To make a house homely it always helps to bring the outdoors indoors.  From actual living things such plants and flowers to our much loved dogs, cats and budgies! And now there seems to be a huge trend for nature inspired home accessories too.  The natural world around us has always inspired art, books and design but it seems particularly prominent amongst many of the interiors ranges I’ve recently came across online.

Here are just a few I am loving right now….

Butterfly print – £44.95 from Rockett St George & Birdcage cushion – £62 from Rose & Grey

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I absolutely adore these screen printed pillowcases by Karin Akesson – there are 4 designs, each with different birds and cute little messages to give you sweet dreams!

Sweet Dreams Pillow cases – £12 from All Things Original

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I also love the idea of framing vintage botanical prints, and displaying them in a set… these can be bought online, but you could even search charity shops or car boot sales for old nature books from which you could carefully remove the botanical images of plants and flowers and frame these.

Butterflies are one of the most beautiful creatures found in the animal kingdom as it is sad to hear their numbers are dwindling in the UK – we should do all we can to attract butterflies to our gardens and support these species.  This was what inspired designer Christine Sterlini to create her ceramic butterfly magnets, which I am currently selling in my online boutique –

Christine had created these as part of her university degree project, and she has also chosen the butterfly emblem as a means to promote good mental health, and for every sale of these beautiful butterfly magnets, £1 will be donated to the Mental health charity – MIND.  Find out more about this here – http://patchworkharmony.blogspot.com/2009/10/butterfly-effect.html

Did you know…?

You can help butterflies from becoming extinct just by planting butterfly attracting plants in your garden. Try poppy, cornflower, sedium, Buddleia, Michaelmas daisy, golden rod, marjoram, hyssop, thyme, Alder Buckthorn. Caterpillars like stinging nettles, nasturtium leaves & Spider Flower.

- Guest Blogger:  Caroline Taylor from patchworkharmony.blogspot.com

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