Biophilia & Color: Enhance Your Home’s Connection to Nature

By Margarita Bravo, Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Margarita Bravo

Spending time in nature is calming, refreshing, energizing… So let’s bring the benefits of nature indoors. Biophilic design uses colors, images, and textures from nature to create a calm, relaxing atmosphere in your home. Color is key in the serene, biophilic home. Color can serve as a backdrop for nature-inspired home decor or play a leading role in bringing nature indoors.

Studies show that a deep, immersive connection to nature fosters a variety of wellness benefits. Making your home a nourishing space relies not just on functionality and safety, it’s important to foster serenity. To build calm, positive and productive spaces for a more calm, positive, and productive you.

What colors does nature show us? The blue of the sky, the changeable teals of the ocean, the many slates and browns of stone and earth. But it is greens, in all their lush verdancy, that offer the most cherished gifts of nature. We’re familiar and comfortable with green and what it represents: growth, life, and fertility. And when used in interior design, greens create a biophilic connection that promotes relaxation and healing.

There’s always room for earth tones: gentle browns, misty grays, and sandy hues brought indoors along with stone, wood, and leather. Bronze, rust, and metallic colors are perfect, as they evoke the natural world without being too bright or overwhelming.

Venture outdoors

Head outside your door and look at the colors of nature that surround you. Choose these for wall and textile colors that evoke your connection to the beautiful outdoors. Biophilia-friendly wall and textile palettes are never restrictive. In fact, you’ll be surprised at how diverse and flexible they can be. Find a fun accent in a deep or vivid color that draws the eye yet leaves the overall scene harmonious.

Soft, fresh colors like yellowy limes, rose gold, olive, or pear marry with subtle woods and leather seating. If you enjoy decorating with botanicals—plants, branches, rattan, bamboo—or botanical imagery, choose expanses of seafoam or icy blue and welcome a hint of violet, coral, or deep teal. 

Jewel tones are trending, so pick your most favorite, intense hue for personal expression. Is it emerald green? Iris? An exotic jade? Perhaps a vivid, purplish blue? Use a strong pop of vivid color and add organic accents with textures. Wood, woven grasses, green plants and moss, fruits, tree branches, and flowers are all great ways to bring nature inside. Interrupt clean lines and natural wood with unexpected, colorful accents that incorporate highly textural plant and animal products like salvaged wood, linens, or fluffy wool. Wallcoverings, textiles, and more can include botanical artwork or evoke natural imagery. Visually stimulating wallpaper can deliver color, excitement, and that connection to nature in small spaces. A powder room is perfect. Choose smooth metal and stone for accents.

Accent, layer, experiment!

Experiment with shades of green in unexpected ways. Creating unique built-ins is a beautiful way to home biophilic elements while adding functionality. Coloring a featured shelving unit, or its backing, can work to bring a space together. Try layering shades of (you guessed it) green, gray, or blue! Layering invites the variegations of natural imagery and flowers. You might be surprised by the richness and comfort that layering can bring.

With everything that’s going on in the world, we could all use a dose of the calm that Nature has to offer. It makes perfect sense that comforting, biophilic décor is trending. Yes it’s a trend, but the basic design philosophy is timeless. And by choosing the colors of nature—as backdrop, feature, or accent—it’s far easier than you might think.​

The author: 

Luxury interior designer and decorator Margarita Bravo has locations in Denver, Aspen, Montecito, and most recently in Miami. She offers full-service design and interior designs that serve a discerning clientele of residential and commercial clients. With a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and interior design studies, Margarita brings a technical, creative yet down-to-earth approach. She focuses on the client’s ambitions and then weaves in her own creativity and convictions along the way.

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