18 Ways To Incorporate Biophilic Interior Design into Your Home

Biophilic Interior Design

The modern Techno-pro world has shifted its focus on connection to the natural world to robotics and AI and the Internet of Things (OIT). However, more urban architects have realized the fallout and are incorporating biophilic designs.

Biophilia means love for nature incorporated in built environments with greenery and natural elements. Biophilic design elements enhance air quality, airflow, circadian rhythm, heart rate and ordinary human health.  When you incorporate biophilic designs using indoor plants and natural patterns, it enhances the multi-sensory experience and stimulates visual connection. 

Natural systems and the presence of water are biophilic design trends. Thanks to Stephen Kellert in the 2000s (the founder of biophilic designs) and Edward O. Wilson, nature can be felt at the comfort of one’s home. Biophilic designs draw all that defines nature into the spaces such as plants, sunlight, natural materials, and fresh air.

Decorating the house with plants is definitely a sure way of purifying the air from the toxic surroundings and improving one’s well-being. The benefit is one doesn’t need a tract of land to exercise it. You can have your potted family hanging on the balcony or on designated spots in the house.

Don’t fret about your inexperience in gardening!  As a beginner, you can start with succulents, cacti and air plants to build your capacity on caring for plants and gardening. Later, you can include indoor gardening such as planting calatheas, payer plants, and ferns or fiddle leaf figs.

To enhance your gardening prowess, you can research if your potty family likes direct sunlight, a well-lit room, how often to water them, and the humidity rates required. You can as well understand it from its natural habitat like the forest floor for ferns will dry up on your lit window sills or cacti will not flourish on a dark, damp space.

Read also – 10 Best Home Garden Ideas

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It’s established that artwork reduces anxiety. You can play along with your abstracts and your beautiful natural prints. You can add beautiful soft furnishings like floral prints for your throw pillows, or cushions with plant motif furnishings to incorporate the biophilic design.

Read also – 15 Easy and Healthy Houseplants To Grow in Home

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Use materials like wood, clay, cork, rattan, and wool to add a natural feel and aesthetic to your home. The materials are timeless and add a personality to your spaces. The benefit tops up with their eco-friendly nature and re-use. They can be paired with reclaimed furniture or floor. A jute or cotton rag can be included or a stone side table.

Live-edge and raw unfinished wood can give more natural vibes than finished and manufactured wood. They will enhance the visible textures and depth of your spaces. You can also explore other natural materials like granite, marble, and concrete.

Read also – 10 Ways To Create Eco-friendly Interior Design

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Ample light regulates our moods and restores our hormonal balance. It helps in accelerating the oxytocin (the feel-good hormones) energizing your day and spurring your creativity. You can maximize the natural lights in your home by incorporating more blinds than curtains.

You can as well reduce obstructions on your window sills to declutter the spaces. More light can be realized by creating a skylight to filter more natural light to your spaces.  Also, draw out heavy drapes from your windows and replace them with lighter sheers.

Layered lighting can be enhanced by floor lamps, candles, and scones mimicking the natural light and brightening one’s moods. More reflective surfaces can be added like glass tables and mirrors. Spaces with windows can be a perfect layout spot for your reading nook as you get carried away by the wonders of Mother Nature from your hanging potty plants on the balcony.

Read also – 9 Ways To Integrate Minimalist Interior Design Into Your Home

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Hang down the windows even in winter for a few minutes to let in fresh air to your spaces! Isn’t it magical listening to the rains as you gaze on your balcony or patio full of your potty family as you snuggle up in your cozy sofa sipping a cup of coffee? Let your plants connect you to the seasons as they draw in a breath of fresh air to your spaces. You can as well save the humidifiers and diffusers for stimulating and relaxation mode days.

Read also – 9 Ways To Incorporate Modern Interior Design Style In Your Home

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Alcoves, nooks and cozy corners create dependence for nurturing and care. Curve it in your house and set it apart for reading and meditation. Relaxing music playing in the background and your potted plants will create a fulfilling ambiance helping you unwind after a long day.

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Not only is fire pleasing to look at and functional to keep you warm, but it also enhances the color and relaxing ambience of your spaces. Lack of a hearth should not make you gloomy; you can install a glass fireplace in your home and incorporate flames from your candles! It will enhance a cozy mood as you watch your Netflix movies.

Read also – 14 Wonderful Fireplace Decor Ideas

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You can use a tabletop fountain or a saltwater aquarium. It will incorporate water sounds into your spaces and connect you to a water mass body at the comfort of your home.

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Nature images have been proven to be emotionally and intellectually satisfying. You can hang your landscape paintings and framed photographs from your global travels that hold a special significance. You can decide to vary your preferences by incorporating botanical prints or animal arts.

Read also – 7 Ways To Incorporate Steampunk Interior Design In Your Home

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Use neutral or earth tones palettes in a subtle way to create more natural spaces. You can use brown, green and blue subdued tones as they are soothing. The neutral colors will create a bold and saturated feeling. You can enhance the rich hues through décor, furnishings and finishes like flooring and paint colors. You can also contrast it by using brighter colors to create a soothing balance.

