We all know that our rooms are places of escape, places where we can revel in the wide, weird range of our subconscious and surround ourselves with all of our favorite things. When seeking to decorate your space to your heart’s delight, you can troll for tsotchkes at thrift stores and dollar stores, or pillage the boxes in your grandmother’s basement. (Seriously, if you haven’t done that, ask to. You have no idea what treasures may be collecting dust.) But it’s also important to remember, especially during this season of growth and transformation and blossoming and all those other processes that are both invigorating and sometimes embarrassing to talk about, that treasures are not only static objects with sticker prices. There’s a whole world out there to draw from. Think about being in the woods or at a lake or in the park or even your own backyard, about the textures and smells and all that sweet oxygen filling your tired little lungs, and then think about bringing some of that inside. Weaving nature into your space and blurring the lines between indoors and outdoors is the holy trifecta when it comes to décor: it’s cheap, it’s pretty, and it transports you away from all the junk that’s bringing you down. There are all kinds of ways to do this. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Flowers, flowers, (dried) flowers
This might seem obvious, but flowers make everything better. Carnations are my favorite budget option—you can usually get a good-sized bouquet for five dollars or less—and if you feel like splurging, you can go for the pricier, more exotic varieties. Even better, you can plant a flower bed and supply your own bouquets. The added color and aroma can do wonders for a room, though watch out for the more pungent sorts, like Stargazer lilies, whose stench can draw tears. You’d be hard-pressed to find anything synthetic that rivals the delicacy of a fresh flower.
The mortality of flowers hurts their reputation. They die relatively quickly, so why spend money on something you have to throw in the trash after a week? (Another vote in favor of carnations: they last forever. Daisies are pretty hardy, too, especially if they’re not coated in that weird neon-colored dye.) But here’s the thing: just because a flower is dead doesn’t mean you can’t decorate with it!
Dead flowers lose their smell, but often take on a new kind of elegance. Careful handling is a must as they’re very fragile. If you leave them in water, they’ll dry gradually and have a nice droopy look. This is the lazy person’s method. More official methods include hanging the flowers upside down in the dark and/or treating them with sand, glycerine, or hairspray. There are plenty of internet how-tos on the subject. You can do this with herbs, too, which have lots of practical applications, but which also create a nice witchy look upon expiration.
You can choose from a wide variety of containers—I am always on the lookout for anything from vintage vases to clay pots to old medicine bottles.
Both Etsy and eBay have tons of cool old bottles, and junk and antique shops are great places to check, too. Or you can raid your recycling and pull out…
Jars
OK, obviously jars do not constitute nature, but they play an important role in your décor for a few reasons: (1) they can be used to display attractive items such as shells, rocks, bark, etc. (2) They help keep your things organized and accessible. Need a nail to hang something? Go to the nail jar! Need a bobby pin? Pull one from the bobby pin jar! (3) You can use them during their second life, meaning you’re being both economical and ecologically responsible. (4) Perhaps most important: jars allow you to escape the awfulness of logo-saturated modern life, the hideous parade of advertisements and taglines and empty promises. (Ask yourself: has any product that screamed it would “zap all your zits!” ever actually zapped all your zits? Wouldn’t a nice-looking product that zapped as many zits as possible without bragging about it in neon letters be preferable?) Even a small sampling of relatively restrained beauty and hygiene products quickly becomes a banal barrage of branding:
Putting your products in unmarked containers can turn your bathroom or bedroom into a calm, peaceful, vaguely science-y sanctuary.
Plus, there’s all sorts of fun, arty things you can do with jars as evidenced by these delightful variations, all found on Etsy. Just search “upcycled glass,” and away you go.
Candle jars are also a great resource, and can be reused for all sorts of purposes. After the wick has died, just run a butter knife along the outside edges of the candle, and pull out the remaining wax. There’s one product you’ll want around for this process—it manages to remove wax residue AND dissolve the nasty adhesive on jars that once contained jelly, applesauce, or anything else with a label. Meet Goo Gone, aka miracle in a bottle. Squirt this in or on the surface of the jar, let it soak for 10 minutes, and run under hot water. Repeat if necessary. It’ll make all traces of the wax or adhesive disappear.
Plants, pinecones, and bark
Adding a little botanical magic to your space is another way of making it feel extra-vibrant and alive. In addition to their aesthetic appeal, houseplants often have air-purifying qualities. And, if you’re into cooking, growing herbs can add a practical element to your décor. Basil is pretty easy to grow and is great for summer cooking, as is sage, which has a divine, earthy smell. With some mint plants, you can snip off stems and put them in water and they’ll start to grow roots, so you can start a little family of lovely-scented plants! With all herbs, you’ll need to do some tending—watering, pruning, that kind of thing—but that part isn’t super time-consuming, and it’s fun! You can freeze the leaves or dry them, and there are 101 internet tutorials like this one, so you’ll always have plenty of resources available to guide you.
A good way to add texture to your space is to incorporate various parts of trees, like leaves, pinecones, and bark. Leaves look lovely on the wall, and pinecones make a nice addition to a dresser or shelf. Their hard-edges compliment the softer lines of my jewelry, lotions, and ribbons. Or, if you want more of a cozy “cabin in the woods” kind of feel, you can string a few along fishing line and hang them over a closet, say, or your bedroom door.
There’s also a wide range of art that relies on natural elements, so you can collect others’ works or, if you’re feeling really ambitious, try it yourself. Check out this seed art Dolly Parton—her hair is made of corn husks:
And this one, made by Ray Koshy using differently-colored leaves from a rice plant, is for sale!
Sprucing up your indoors with stuff that can only be found outside can do wonders for your state of mind. It makes you feel healthy and happy, not just in a hippie-dippy “nurturing something else is good for you” kind of way (though I think that’s true), but because nature connects us to something larger than ourselves. ♦