Outside In: Creating a Naturally Beautiful Home

Award-winning interiors blogger Abi Dare, author of The Soft Minimalist Home, offers a new take on biophilic design using organic materials, colors and textures to bring the outside in.

Nature provides ample inspiration for our homes, and a biophilic approach to design has been shown to enhance our mental and physical wellbeing. But there is more to it than adding lots of plants. Here, Abi Dare explores how to create an inviting home that makes subtle references to the natural world. The book is divided into six sections: color, materials and texture, shape and pattern, light and dark, layout and view, and finishing touches. In each, Abi provides practical tips and presents inspiring case studies, from a city apartment in Rotterdam to a family home in London and a farmhouse in the West Country. Palettes go beyond green, incorporating terracottas, pinks, peaches, blues, and ochers. Wood, stone, plaster, and linen offer a tactile experience, whether sleek and modern or rough-hewn and rustic. Soft curves, flowing lines, and imperfect forms can be used to mimic nature, tempering straight lines and sharp angles. Windows let in sunlight and frame our views of the outside world. Throughout, Abi highlights that biophilic design is not just an abstract theory, but an accessible concept that can make a big difference to our homes and lives.

Abi Dare is a stylist, photographer and freelance writer. She is the author of The Soft Minimalist Home (also published by Ryland Peters & Small) and the founder of award-winning interiors and lifestyle blog These Four Walls. Her aim is to demonstrate that good design is about mood and feeling as much as aesthetics, and that it is attainable to everyone, whatever their situation. Abi created her website and Instagram (thesefourwallsblog.com, @thesefourwallsblog) in 2014 to share inspiration for simple, relaxed living and is known for combining beautiful imagery with honest insights and practical advice. She lives in Bristol, UK.