Another of my recent finds at Half-Price Books, Natural Style has lots of great ideas for decorating your home. Some are quite innovative.
The book is 8 1/2 x 11" size, full of subdued full-color photographs of the techniques and materials used.
It is divided into six chapters: Introduction, Fabrics, Surfaces, Furniture, Details, and Templates.
The introduction contains several double page spreads covering essential elements of natural style. They are:
Purely Natural (which discusses heavy linen, stone, rush matting, wool, cotton, and other ingredients that will never go out of style);
White (examples: seashells, white crockery, lace, and white candles);
Blue (examples: denim, delphiniums, sea themes, and blue colorwashed floorboards);
Green (examples: asparagus, bottles, foliage);
Red (examples: strawberries, a red lawn shirt, gingham, or red tulips);
Yellow (examples: sunflowers, lemonade, beeswax tapers, or forsythia);
Wood (baskets, a twig tray, bamboo);
Metal (examples: old watering cans, shiny cutlery, old buckets);
Glass (examples: colored, stained, bottles, goblets);
Stone (examples: pebbles, terracotta, mosaic, slate stones);
Natural Cloth (examples: string, linen, burlap, muslin);
The Fabrics chapter contains instructions for several interesting treatments for draperies, chairs, pillows, and bed linens.
Stringwork Curtains detail the string patterns sewn onto a drape. Since I am not much of a fan of this type of pattern, I didn't pay much attention.
Muslin Curtains are attractive and have a dramatic pole offering flair in front of them.
Shell Shocked explains how to attach tiny sea shells to filmy fabric for draperies. It would make an interesting treatment for a room with a "sea" theme.
Cotton Fresh simply shows how to attach cotton drapes from pegs above the window. Very natural, and casually elegant.
Striped Hanging shows a treatment for a very tiny kitchen (possibly at a cabin or other small house). Before, all kitchen supplies were just sitting out with no organization. But with this striped canvas hanging, everything can be kept organized and out of the way so the kitchen is much more simple and clean-looking.
Cushioned Comfort shows how to attach tailored details such as tiny buttons and fasteners to throw pillows.
Cotton Draped Chair is easy enough. And perhaps those of us who have suffered through lack of upholstery funds have even done this one at home already! If your chair is looking less than attractive, wrap it in a sheet with a dramatic flair and keep it looking nice.
Romantic Chair Cover is the same type of treatment for a hardback chair, only with a sheer piece of translucent fabric. This might be nice for a small wedding or special occasion.
Embroidered Pillowcases show you the basic patterns and instructions for stitching small seashells and starfish in chain stitch on bed linens.
Lovely Linens show you how to add small colorful touches to bed linens, like colored stitching, broderie anglaise (eyelet lace), or buttons with tiny colored cross stitches on them. These would be wonderful for an old-fashioned bedroom full of antiques and frilly eyelet that just needs a tiny spark of color. Perhaps some toile wallpaper would add a bit more of the accent color for a perfect look.
Lace Trimmed Bedlinen is exactly that. It shows you how to turn a perfectly ordinary white cotton duvet cover from plain to perfectly beautiful by sewing on old lace tablecloths and draperies from flea market hunts. Wrap throw pillows in the lacy finds too for more accents.
Sheer Magic dresses up a burlap bedcover with sheer fabric.
Japanese Futon shows you how to turn wooden pallets and linen into an Oriental sleeping spot.
Leaf Room Divider uses Japanese washi paper and leaf skeletons from bodhi trees into an interesting screen and room divider that allows lots of light to filter through.
Surfaces contains the following really great paint (or other) treatments.
Rough Plaster Wall shows you how to give your walls the texture of a villa in the Mediterranean. If you want to grab some interest, here's a good way to do it.
Woodland Stripes show you how to create paint stripes alternating with a leaf pattern (created with a stamp). The example shown uses the top layer of a wall with wainscoting below, which looks really professional and classy.
Tuscan Doorway might have been better if it had been more professionally drawn or painted, but to me looks a bit amateurish. In trying to accomplish trompe l'oeil here, they failed.
Stamped Wall Panels simply add interest to a wall by creating large rectangles accented with small geometric shapes. They might work if you are really into modern art, have a Le Corbusier chaise lounge, or lots of chrome. Not really my cup of tea.
Paper Panels are an interesting treatment for walls that need a spark. Brown butcher paper is affixed to the wall in panels, then tan colored tape is used to mark off stripes, and black beading is added along the top. Very clean, modern and simple. I liked this one.
Rope Decoration to me looked really amateurish and like something a ten year old would use in her room to be a little different. However, if you are a ten year old looking for ideas, check this one out. White rope molded into patterns and affixed to the wall in various shapes.
Crackle Glaze Shutters are a great idea, and I may try this in the future, possibly on some French doors. Shutters are painted with aqua paint, then crackle glaze, then watered down blue paint. Sanding the blue paint causes a distressed finish and a adds a semi-nautical feel to the shutters. Nice for a attempting to create an old-fashioned feeling.
Washed Floorboards accomplish the same sort of premature weathering. Simply use some white zinc paint, a wire brush and raw linseed oil to age plank floors.
Pebble Dash Paving adds unusual texture to flooring, and I've been trying to figure out if I could use this somewhere in my garden. Concrete pavers are alternated with panels containing rounded pebbles (mixed with sand and cement).
Slatted Decking uses material associated with piers and boating to create an innovative bathmat.