Read also – 10 Best Scandinavian Interior Design Ideas

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Incorporate shapes with soft curves, abstract forms and asymmetrical shapes. They add beauty and a dramatic imperfection feel to your spaces. You can enhance the theme from your furniture, décor and nitty architectural details.

Use a mid-century style as a basis for your organic shapes. You can as well decide to follow her aunt’s modernism route, which offers a more earthy approach, unlike a modern aesthetic one.

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Skip out the matchy-matchy furniture and draw in a variant styling. You can do so with different accent chairs, mismatched dining chairs, or nightstands. It will intrigue your visitors and create a personality in your spaces. Mismatched furniture borrows from the bohemian style design which is inclined to earthy tones.

Read also – 8 Best Ways to Tell Your Story Through Interior Design

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Naturally, two perfectly straight lines and symmetry rarely exist! The abstract translation in your home styling will apply in height decor too. Items with similar size scale and shape will feel artificial. Variations tend to mimic the randomness of nature and are visually appealing.

Read also – 11 Modern Rustic Interior Design Ideas

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Visual and tactile textures make up nature. Varying the textures aids in drawing in a biophilic design to your spaces. You can have varying textures like woven upholstery, smooth and rough materials to bring visual richness to your spaces. You can combine woven upholstery with smooth and rough materials.

Read also – How To Use Textures in Interior Design?

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It’s normal for items to age and loose its luster. Adding décor with items lined with patina will automatically signal the brain to adapt to changes. Some of the beautiful materials to use can include copper, brass, marble and leather. Marble table tops change their hues and smoothness with age.

Leather chairs and sofas tend to darken and form scuffs from the frequent scratches. The Wabi-Sabi concept (Japanese) applies in interior consulting work through the introduction of natural, organic and handmade artworks that add patina and texture to biophilic interior design spaces.

Read also – Sustainable and Holistic Interior Design

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Easy and uncluttered movements create a sense of security. Ensure there is enough space between the sofas marking a clear entrance and exits. Therefore; enhance comfort with adequate spaces to enhance a good energy flow.

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Biophilic designs favor green in all hues, whether it’s accessorizing with plants or using green paint. Green walls or furniture create a calming space that recreates the benefits of outer space.

Read also – 20 Best Wall Decor Ideas

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You can use elements with an indirect connection with nature to create a cue that sparks the same sense of well-being as the natural world. You can mimic the finer nature details with textiles, artworks, light, shapes and patterns. You can convert your living walls to natural wall murals showing scenes of prospect and refuge, botanical sculptures and floral installations, moss mosaics, terrariums and more.

Read also – Mediterranean Interior Design Style for Home

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Biophilic designs form a connection with the natural environment, especially in urban areas where access to nature is limited. Biophilic surroundings have been marked to enhance productivity, mental health, freshen the air, lower stress levels and spur creativity. The views will not only enhance the primal nature but will be pleasant to view and meditate.

One of the fundamental building blocks of biophilic interior space, be it an office or residence, is a planting plan showing the distribution of the indoor landscaping, with the relevant plant species and quantities marked up.

To attain a biophilic design, interior designers consider and align the planting plan with the interior architecture as some plants may be in pots on the floor while others are elevated on shelving, in planters, hung from a wall or suspended from the ceiling.

Another consideration is factoring in availability from local suppliers, access to natural daylight in the space and the practicalities of ongoing maintenance to create biophilic interiors that stand the test of time.

Read also – 10 Reasons Why Landscape Architecture is Important

They are healthy building interior professionals with a vast understanding in interior architecture and landscaping with healthy benefits of biophilic designs. Understanding the role of biophilic design in building certifications requires one to be equipped with certifications such as BREEAM, WELL and FITWEL  to ensure smooth integration into a wider project team alongside architects, engineers, lighting designers, acoustics consultants and client representatives.

A biophilic designer’s role often begins in the master plan phase and continues into concept design, detailed design and fit-out phases, with a number of post-occupancy deliverables such as follow-up satisfaction surveys.

Foyr Neo is the lightning-fast interior design software that helps to design your home in biophilic interior design and convert your ideas from 2D plans to 3D designs, to photorealistic renders within minutes. It builds on designers and students equipping them with skills. The article is suitable for interior designers and interior design students as it covers the essence of biophilic designs, benefits, how to use biophilic designs to draw aesthetics in spaces and qualifications required qualifying one as a biophilic designer. 

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Interior design has definitely changed since the inception of biophilic designs. Work environments that have adopted biophilic designs have reportedly marked upscale growths and employee retention. The employees are happier and more relaxed. 

The sick building syndromes have been reduced and comfort has been enhanced. Hospitals have experienced rates of a drop in the number of high blood pressure clients.  Patterns of biophilic design have created a positive impact and the use of natural materials have enhanced sustainability for the home office and the workspace. Homes have become more peaceful with variability through enhancing the indoor environment. It is more fulfilling with individuals’ visual and innate needs being met.