Interior stylist Maxine has spent the past 20 years with a single aim - to bring joy home. You would have spotted her styling work on magazine covers of leading home décor titles, as well as on TV shows and large events. She’s a TV presenter, art director, interior designer and writes a multi-award-winning lifestyle blog called maxinebrady.com. She shares her peppermint terrace house in Brighton with her fluffy dog Teddy.
Today on the La Redoute Influencer Hub, she’s sharing her expert styling tips to create an indoor garden using our latest Spring Summer trend for 2021 Outside In. She transformed her living room into a tropical paradise that is like being whisked away on holiday (minus the jet lag). We’re in!
Maxine says:
Summer is all about enjoying the great outdoors, from summer picnics to garden parties to late night alfresco entertaining. And what a better way to make summer last that little bit longer than create an indoor garden in your home. Fill your space with leafy touches for tropical vibes that will make you feel like you’re having a holiday at home. This is the perfect trend if you don’t have an outdoor space or are a nature lover at heart!’
Add a natural touch to the home
This trend is all about adding natural touches to your home. Think leaf-shaped woven place mats, a rattan armchair, a wooden elm side table or even a bamboo foot stool! They all will help add depth to your room scheme and create visual interest.
For ultimate laid back vibes, check out the Reelak woven double swing seat which would look dreamy hung in front of a window. You could then finish off the rest of your room with a Lunja 5-drawer China cabinet which makes the perfect to display all your treasures from your adventures abroad.
Look for furniture that you can use both inside and out, like the Siona rattan cane dining chair which would just as much at home in your garden or balcony, as in your dining room.
To bring this trend into my own home, I filled my living room walls with a bamboo mirror shaped like a peacock feather and then I filled my shelves with these unusual woven fan decorations. I filled my floor with the Aftas Jute rug which feels great underfoot.
Be inspired by the natural colours and textures of nature, to give your home an easy, breezy look.
Look out for botanical prints
When bringing the outside into your home, one easy way to do this is with leafy prints. La Redoute have delicately embroidered linen cushion covers in deep emerald, green tones that will update your sofa instantly.
Give your bedroom a spring green makeover with a palm jungle print bedding. Mealtimes can have a splash of sunshine with a green Ficus tablecloth. Try bringing botanicas to your floor with a waterproof palm leaf rug that can use both outdoors and indoors making it super versatile.
And don’t forget your walls. I love their range of quirky plant prints that come in wooden frames that would look great in a living space. If you really want to go all out, then hang the Angkor Panoramic floral wallpaper that looks like a creeping vines are growing inside your home.
Top of my list for this trend is the wire framed leaf-shaped chair that echo the shape of a palm. It’s a stunning piece when tucked behind my plants! Mixing and matching lots of botanical prints into your home is a simple way to make it feel like an indoor garden.
Become an indoor gardener
If you love this look, then you’ll want to decorate your home from top to bottom with tropical plants. If you are not the best at gardening, then cheat the look with faux plants! Fill a corner with a tall artificial bamboo tree, dress your coffee table with a resin cactus or fill baskets with a fake rubber tree. A metal wall planter filled with trailing plants will breathe life into your room
You can use your planters to bring this trend home. I love the rattan basket hanging planter that is great to dangle from your ceiling. There is even an indoor metal greenhouse style planter which would make a strong style statement when packed full of leafy green plants.
In my own home, large ceramic planters are home to my Monstera plant – and he’s so happy in his new pot in my bay window. When it comes to plants, more the merrier to create the garden feeling inside!
Lighten up the home
Give your home glow with a citronella candle which not only fill your home with delicious scent that is reminiscent of tropical holidays, but it will also banish pesky bugs too. Using aroma as part of your room design is a clever interior designer trick to evoke a feeling or memory. Lighting a scented one will transport you to faraway destinations as citronella reminds me of trips Bali and Thailand. Place on tray on your coffee table so it will glimmer and glow long after sunset.
All these indoor garden styling ideas will give your home a fresh new look inspired by nature. Have fun with it and your home will exude joy!
Enjoyed this piece by Maxine? See more on the hub here, with Monica Beatrice’s advice on outdoor dining in style, bringing the inside… out!
