Bringing the Outdoors In

At  Christmas, I gave my husband a hydroponic garden for the kitchen counter. I wasn't sure he would take to it. Nature growing inside while winter began to roar seemed like a splendid idea. Ironically, this was one of the mildest winters we have had with record highs.  It's mid-February so we are not out of the woods yet. Watching my husband tend to the seedlings,  prune, and fuss over our small harvest of flowering cocktail tomatoes has been fun.

                                 

Like many of us in the south, March is when we begin to think of opening our screen doors, scraping the hardened earth off our work shoes, and going outside to get the yard ready for Spring.  On my list: pruning the hydrangeas, replanting some peonies gifted to me last spring, and starting an herb garden outside our kitchen door.  But other ways to bring the outdoors inside don't require so much manual labor.

The easiest of them all is a bouquet of hothouse flowers like Gerber Daisies or Tulips. The faint floral smell can be earthy and fragrant.  Real flowers add a burst of color to any room. 

Art for the walls with a woodsy or garden theme is another way to enhance a home's connection to nature. This garden view has fresh hues that will remind you of crystal-clear idyll

 afternoons. 

                 

This landscape sketch below is new and available unframed. (Please inquire)

 
I'm about to have this new wallpaper design hung in our new guest bedroom. Leafy greens and blues make me think of evening shadows, or a woodsy walk right before dusk. When I was a Mom of young children, we called this time of the day  "the witching hour".

     

I have zero regrets about splurging on this Fig Leaf fabric by Peter Dunham for my kitchen windows below.  A small bamboo grove grows outside the kitchen window so the pattern alludes to a spotty sun-drenched effect brilliantly.          

               

Adding green touches throughout the house is an easy trick. Notice the velvet curtains and the fresh spring green shade by Sorella Glenn above.    

Because I love green so much I have loads of accessories from lighting to cachepots which make green the star. All are available to ship now in preparation for Spring!