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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Trend Watch: Natural History

Lately, in women's and design magazines, blogs, interior design television shows, etc. we have been seeing a lot of "woodland" or "natural history" themed decorating.  This trend is like bringing a bit of the wild, especially what you would find in a field or the woods, into your home and putting it on display.

You see a lot of natural materials and textures, such as rock collections, preserved insects, animal skeletons, antlers and horns, wooden elements, and so forth.  Shadow boxes and things under glass domes are really popular.

Think scientific curiosities
and the great outdoors.

This is actually a vintage cheese dome, but I think it works fabulously as a display dome.  I put in a handful of rocks from my own rock collection--river rocks, rose rocks, and some quartz crystals. I added the pinecone for extra texture.

You could just as easily use a glass dome like this one to display animal bones or horns, sea shells, birds' nests, preserved beetles, vintage fishing tackle, etc.  I've also seen people grouping several domes together in one display.

There is also a bit of the turn of the century hunting lodge or fishing cabin in this trend.

I thought this blue-green vintage Avon bottle fit right in.  This was from a men's line of cologne and aftershave products.  Mine has most of the original stuff in it, which lends it a greenish tone in the photos.

This trend uses mossy greens and blues and fall foliage colors as accents.  The background colors are usually muted grays, tans, and browns, especially wood tones.  I tried to bring that out in the books and rocks I displayed here.

This particular vignette pulls a lot of colors from the vintage art piece I found at a local thrift store.  I think it's just gorgeous, and it has a lot of colors that could be drawn out as accent colors in this decorating trend.  I originally thought it was from the 70s, but last night I watched a 1950s-era Sinatra movie, and there was a piece of framed art in one of the scenes that looked like this.  So...who knows?


The late 19th century, into the early part of the 20th century, was a period of archeology and many advances in biological and ecological science.

This theme seems to draw from the fascination and adventure of that era.  It reminds me of an old scientist's study or library in the movies. 

By the way, almost everything in these photos will soon be available for sale in one or the other of my online stores, with the exception of the table, the small square glass box, the wooden pen, the doily, and the rocks.

Thanks for reading!  I've linked to some design trends articles online in one other post, here.   I plan to do more of these vignettes, showing other modern decorating trends and themes, in the days and weeks to come.  Please stay tuned!

Meanwhile, I currently have several things available already that fit this theme:

< Vintage Midcentury Modern Designer "Faux Bois Budvase 



Vintage Acrylic painting by "Tootie">
<  Monkey pod wood tray from the Philippines

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