Cork Stamped Floorboards uses carved cork to create a small floral shaped pattern along the edge of a hardwood floor. I have a feeling this would be a lot more complicated than they make it out to be, however.
Furniture contains the following ideas:
Rope Wrapped Chair. All I could think when I saw this was: rash. I don't understand how someone could use this chair unless they were wearing thick woolens and couldn't feel the scratchy, painful texture under their legs. Not a wise choice in Texas, obviously.
Gilded Chair takes a damaged bentwood chair, removes the caning and creates a new seat for i, then gilds it with gold leaf, and distresses it for an elegant yet old-fashioned look. An interesting treatment.
Bucket Stool takes a galvanized tin, and makes a small cushion for the top of it. Cute, but it couldn't possibly be for sitting, as the "seat" is not wide enough for a human backside. I wonder if it is just to be used as a stepstool.
Rope Trimmed Sofa carries kind of the same idea as the Decorating for Ten Year Olds theme above. It just didn't hold any attraction for me at all. Perhaps you might be different.
Scallop-Hinged Cupboard shows you how to file the edges of seashells, then paint them. After drilling tiny holes through them, you attach them to hinges and use them as the hinges for a rustic shelf. This might be a nice idea for a nautical themed room.
Packing Crate Shelves simply add a small slat or a piece of string across the front of a shelf that has been painted and distressed. Very basic and useful.
Hanging Shelves take rope and string it through holes in the ends of three shelves then gathering it at the top. This did not look attractive enough or sturdy enough for me to want to try it.
Stamped Shelf belongs in a country charm cottage. That rules me out. A little two "Three Bears" a look for me. Would be at home in a farmhouse in Ames, Iowa.
Twig Headboard might look outwardly attractive to a Whole-Foods shopping commune resident, but to me it just looked painful. I could see myself waking in the middle of the night and getting stabbed in the eye with a stray twig from this headboard. It just didn't seem very practical.
Wooden Headboard takes planks, sands, and paints them for a rustic (once again semi-nautical) themed headboard. Attractive and relatively simple.
Calico Canopy is an innovative faux canopy bed for those who might be limited in space (or like me-- have a ceiling fan cutting through the space where your canopy bed would hit). Small thin rods are hung from the ceiling over the head area of the bed, and long, narrow pieces of canvas-type fabric are draped over them.
Details contains some of these ideas:
Fringed Shelf Edging shows you how to braid raffia and trim your shelves with it. If you're into that type of thing.
Wavy Shelf Edging and Frames uses the corrugated paper you find in many everyday products as packing material, and uses them to trim frames. Useful, pretty, and green! This is a great recycling idea. Plus the natural color of the paper is a bonus.
Pewter Look Shelf is a great idea for someone with a really MODERN look in their home. A piece of medium density fiberboard is made into a shelf, then covered with aluminum flashing (which might have a different name in America- this book is British). Attach the flashing to the shelf pieces, trim, then take a ball peen hammer to make indentations over the whole surface. Voila! You have a faux pewter shelf. This is a neat idea.
Wall Sconce is neat in theory, but I think would prove a fire hazard in real life. A scallop mold (for tarts or cookies) is attached to another mold, making an L-shaped wall sconce. But I don't think this metal could possibly be heavy enough to deal with the heat produced by a candle in it. I would avoid this idea.
Pinpricked Lampshade uses a pattern to poke tiny patterned holes into a very basic small lampshade. Pretty and delicate. This would be a nice touch for a guestroom.
Pebble Lampshade might be interesting for those who are attracted to unorthodox decorating treatments. To me, it just looks like something from the Flintstones. Small holes are made around the base of a lampshade, and small rocks are hung from the holes with tiny pieces of raffia.
Scalloped Tablecloth takes plastic-coated fabric with a hole-punched design in the hem to liven up a table. Relatively easy and tasteful.
Textured Tablecloth uses the same rope-twisting design from several of the other ideas to decorate a tablecloth. For the third time, I am not attracted to it.
Seaside Shower Curtain provides an interesting treatment for someone who doesn't want the same cookie cutter shower curtain as everyone else. With patterns, you use white waterproof paint to transfer designs onto the bathroom staple.
Utility Rack might eventually see a place in my potting shed when I get it. You simply make an outline from heavy wire and needlenose pliers, cut a piece of small-gauge chicken wire, and attach it at the points where it meets the frame. It looks useful for holding seed packets, a small pair of garden shears, or a tiny potted plant.
Wire Egg Tree molds a piece of tinned copper wire into an egg holder with a basket at the bottom. This could prove kind of tricky for those not skilled with needle nose pliers. But it looks innovative and fun.
Antique Terra Cotta Pot shows you how to shellac a pot for a yellow tint, then paint it with watered down white paint to give it an ancient texture. I've seen quite a few methods treated in various gardening mags. This looks as good as any.
Basket Storage simple show you how to hang baskets on the wall to hold various doo-dads.
The back of the book contains the patterns (templates) used throughout the book, plus the acknowledgements, photo credits, and an index.
For the most part, this book has some good ideas. As I mentioned, if you have a seaside cottage or enjoy old-fashioned decorating, I think you will get more use out of it. I do think some of the choices are impractical, and I have explained why. You might find your own reasons not to try them. As I have not attempted any of these ideas, I cannot speak for the degree of difficulty involved. I suspect that some of them require a lot more work than is explained in the book.
Recommended:
