Editorial Director Joanna Saltz heard from four experts about how they design homes that truly embrace their natural surroundings.
Joanna Saltz: How does nature impact the way you approach design?
Saudah Saleem: We often see nature as a luxury to have in design versus a necessity: If only I could afford to have natural lighting. But the solution can be as simple as creating an opportunity for more natural light. There are so many studies that connect the benefits of nature to reduced stress and improved wellbeing. I have conversations with my clients about their experiences with nature. They often involve their fondest memories—camping or getting out of the city. My goal is to bring that back into their home.
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Michelle Gage: We bring nature inside through color but also through print and pattern. In almost all the projects we do, there’s at least one funky wallpaper, if not eight. Whether it’s a bird print or an exploded floral, we might pull colors and elements from that into other design aspects, such as fabrics, rugs, or accessories like lamps.
David Quarles IV: As a synesthete, I like to combine the experience of being in nature with my experiences of listening to music and how I curate a space. The entire mood of what the client may have dictated to me is how I’ll approach the design for the room.
Cortney Bishop: I like the process of building a home with an architect, contractor, and landscape designer. We engage with them early on to make the most of every outdoor space. We can impact the windows, whether it’s punching the color out, or making the room darker so we can focus on the greenery outside, or creating more light so the space feels open and airy.
Jo: Are you thinking as much about the outdoors as you are the indoors when you approach a project?
Cortney: I live in a coastal area, and most of my clients moved here to be in nature—to experience the water, the marsh, or the ocean. We spread the love on the inside and outside, but you have to make sure there’s enough money in the overall budget to make a statement on the outdoor space.
Michelle: We’ve seen clients we were working with pre-pandemic come back and say, “I have this space I haven’t been utilizing to its full potential, and I want to push outward.” One client had a semi-enclosed, screened-in porch. We were able to bring in some great furniture to make it almost a second living room that she could escape to while everyone was at home.
Jo: In our current universe, people need to hide in their homes. How has nature helped you create that escapism?
David: I am a plant papa of 190 plants. For me, plants are very much self-care. They bring a bit of calm into a space. I like to test the limits and see if plants can go on to the greater realm of no longer existing outdoors. I’ll just bring them in.
Saudah: As a designer, it’s about reintroducing the client to the potential of their outdoor spaces—whether that’s a deck, a patio, or a small landing patch of grass. A lot of times, people have difficulty envisioning that. I encourage them to bring the comfort of what they enjoy about their indoor spaces outside. It could be pillows, throws, a fire pit, or ottomans that hide the kids’ toys.
Jo: When a space feels loved, you feel loved in it.
Michelle: We did a fun pandemic project on our sunroom, which we previously used as a prop junkyard. We were considering ripping it out, but it has very clear access to the outside. It’s one of our favorite rooms in our house now. Spaces that make you want to be closer to nature help rejuvenate the home.
David: With my family, we traditionally do Sunday dinners. Those took a hit during the pandemic. So I turned my elevated deck into an outdoor apartment. It’s built around a tree with bistro lights. There’s a lounge area, bar, and dining room. It was a way for me to think about what I encourage my clients to think about: What emotion do you want to feel in the room?
Jo: That backyard space literally increased your living quarters. What do you wish people would do more when thinking about their home and how it interacts with nature?
Cortney: Understand the larger story. A too-strong orange, for example, can distract you from the beauty of greenery in the springtime or snowfall in the winter.
Michelle: Think about the wrap—how your eye wraps around the room and what it catches as it’s doing that. This includes the windows, of course, but it also includes the ceiling. That's not always super tied to nature, but we find not ignoring the ceiling is really important. We're working on a back porch right now with a lovely blue painted ceiling. We also try to choose our window treatments very carefully. We'll choose a natural or tan, or we'll leave the window naked so that you can experience what's going on outside.
Saudah: People can have a tendency to go overboard with themes, like in tropical spaces with palms and turquoise walls. How can you infuse nature without it being such a smack in the face? It doesn't have to be as literal as you think. I like unexpected color combinations. I like walking into a space and saying I love it, but I can't figure out why I love it.
David: Let the design breathe. If you have too many artifacts, you don’t get a chance to look out. You don’t get a chance to notice.
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