Get the look: Southern Living's Inspired by Nature

We were simply captivated by this feature in Southern Living’s April issue! ‘Inspired by Nature’ takes a look into how Southern Living Style Director, Heather Chadduck, “transform[ed] a mid-century lake house in Arkansas from dark and dated to cool and casual.” Heather walks through her interior designer notebook and explains some tips along the way to achieve your perfect designer look.

Tip #1: Take a Tonal Approach to Color: To begin designing and decorating this home, Heather looked for a color palette to fit the home’s locale. Walking around the exterior and lakeside property, Heather took inspiration from the surrounding nature. She chose blue, gray, green, and white as a color palette. “The muted palette connects the interior to its natural surroundings” and provides the home with the calming mood Heather wanted to achieve.

Dining Room: With views like this, the dining room needed a muted color palette. Keeping the windows clear for a full view from every angle allows the nature to speak for itself. The dining chairs feature a crisp white paint finish and an open back design to allow the natural light to shine through. A long table was the best option to fit the space in this room and upholstered arm chairs help to flank the ends of the table for a balanced look.

Recreate this dining room with the Drexel Heritage Dalliance Collection. Although shown in the walnut finish on our showroom floor, this collection is available in many different paint finishes from Drexel Heritage. We’ve customized the collection in the oyster hue above to achieve a similar look to the Southern Living home. The Dalliance Emile Side Chair features a similar open back design and allows the comfort of an upholstered chair, with customizable fabric options. The Pasqualina Arm Chair offers a fully upholstered arm chair to flank at the ends of the Ambiance Dining Leg Table.

Bedroom: A chic grey escape differentiates this room from the rest while staying with the overall color palette. A luxurious tufted and upholstered bed in a cool grey hue is inviting for a good night’s rest. The bedside tables in a cream painted hue add storage and surface space for reading in bed. The geometric patterned grey and white flat weave rug continues the grey tone throughout the space and is an excellent contrast to the existing tile floor.

Communicate this chic bedroom into your home with the Cleo Upholstered and Tufted Bed by Vanguard. Completely customizable, you can choose from any of their fabric options for the bed and choose a neutral hue on the legs to continue the look to the floor. Place the Fallon Grey and White 8’ x 11’ rug by Surya to complement with the geometric structure.

Tip #2: Keep furnishings simple, soft and solid – to balance with the style of the 1960s home and the patterns within the existing structure, adding furniture with soft lines is the best for these rooms.

Living Room: This skirted sofa and slipcovered chairs pair perfectly with a glass top cocktail table emulating nature itself. The soft blue hue of the sofa balances the room full of neutrals without an overwhelming color. These comfortable living room items create a casual yet sophisticated atmosphere, perfect for gatherings and conversation. Placing different textures into one room also creates a warm, welcoming feeling. This room achieved exactly that by placing a “gray sisal rug that matches the concrete floors so well it almost completely disappears.”

Translate this look into your home with one of our top selling sofas, the Cirrus! The Cirrus Grand Slipcover Sofa from BeModern features a pleated skirt and soft flared arms. Customize in your favorite neutral hue or stick with a similar soft blue like the Southern Living house. The coordinating Cirrus Slipcover Chair and a Half offers another comfortable seating area and looks great in a complementing color or the same fabric as the sofa. Pair this living room setting with the Driftwood Flats Cocktail Table from Stanley Furniture’s Coastal Living Collection.

Tip #3: “Use varying shades of white to add texture and depth to a space, and then finish it off with an organic accessory, such as fresh flowers or branches.”

Are you in need of some help with furniture selection? Sometimes options can be overwhelming and that’s why our design team is here to help you! If you have an existing idea or need direction, our Belfort Furniture design team knows our product assortment best and can provide options for the styles you desire. Contact a Design Associate today to get started with home decor for that one room – or your whole house!

(Inspiration Images Courtesy of SouthernLiving.com)