Decorate with nature

This living room is adorned with botanical prints, leaf plates, and shells for a look as diverse as the great outdoors.

Stepping into Laura Miller's living room is like encountering Mother Nature in her finest. A picture of a plumed bird perches above a chest of drawers, plush leopard-print pillows liven up an elegant white sofa, and exotic shells and corals fill bowls and adorn table surfaces. The result is a refined living room with pizzazz.

"I call my design approach to nature 'academic,' " says Laura. Indeed, there is a hint of a scientist's curiosity to her collections. Not only does she artfully display natural specimens, such as giant conch shells, framed butterflies, and glistening geodes, but she also showcases scientific instruments and relics, such as vintage microscopes and antique copies of National Geographic magazine.

Taking Clues From Outdoors

If natural specimens and scientific instruments aren't to your taste, you can still achieve Laura's look on a subtler basis using lush botanical and floral fabrics, potted palms, framed naturalist prints, and majolica pottery shaped like leaves, fruits, and vegetables.

Laura highlights her collections by grouping things en masse for a more dramatic effect. For example, the entire wall above her living room sofa is filled with framed naturalist prints of different sizes and subjects. (To balance the wall arrangement, she mapped out the pictures on the floor first, took precise measurements, and transferred those dimensions to the wall before nailing in the picture holders.)

Flora and Fauna Finds

To mimic Laura's design style in your own home, look for nature prints at antiques shops and flea markets. Modem reproductions are featured in many design and gift stores. They range in price from about $30 to considerably more for rare ones.

In addition to raw nature, Laura also collects objects fashioned from natural materials such as tortoiseshell accessories, mother-of-pearl items, and exotic porcupine-quill boxes. The opportunities to collect and display these items in various forms are as infinite as Mother Nature herself.

With her refined living room, Laura has brought its beauty, patterns, and color into the service of interior design. Her fascinating decor, based on the world of the wild, brings a whole new definition to feathering one's nest.

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Jun 2003
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