Bringing the beauty of nature inside your home can mean more than plunking down a few potted plants.
Many of the interior designers who made over Prowse Farm in Canton for the 33rd annual Decorators' Show House were so inspired by the 44 acres of flowering trees and sprawling greens surrounding the home that they worked on bringing the outdoors in.
Those who visit the show house, presented by the Junior League of Boston from May 5-26, will find plenty of ideas for blurring the lines between their lawns and living areas.
"We're always trying to think of the inside and outside together,'' said Heather Greenwood of Dover Studio in East Walpole, who adorned a powder room with silk wallpaper she helped handpaint with water, birds and trees in earthy tones. "You try to have this continuous flow with the outside.''
Designer Mally Skok was struck most by the well-groomed green lawn outside an upstairs bedroom window when she began revising the room in her mind.
"The green of the lawn popped right into the room,'' said Skok, whose interior design business is in Lincoln.
So she brought in plenty of natural touches: a green headboard and pillow the same color as the grass outside; a white vase filled with green sea urchins; an ostrich egg painted green and glazed with feathers; a Victorian bamboo mirror and bookcase lined with starfish and seashells; wallpaper with flowers in greens, browns and yellows to match the dogwood tree with blooming yellow flowers just outside; and even small whimsical pillows that make you think of flowers, one stitched with, "He loves me'' and the other with, "He loves me not.''
"We are steering our clients back toward nature,'' she said. "It's going away from the frou-frou and back to the simplicity of real life. The world gives us such beauty. You don't really have to adorn the natural.''
Skok said designers often go in two different directions: "a streamlined, monochromatic, edited look'' and a more "natural, comfortable and timeless'' look - two moods that were captured in the 27 redecorated spaces in Prowse Farm, a Colonial-era farm at the foot of Great Blue Hill that is cared for by the nonprofit group Friends of Prowse Farm.
While the modern look remains popular, Skok said, many clients these days are looking for the relaxing feel of bringing nature inside.
"It puts you in touch with the outdoors,'' she said. "It's calming.''
When Paula McCusker, a designer for Benn Theodore Inc. in Boston, redid the dining room at Prowse Farm, she chose a silk brown wallpaper handpainted with white oriental trees and flowers, then brought in seat and bench cushions in a "grassy green'' color. The same color could be found in the acid green crystal martini set on a side table.
"I thought the green would work well with the outside,'' she said.
The outdoors came through even in the dinnerware: The large round table was set for eight with white plates shaped like lotus leaves, with smaller leaf-shaped metal plates on top.
And Dennis Coyne of Dennis Ltd. Design Services in Milton couldn't resist having fun with an outdoorsy theme when he decorated acutting room off the kitchen.
Coyne found porcelain ceramic tile flooring designed to look exactly like grass, and then added a few Turkish stepping stones to complete the picture.
He painted the ceiling sky blue, and for overhead lighting, he chose small dragonflies and suns. The green feel also came across in the silk leaves he used as a base for a few small potted plants, in a glass sink held up by a stand of small silver butterflies, and in the watering cans, vases and flowers he used to fill the shelves.
"I wanted it to feel like you're outside,'' he said.
Many of the designers also made sure not to hide what was outside by keeping the window treatments simple. Janet Gaffey hung curtains on the sides of the windows in an upstairs room overlooking the back of the house, but avoided using sheer panels to cover the window panes.
"I didn't want to treat the windows,'' she said. "The view is part of the room.''
Gerald Pomeroy, a Boston designer, used high-hanging Roman shades in the living room, which brought in plenty of natural light during the day. "I didn't want to cover the windows,'' he agreed.
And when an area didn't have windows, a designer could still almost make you feel like you were looking outside.
Anne Bridge, a designer from Attleboro, took a hallway and painted a large mural of a horse with a stable in the background and a large trellis streaming with roses.
"I just wanted you to have the illusion that you were standing out on a porch looking out onto a rural landscape scene,'' Bridge explained.
Marcia Connors of Growing Space Interior Design in Canton said she tries to use "green design'' whenever possible, choosing natural materials and earthy colors, like the gold and red tones she and her partner Roxy Gray used in a room decorated with Native American accents.
Connors has noticed that customers are bringing nature inside in various ways: by using more natural materials, such as wool, cotton and linen; by placing more plants and herb gardens in rooms; by bringing inside wicker and other furniture often used outdoors; and by installing bigger windows "so people can actually see their gardens,'' she said.
"The idea of letting the natural world in is so nice,'' she said. "New England in the spring is so beautiful. People like to expand their homes to the outside.''
See these rooms
Susan B. Acton Interiors in Cohasset: morning room, home office
Dennis Ltd. Design Services in Canton: cutting room
Growing Space Interior Design in Canton: sitting room
Decorators' Show House - At Prowse Farm, 5 Blue Hill River Road, Canton, May 5-26. 10 a.m.-2 p.m., 6-9 p.m. Tues.-Fri.; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.-Sun. Closed Mon. $20 advance; $25 at door. www.jlboston.org/showhouse; 617-536-9640.
Dina Gerdeman may be reached at dgerdeman@ledger.com.
Copyright 2005 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Saturday, April 30, 2005
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