeal.
Include Hints of Floral
Floral arrangements and fabric with floral designs bring life into your kitchen and soften areas that seem too severe or empty. You can do this by setting a vase of flowers on a table, by reupholstering kitchen chairs in a floral fabric, or by using a floral motif on curtains or window shades.
Create a Green Wall
Green walls are one of the hottest trends in residential interior design today, and kitchens are a perfect place to install one.
Since counter and table space is usually at a premium in kitchens, you don’t want to waste that precious space on potted plants. Low-maintenance artificial green walls are the perfect solution. You can enjoy your greenery while maximising your counter space when the plants are on the wall.
Our green walls are constructed with artificial plants that always look fresh and healthy. You never have to worry about watering or maintaining them. Instead, you can enjoy their vitality while you cook and eat.
Use Natural Stone
If you’re ready for a new countertop, look to natural stone. In most cases, natural stone requires less maintenance than other countertop surfaces, and it retains its natural good looks for many years. What kinds of natural stone is available today? While granite has been showing up in kitchens for some time now, you may find that there are more colours and varieties on the market than ever before.
Soapstone and slate come in fewer colours than granite, but they have an understated elegance that is hard to beat. Both soapstone and slate can be fabricated into sinks as well, giving you the option of creating a seamless countertop/sink feature in your kitchen.
Let in the Sun
Incorporating sunlight into your kitchen design can brighten up your room and make it feel larger and roomier than it really is. Depending on which end of the house your kitchen is in, you may get the morning or evening sun. Plan accordingly by putting a vertical green wall along the wall where the sun would shine on it perfectly. This will not only highlight the wall, but it will also brighten up your kitchen without having to add in a lot of extra artificial lighting.
Hide the Machinery
From our cell phones and coffee makers to our cars and computers, we’re surrounded by electronics and machinery most of the time. If you’d like to turn your kitchen into a natural haven, put design elements in place to hide as much machinery as possible.
For example, you can create an appliance garage for stashing your blender, mixer and toaster when they’re not in use. If you need more storage space, consider placing an island in your kitchen that contains storage and additional counter space.
Use Natural Fabrics
Instead of using synthetic fabrics for your table linens, dish towels, curtains and upholstery, opt for natural fabrics such as cotton, linen and hemp. These natural fabrics not only look great, but they also wear well.
In fact, using natural cloth towels is an important part of the sustainability movement. By using cloth napkins and absorbent cloth towels instead of paper napkins and towels, you produce less waste.
As you can see, there are many ways to bring nature into your kitchen design. You can start small by replacing your paper towels with natural cloth towels or by installing a green wall in your kitchen. If you want to spend more, you could include natural stone countertops in your kitchen design or buy a handcrafted natural wood table and chairs.
By focusing on bringing nature into your kitchen, you can create a warm and wholesome atmosphere to spend time in each day. It will rejuvenate your mind and body and help you feel tranquil and calm.
Evergreen Walls has exactly what you need in terms of artificial plant wall panels to help bring nature into your kitchen design. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to transform your kitchen into a thing of beauty, so be sure to contact us for advice.
