You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman

We all pick up shells and stones, or pieces of twigs and drift wood, moss and pine cones, star fish and coral. We bring them home, and these natural elements always seem to find a way into our decor.

One of my many collections of shells and coral

We love the color plates in specimen books. Botanicals are ever popular, and it's not that unusual to take the pages out of a book to frame them.

Many of us have a wall dedicated to a grouping of botanicals.

My office - the botanicals are antique prints from Italy

Butterfly specimens and charts are very pretty, and have been displayed by both collectors and decorators for eons.

get this one here

Butterfly specimens in my office above my gris-gris altar

The other day a woman came into the shop looking for skeleton charts, or bones, specimens she wanted to give to her son who is graduating medical school. The designers Nate Berkus and Candice Olson use skeleton charts as art.

Vintage skeleton charts in my house - I bought them in Lisbon in the flea market

You can frame pieces of fan coral to make a very pretty grouping.

Bird cages are another element that evokes the natural theme.

perch

Natural elements displayed on the mantel provide an opportunity to collect a variety of things.


More botanicals in this pretty dining room. I love how low the bottom row is hung.


Book shelves provide an excellent opportunity to make pretty vignette using the most natural things you can find,

These prints are pages from a book.


A collection of rocks and shells are offset by the lamp with a black shade.

My house with a collection of natural elements

Layering objects is a must for the natural look. I love each layer from the prints on the wall in the background to the lamp and the bee print propped up in the mid section, to the nests and eggs in the front, and then an another layer with the little butterfly specimen.


A more modern room might use black and white photographs of plant forms in lieu of antique botanical prints.

Small vitrines provide a cabinet of curiosities feeling.

So to review:

How many of these things do you collect, and how do you use them?

• Groupings of botanicals
• Moss, twigs, stones, coral, shells
• Birds and butterflies and bugs
• Bird cages
• Small curiosity cabinets
• Trays and plates and urns and vessels to hold things
• Specimen charts
• Feathers
• Bell jars or glass domes
• Horns

inquire here

You'll soon be humming Aretha...you make me feel like a natural woman...

Posted in: Curiosities, DIY, Rooms To Look At, Valorie Hart Designs, VHD